Note 69 — Evans’s Pedestrious Tour of Four Thousand Miles—1818 (continued 2)

August 17, 1814, a British force under Major-general Ross landed at the mouth of the Potomac and marched leisurely toward Washington. The city was entirely without defense. Two thousand men having been collected from the surrounding country and a thousand regulars assembled, the British were met (August 24) at Bladensburg—five miles north-east of Washington. Resistance was brief, the Maryland militia fled, followed by the remainder of the troops. Ross entered Washington without further opposition, and burned the public buildings.—Ed.