Battle of Bladensburg
Above: The Bridge at Bladensburg, the scene of fierce fighting
during the battle.
General Ross earned worldwide acclaim at the time for his victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814.
The
general's family was awarded the hereditary title ‘Ross of
Bladensburg’ by the Prince Regent. At Bladensburg, American militia
forces were routed by Wellington ‘Invincibles’ under Ross’ command.
The Battle of Bladensburg is notable as the first occasion
when the 'Commander in Chief' (the US president) was present on a
battlefield and under hostile fire. The rout of the American forces
famously occasioned a poem entitled the 'Bladensburg Races'.
The embarrassing flight of the American
forces from the battlefield, it is worth emphasising, was far from a unique experience at the
time. There were several notable examples of regular troops in other conflicts
being mocked for fleeing from
battlefields. Most strikingly, British troops fled from a combined force of French regulars
led by General Humbert and Irish insurgents at Castlebar, County
Mayo, in 1798, an event known at the time and ever since as the
‘Races of Castlebar’. Ironically, Humbert also helped to defeat the
British at New Orleans in 1815. While American militia performed
poorly at Bladensburg for understandable reasons, 120 US marines led
by Captain Samuel Miller, fighting alongside 370 US sailors
under
the overall command of Commodore Joseph Barney, were acknowledged on all sides to have performed
heroically, providing inspiration for the further development of the US
Marine Corps.
Victory at Bladensburg paved the way for Ross’ forces to capture
Washington DC. During a short sojourn in the city the public
buildings were burnt, including the ‘White House’ and the Capitol.
Americans at the time were angered that the British government had
rewarded Ross' family with a title for his deeds and there is evidence that
this inspired a plan for a US privateer to attack the general’s home
village of ‘Rosstrevor’, County Down, Northern Ireland (known as such at
the time owing to the Ross family’s ownership of much of the land in
the area – though known today as Rostrevor). The plot failed to
materialise when the ‘War of 1812’ concluded shortly afterwards.
When President John Quincy Adams visited the site of the Battle of
North Point and Baltimore in 1827 he raised a toast to veterans of
the conflict:
"Ebony and topaz--General Ross's posthumous coat of arms, and the
republican militiamen who gave it."
Above: The Arms of Ross of Bladensburg
Description of the Arms
of Ross of Bladensburg
Per fess embattled argent and or, in chief issuant a dexter arm
embowed vested gules, cuff azure, encircled by a wreath of laurel,
the hand grasping a flag-staff broken in bend sinister, therefrom
flowing the colors of the United States of America proper, in base
the arms of Ross of Ross Trevor, on a canton of the third pendent
from a ribbon, a representation of the cross presented by command of
his majesty to the late major-general in testimony of this royal
approbation of his services, with the motto Bladensburgh, and for a
crest of honourable augmentation in addition to the crest of the
family of Ross of Ross Trevor, the following, that is to say, on a
wreath of the colors out of a mural crown or, a dexter arm grasping
the colors as in the arms.
Above: Ross' victory at Bladensburg is acclaimed by his old
regiment, the XXth, in the monument it erected to his memory in
Kilbroney Parish Church, Rostrevor, County Down, Northern Ireland.
**
FRIENDS OF
THE BATTLE
OF
BLADENSBURG
UPDATE: July
4, 2009
The grant
application
to start the
archeological
research and
commemorative
planning at
the Battle
of
Bladensburg
site has
been
approved.
The grant is
from the
American
Battlefield
Protection
Program of
the National
Park Service
(NPS), and
the
archeological
research
will be done
by the
Cultural
Resource
Section of
the Maryland
State
Highway
Administration
(SHA) in
conjunction
with the
University
of
Maryland. The
work will be
a multi-year
program to
inventory
the historic
resources
associated
with the
Battle of
Bladensburg,
recommend an
appropriate
preservation
strategy,
and prepare
a long-term
Commemoration
Plan for the
Battlefield
site.
John Sower, Co-ordinator,
Friends of the Battle of Bladensburg
W: 202-625-4373
C: 202-257-5871Sower1@erols.com
Sources:
Lecture by Denny Lynch, from Baltimore in Rostrevor, 24 July 2008.
Dr Edward Furgol,
Curator of the National Museum of the United States Navy.
Dr Guy
Beiner,
Ben Gurion University of the Negev,
Israel.
