In August 1814, more than 50 British vessels landed 4,500 soldiers at Benedict on the Patuxent after months of raids in Southern Maryland, giving Britain a position from which it could strike Washington, Annapolis, or Baltimore and forcing Americans to spread their meager defenses among those possibilities. Eight days later the British left Benedict after winning the Battle of Bladensburg and occupying the nation's capital. British Rear Admiral George Cockburn regarded Benedict as offering advantages beyond any other spot within the United States, James Madison watched the approaching fleet from above the town, and Major General Robert Ross commanded the British army assembled there. In the wider War of 1812, fought from 1812 to 1815, the strategically important Chesapeake Bay region endured blockades and raids that were crucial to the conflict's outcome, and although the war ended without a clear victor, the United States preserved its democracy and gained greater stature in the world.