Raid on Alexandria
Encyclopedia
The Raid on Alexandria was a British
victory during the War of 1812
, which gained much plunder at little cost but may have contributed to the later British repulse at Baltimore by imposing delay on their main forces.
in the middle of 1814, a naval force under Commodore James Alexander Gordon
was ordered to sail up the Potomac River
, to attack Fort Washington
, which was then known as Fort Warburton. Located on the Maryland shore about 8 miles (12.9 km) below Washington, it was the only fortification on the Potomac River. The raid was supposed to be a demonstration, to distract American troops from the main British attack on Washington
under General Robert Ross.
of 36 guns, the bomb vessels Devastation
, Aetna
and Meteor, each mounting two large mortars, and the rocket vessel Erebus
.
Starting on 20 August, Gordon's ships spent several days working over the Kettle Bottom Shoals. Gordon later claimed all his ships grounded twenty times. On 27 August, his bomb vessels opened fire on Fort Washington. The commander of the fort was Captain Samuel Dyson. His orders from Major General William Winder, commanding the district around Washington, were to demolish the fort only if attacked by large numbers of troops. Winder also deployed about 500 militia to defend the fort. However, as soon as Gordon opened fire, Dyson promptly spiked his own guns, blew up the fort and retreated. (He was later dismissed).
In the subsequent Congressional Investigative Committee report on the burning of the capital and the surrender of Alexandria, the town's clerk, Israel Thompson, submitted the following account:
To avoid destruction of the town, the Council agreed to hand over all merchant ships, even those sunk to avoid capture, and merchandise. The British thus acquired twenty-two merchant ships and vast quantities of loot, including flour, cotton, tobacco, wines and cigars.
The delays caused by the shallow water conditions on the Potomac resulted in Gordon's squadron arriving off Fort Warburton nearly a week after Ross' troops had entered and left the city of Washington. Having accomplished his primary objective of silencing Fort Warburton, and learning that the Capitol and the Washington Navy Yard
had been burned a week earlier, Gordon decided not to proceed any further and rejected any suggestion that he take his squadron further up river to burn the docks at Georgetown
. His presence in Alexandria nevertheless almost paralysed Washington and the American government, which was trying to reassemble and resume its functions.
Fairy
reached Gordon with orders to rejoin the main British fleet in the Chesapeake under Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane
.
The late August rains (which had doused the fires burning Washington) had raised the water level in the Potomac, ensuring the British squadron's descent of the river would be swifter than its ascent. Gordon began his departure in stages, first sending the bomb-ship Meteor and the sloop Fairy ahead on 1 September to reconnoiter. The remaining ships departed Alexandria on 2 September, but sailed only a few miles because the retreat was more strongly opposed than Gordon's advance up the Potomac. Commodore John Rodgers
, with the crews of two frigates under construction (USS Guerriere
and Java
), twice tried to send fireships against Gordon's ships, but both attempts were foiled by British seamen in the squadron's launches and cutters.
On 31 August Secretary of State
James Monroe
, in his capacity as acting Secretary of War
, ordered an American field artillery battery to be hastily erected on the Virginia shore on the heights of present-day Fort Belvoir
. (He had overruled Colonel Decius Wadsworth
, who had first gathered the guns, and who resigned rather than take Monroe's orders.) The battery, known as the White House battery, caused some loss. Due to the narrow deep water channel as the Potomac flows past Belvoir, the British warships had great difficulty in elevating their guns to return fire on the White House battery. On 5 September, Gordon had his seamen shift the ballast in the bottoms of the ships so that the list to starboard allowed the port side guns to fire higher, and, after unleashing a fulsome fire, the squadron was finally able to pass the battery in about one hour.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
victory during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, which gained much plunder at little cost but may have contributed to the later British repulse at Baltimore by imposing delay on their main forces.
Background
As part of the British expedition to Chesapeake BayChesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
in the middle of 1814, a naval force under Commodore James Alexander Gordon
James Alexander Gordon
Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Alexander Gordon, KCB, RN was a distinguished British officer in the Royal Navy. His 75 years in the service, from Midshipman to Admiral of the Fleet was unprecedented in its duration. He served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812...
was ordered to sail up the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
, to attack Fort Washington
Fort Washington Park
Fort Washington, located near the community of Fort Washington, Maryland, USA, was for many decades the only defensive fort protecting Washington D.C. The original fort, overlooking the Potomac River, was completed in 1809, and was named Fort Warburton...
, which was then known as Fort Warburton. Located on the Maryland shore about 8 miles (12.9 km) below Washington, it was the only fortification on the Potomac River. The raid was supposed to be a demonstration, to distract American troops from the main British attack on Washington
Burning of Washington
The Burning of Washington was an armed conflict during the War of 1812 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America. On August 24, 1814, led by General Robert Ross, a British force occupied Washington, D.C. and set fire to many public buildings following...
under General Robert Ross.
British advance
Gordon's force consisted of the frigates Seahorse of 38 guns, and EuryalusHMS Euryalus (1803)
HMS Euryalus was a Royal Navy Apollo Class frigate of 36 guns, which saw service in the Battle of Trafalgar and the War of 1812. During her career she was commanded by three prominent naval personalities of the Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic period, Henry Blackwood, George Heneage Dundas and...
of 36 guns, the bomb vessels Devastation
HMS Devastation (1804)
HMS Devastation was an 8-gun Royal Navy bomb vessel purchased in 1804 and sold in 1816. This was one of the ships involved in the attack on Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. She also participated in the bombardments of Fort Washington, Maryland and St. Marys,...
, Aetna
HMS Aetna (1803)
HMS Aetna was one of the Royal Navy bomb vessels involved in the attack on Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore and the bombardment of Fort Washington, Maryland in 1814, during the War of 1812. In these actions she was commanded by Richard Kenah. Prior to this, Aetna participated in the second...
and Meteor, each mounting two large mortars, and the rocket vessel Erebus
HMS Erebus (1807)
HMS Erebus was originally built as a Royal Navy fireship, but served as a sloop and was re-rated as such in March 1808. She served in the Baltic during the Gunboat and Anglo-Russian Wars, where in 1809 she was briefly converted to a fireship, and then served in the War of 1812. In 1814 she was...
.
Starting on 20 August, Gordon's ships spent several days working over the Kettle Bottom Shoals. Gordon later claimed all his ships grounded twenty times. On 27 August, his bomb vessels opened fire on Fort Washington. The commander of the fort was Captain Samuel Dyson. His orders from Major General William Winder, commanding the district around Washington, were to demolish the fort only if attacked by large numbers of troops. Winder also deployed about 500 militia to defend the fort. However, as soon as Gordon opened fire, Dyson promptly spiked his own guns, blew up the fort and retreated. (He was later dismissed).
Occupation
With the fall of Fort Washington, there was nothing to stop the advance of the British warships on the prosperous port of Alexandria, which lay only a few miles upriver. The town's Common Council had earlier decided not to oppose any British attack, and on the morning of 28 August, the Mayor of Alexandria, Charles Simms, was rowed down river under a white flag to ask Gordon for terms for the surrender of the town. It being Sunday, Gordon told Mayor Simms to return to Alexandria and he would bring up his squadron on Monday.In the subsequent Congressional Investigative Committee report on the burning of the capital and the surrender of Alexandria, the town's clerk, Israel Thompson, submitted the following account:
On the morning of the next day, to wit the 29th of August, [the British squadron] arranged itself along the town, so as to command it from one extremity to the other. The force consisted of two frigates, to wit: the Seahorse, rating thirty-eight guns, and Euryalus, rating thirty-six gus; two rocket ships, of eighteen guns each; two bomb-ships, of eight guns each; and a schooner of two guns, which were but a few hundred yards from the wharves, and the houses so situated that they might have been laid in ashes in a few minutes.
To avoid destruction of the town, the Council agreed to hand over all merchant ships, even those sunk to avoid capture, and merchandise. The British thus acquired twenty-two merchant ships and vast quantities of loot, including flour, cotton, tobacco, wines and cigars.
The delays caused by the shallow water conditions on the Potomac resulted in Gordon's squadron arriving off Fort Warburton nearly a week after Ross' troops had entered and left the city of Washington. Having accomplished his primary objective of silencing Fort Warburton, and learning that the Capitol and the Washington Navy Yard
Washington Navy Yard
The Washington Navy Yard is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy...
had been burned a week earlier, Gordon decided not to proceed any further and rejected any suggestion that he take his squadron further up river to burn the docks at Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
. His presence in Alexandria nevertheless almost paralysed Washington and the American government, which was trying to reassemble and resume its functions.
British withdrawal
After the British had occupied Alexandria for three days, the Cruizer class brig-sloopCruizer class brig-sloop
The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging...
Fairy
HMS Fairy (1812)
HMS Fairy was a , built by William Taylor at Bideford and launched in 1812. She escorted convoys during the War of 1812 and participated in the Royal Navy’s campaign incursion up the Potomac in 1814, the Raid on Alexandria. She was broken up in 1821.-Service:Fairy was commissioned in August 1812...
reached Gordon with orders to rejoin the main British fleet in the Chesapeake under Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
.
The late August rains (which had doused the fires burning Washington) had raised the water level in the Potomac, ensuring the British squadron's descent of the river would be swifter than its ascent. Gordon began his departure in stages, first sending the bomb-ship Meteor and the sloop Fairy ahead on 1 September to reconnoiter. The remaining ships departed Alexandria on 2 September, but sailed only a few miles because the retreat was more strongly opposed than Gordon's advance up the Potomac. Commodore John Rodgers
John Rodgers (naval officer, War of 1812)
John Rodgers was a senior naval officer in the United States Navy who served under six Presidents for nearly four decades during its formative years in the 1790s through the late 1830s, committing the greater bulk of his adult life to his country...
, with the crews of two frigates under construction (USS Guerriere
USS Guerriere (1814)
The first USS Guerriere was the first frigate built in the United States since 1801. The name came from a fast 49-gun British frigate captured and destroyed in a half-hour battle by 19 August 1812. This victory was the United States' first success in the War of 1812.She was built at the...
and Java
USS Java (1815)
USS Java was a wooden-hulled, sailing frigate in the United States Navy, bearing 44 guns. She was named for the American victory over off the coast of Brazil in 29 December 1812, captured by the Constitution under the command of William Bainbridge. HMS Java had suffered severe damage during the...
), twice tried to send fireships against Gordon's ships, but both attempts were foiled by British seamen in the squadron's launches and cutters.
On 31 August Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
, in his capacity as acting Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
, ordered an American field artillery battery to be hastily erected on the Virginia shore on the heights of present-day Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Originally, it was the site of the Belvoir plantation. Today, Fort Belvoir is home to a number of important United States military organizations...
. (He had overruled Colonel Decius Wadsworth
Decius Wadsworth
Wadsworth's cipher was a cipher invented by Decius Wadsworth, a Colonel in the Ordnance Corps of the United States Army. In 1817, he developed a progressive cipher system based on a 1790 design by Thomas Jefferson, establishing a method that was continuously improved upon and used until the end of...
, who had first gathered the guns, and who resigned rather than take Monroe's orders.) The battery, known as the White House battery, caused some loss. Due to the narrow deep water channel as the Potomac flows past Belvoir, the British warships had great difficulty in elevating their guns to return fire on the White House battery. On 5 September, Gordon had his seamen shift the ballast in the bottoms of the ships so that the list to starboard allowed the port side guns to fire higher, and, after unleashing a fulsome fire, the squadron was finally able to pass the battery in about one hour.