=310. Capture of Washington.=—Meanwhile British ships ravaged the Atlantic coast, and by midsummer a large fleet under Admirals Cockburn and Cochrane was collected in Chesapeake Bay. On board was General Ross with several thousand troops. Washington, Virginia, and Maryland were evidently in danger and great efforts were made to meet the invaders—unfortunately to little purpose, on account of the incapacity of Secretary Armstrong. The British landed and began their march to Washington, easily putting the undisciplined American militia to flight at Bladensburg, Maryland (August 24). Our troops evacuated Washington, and the British entered. They retaliated for the burning of York by setting fire to the White House, the unfinished Capitol, and other buildings. It was an act of vandalism that cannot be defended; but fortunately the next city attacked repulsed the invaders courageously. This was Baltimore, before which the British troops were driven back, General Ross being slain, and from which the British fleet retired after a vain bombardment of Fort McHenry (September 12 and 13). The song of “The Star Spangled Banner,” by Francis S. Key, commemorates this American victory. END OF THE WAR. [Illustration: ANDREW JACKSON.] =311. The Battle of New Orleans.=—It soon became apparent that the attacks on Washington and Baltimore had been of secondary importance, and that the real object of the British fleet was to capture New Orleans, and snatch the newly acquired Louisiana from the United States. James Monroe, who had succeeded Armstrong as Secretary of War, at once called upon the ablest soldier in the Southwest, Andrew Jackson.[136] The latter gathered his forces, and although he first tried an expedition into Florida against the British and Indians, he set to work at the defenses of New Orleans in good season. The large British fleet effected a landing safely, and by December 23 the troops were only a few miles from the city. The main battle occurred on January 8, 1815, and the backwoodsmen behind their works destroyed the flower of the British army who had the hardihood to make a front attack. Sir Edward Pakenham, the British commander, was killed, after having been for days outgeneralled by Jackson; and at least two thousand veterans, many of whom had followed Wellington in the Spanish Peninsula, lay dead or wounded on the field. The American loss, on the other hand, was almost incredibly slight—about twenty men all told. [Illustration: SOUTHWESTERN OPERATIONS, 1813–1815]