Maryland, Prince George's County, Upper Marlboro
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American and British forces prepared for combat. American troops gathered at nearby Woodyard Plantation. They then marched northwest to an encampment at Long Old Fields.
The British camped in what is now Andrews Air Force Base. Before the Americans fell back to Washington on August 23, 1814, barely two miles separated the enemy camps. The next day the armies clashed at Bladensburg.
Unexpected Guests
Melwood House, circa 1700s, was en route to where the British camped on August 23. Local lore claims that British officers, including Major General Robert Ross, invited themselves to dinner with Melwood’s owner, widow Mary Carroll Digges.
Melwood, Historic American Buildings Survey, 1936 (Image / Courtesy of Library of Congress)
“Arrived at the Woodyard…about the time [British Major General] Ross arrived at Nottingham…Had we moved a day sooner, or…faster…we might have struck a fine blow—capturing or killing the whole of Ross’s party.”
– American Colonel Allen McClane, August 22, 1814
Opposing camps were surprisingly close in August 1814. 1814 British Invasion Route by American Major Gen. James Wilkinson (1816)
(War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.
American and British forces prepared for combat. American troops gathered at nearby Woodyard Plantation. They then marched northwest to an encampment at Long Old Fields.
The British camped in what is now Andrews Air Force Base. Before the Americans fell back to Washington on August 23, 1814, barely two miles separated the enemy camps. The next day the armies clashed at Bladensburg.
Unexpected Guests
Melwood House, circa 1700s, was en route to where the British camped on August 23. Local lore claims that British officers, including Major General Robert Ross, invited themselves to dinner with Melwood’s owner, widow Mary Carroll Digges.
Melwood, Historic American Buildings Survey, 1936 (Image / Courtesy of Library of Congress)
“Arrived at the Woodyard…about the time [British Major General] Ross arrived at Nottingham…Had we moved a day sooner, or…faster…we might have struck a fine blow—capturing or killing the whole of Ross’s party.”
– American Colonel Allen McClane, August 22, 1814
Opposing camps were surprisingly close in August 1814. 1814 British Invasion Route by American Major Gen. James Wilkinson (1816)
(War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.