History of Washington, D.C. problems, and plans for further construction to reach the Ohio River were abandoned. During the War of 1812, British forces conducted an expedition between August 19 and 29, 1814, that took and burned the capital city. On August 24, the British routed an American militia, which had gathered at Bladensburg, Maryland to protect the capital (see Battle of Bladensburg). The militia then abandoned Washington without a fight. President James Madison and the remainder of the U.S. government fled the capital shortly before the British arrived. The British then entered and burned the capital during the most notably destructive raid of
USS Allen (1814) early 1825. USS Allen (1814) USS "Allen" was a row galley built in 1814 at Vergennes, Vermont, by Adam and Noah Brown. She was commissioned during the summer of 1814, with Sailing Master William M. Robins in command. She became a unit of Commodore Thomas Macdonough's squadron on Lake Champlain and participated in the Battle of Lake Champlain in September 1814, during which the American squadron captured the remnants of the British squadron under Captain George Downie. After the War of 1812, she remained in active service for another decade. She was sold at Whitehall, New York, sometime in late