Sounds of battle could be heard here from Bladensburg, six miles away, on August 24, 1814. Victorious British troops then moved into Washington, D.C. The sky was already aglow above the city; Americans had torched the Washington Navy Yard to keep it from enemy hands. As the British burned the U.S. Capitol and other public buildings that night, the glow could be seen for miles—striking fear and indignation throughout the region.Expecting Baltimore to be the next target, bedraggled American troops made their way north. Instead of pursuing, the British returned to their ships at Benedict. By the time they attacked Baltimore three weeks later, the Americans were ready.
“The spectators stood in awful silence, the city was light and the heavens redden’d with the blaze!”
– Eyewitness account, Margaret Bayard Smith, August 1814
The glow of burning buildings in Washington, D.C., 12 miles away, could be seen from here the night of British occupation.
Places to explore the War of 1812 in the Baltimore–Washington area:
* Riversdale House Museum – Home of witness to Battle of Bladensburg; house museum; annual 1812 reenactment event
* Oxon Cove Park – 1812-era home; part of National Park Service living-history farm
* Bladensburg Waterfront Park – Start at visitor center for tour of battlefield sites
* Baltimore – Visitor center in Inner Harbor; information on Fort McHenry and other War of 1812 sites
* Washington, D.C. – U.S. Capitol, White House, National Museum of American History, National Museum of the U.S. Navy
(War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.
