The Battle of Bladensburg was a battle fought during the War of 1812. The failure of the American forces at this battle allowed the British to capture and burn Washington, D.C..

By this time Napoleon had been defeated for the first time in Europe and was exiled to the island of Elba. This meant that significant amounts of British troops were no longer needed in Europe and were being sent to North America. Sir George Prevost had grand plans of a dual invasion of the United States. He would personally lead one invasion south into New York headed for Lake Champlain. The other invasion was to be transported up the Chesapeake bay in the central U.S. under the command of General Robert Ross. Secretary of War John Armstrong did not believe that the British would consider attacking the strategically unimportant city of Washington. He instead believed the likely target would be the more militarily important city of Baltimore. Armstrong was only half right. The British invasion of the central U.S. was aimed at both Baltimore and Washington. Prevost wanted revenge for the American burning of York, Ontario, the capitol of Upper Canada. Ross landed his forces in Maryland in August, 1814 and marched up the Patuxent River. The American commander in the area was General William Winder , an inept leader who had been captured in the earlier Battle of Stony Creek. Winder had at his immediate disposal 120 Dragoons, 300 Regulars and 1,500 militia. On the day of the battle some 5,000 more militia began to arrive on the field. Winder did have an impressive force against the smaller British force. Winder had also chosen an impressive defensive location on a ridge at the town of Bladensburg, just east of the District of Columbia.

On August 24 Ross reached the battlefield. President James Madison, Secretary of State James Monroe and Secretary of War John Armstrong had ridden out to see the battle, although cautioned by Armstrong of the possibilities of British regulars against the American militia. The British began to cross a narrow bridge over the Eastern River and entered Bladensburg. Although the American artillery tore large gaps in the British ranks, they continued to advance. The first line of American militia quickly broke and fled the field. Only a group of sailors and United States Marines (fighting on land because they had burned their ship to keep them from British hands) made any real show of resistance, but eventually they were in danger of being cut off and forced to retreat. Winder had failed to give any instructions in the case of a retreat and therefore the militia fled the field with no goal in mind. The relentless British attack and the hasty and disorganized American retreat was so great that the fight became known as the Bladensburg races as the American forces fled through the streets of Washington. President Madison, along with the rest of the government of Washington, soon followed. Thanks to the President's wife, Dolley Madison, several historic paintings and artifacts were saved from the White House. That same night the British reached Washington unopposed.