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 Wasp (1814) USS Wasp (1814) USS "Wasp" was a sloop-of-war that served in the United States Navy in 1814 during the War of 1812. She was the fifth United States Navy ship to carry that name. She carried out two successful raiding voyages against British trade during the summer of 1814, in the course of which she fought and defeated three British warships. "Wasp" was lost, cause unknown, in the Atlantic in early autumn, 1814. "Wasp" was a ship-rigged sloop-of-war constructed in 1813 at Newburyport, Massachusetts, by Cross & Merrill. She was commissioned early in 1814, Master Commandant Johnston Blakeley in command.