William Beanes resistance in the Battle of Bladensburg, northeast of the Capital along the upper Eastern Branch stream of the Anacostia River on August 24, 1814. After a decisive victory by the British they continued to Washington and burned most of the city's public buildings, including the White House, The Capitol, the Navy Yard, and various other Federal buildings and structures in retaliation for the earlier American Burning of York, the capital of Upper Canada (later called Toronto, capital of the Province of Ontario) the year before. On their return trip back to their ships they again stopped briefly at Upper Marlboro.
British Army during the Napoleonic Wars to Boulogne and Calais. In 1814, the British government had sent a small force to Holland under Sir Thomas Graham to capture the fortress of Bergen op Zoom. The attack, on 8 March 1814, failed and the British were repelled, with heavy losses. Although the United States of America was not allied to France, war broke out between America and Britain ostensibly over issues of trade embargoes and impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy, both of which were directly or indirectly linked to the Napoleonic wars (the latter of which was not even brought up during the Treaty