Robert Ross (1766 - September 12, 1814) was a British army officer who participated in the Napoleonic War and the War of 1812.

He led the army which burned the American capital and is thus credited as the first commander to defeat a full United States army in the field.

Ross was born in Rostrevor, County Down, (now Northern Ireland) to Maj. David Ross, an officer in the Seven Years War and his mother was half-sister to the Earl of Charlesmont . He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and joined the 25th Regiment of Foot as a ensign in 1789. In 1803 he took command of the 20th Regiment . He fought at the Battle of Krabbendam in the Netherlands, Alexandria, Egypt, the Battle of Maida, Scylla Castle, in the Peninsular War at Corunna and the Battle of Pamplona .

He had been promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel before Corunna. In 1810, Ross was made a colonel as well as aide-de-camp to the king. He fought in Spain under Wellington in 1812, at the battles of Vittoria, Roncesvalles, and the Sauroren .

After the conclusion of the war with Napoleon, Ross sailed to North America as a Major-General to take charge of all British troops off the east coast of the United States. Ross personally led the British troops in the attack on the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, where the American army quickly collapsed. Moving on from Bladensburg, Ross captured Washington, D.C. with little resistance. Ross insisted on only destroying public property when he ordered the burning of Washington, including the destruction of the U.S. Capitol and the White House.

Ross then organized an attack on Baltimore, Maryland. His troops landed at North Point, twelve miles from the city. During the march, the troops encountered American skirmishers and Ross rode forward to personally direct his troops. An American sniper shot him through the right arm into the chest. Two Americans, Dan Wells and Henry McComas, are credited as the sniper team although both were killed in the engagement. Ross died within minutes.

After his death, his body was stored in a barrel of 129 gallons (586 L) of good Jamaican rum and shipped on the British ship HMS Royal Oak to Halifax, Nova Scotia where his body was buried on September 29, 1814. It is thought that preparations for the Battle of New Orleans prevented his body from being shipped back to Britain.

He is commemorated by a 100ft granite obelisk near his birthplace alongside Carlingford Lough in Ireland.

External links

• General Ross