Major General Robert Ross’s place in the War of 1812 rests on two events separated by less than three weeks: the British victory at Bladensburg and the burning of Washington, followed by his death during the advance on Baltimore. The episode made him a lasting figure in the conflict’s history, but it was the culmination of a long military career across Europe. Ross had served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars before taking command of British forces on the east coast of the United States.
From Rostrevor to the European campaigns
Ross was born in 1766 in Rostrevor, County Down, Ireland. His father, Major David Ross, had served in the Seven Years’ War; his mother was Elizabeth Adderley, the maternal half-sister of James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont. Ross attended Trinity College Dublin, where he was treasurer of the College Historical Society. In 1789 he joined the 25th Regiment of Foot as an ensign, beginning a career that would take him from the Netherlands and Egypt to Spain and North America.
As a junior officer, Ross fought at Krabbendam in the Netherlands in 1799 and at Alexandria in Egypt in 1801. Promoted to major in 1803, he took command of the 20th Regiment of Foot. He fought at Maida in the Kingdom of Naples in 1806 and at Corunna in Spain in early 1809. At the end of 1808 he had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel; in 1810 he became a full colonel and an aide-de-camp to the King.
In 1813 Ross served under Arthur Wellesley in the Peninsular War, commanding his regiment at Vittoria, Roncesvalles and Sorauren. At Orthez, in France, on 27 February 1814, he was seriously wounded in the left side of his neck. He had only just returned to service when he was promoted to major general and given command of an expeditionary force sent against the United States.
Bladensburg and the capture of Washington
Ross sailed to North America to command British troops off the United States’ east coast. He led his soldiers ashore at Benedict, Maryland, and marched through Upper Marlboro towards Washington. On 24 August 1814, his forces met hastily organised American militia at Bladensburg. The British routed them, opening the way to the capital.
Ross entered Washington late that evening at the head of an army of about 4,500, including 1,000 Royal Marines from Rear-Admiral George Cockburn’s flotilla. The city had a larger contingent of defenders, but the British captured it. Under Ross’s direction, troops set fire to public buildings, including the White House and the United States Capitol. Both suffered extensive damage to their interiors and contents.
The burning was a deliberate act, but the surviving account gives a more complicated picture than the image of a commander intent on indiscriminate destruction. Cockburn urged the attack on the capital and pressed for damage to be extended further. Ross refused to accept his recommendation to destroy private property and threatened punishment for soldiers who disobeyed orders to preserve it. The National Intelligencer newspaper was attacked under Cockburn’s direction. The destruction of government buildings remains the defining, and deeply controversial, episode of Ross’s career.
The campaign ends near Baltimore
After Washington, Ross led the British force north towards Baltimore, acting at the urging of Cockburn and army quartermaster-general Lieutenant George de Lacy Evans. The invasion culminated in the Battle of Baltimore. On 12 September 1814, as British troops advanced from North Point towards the city, they encountered American skirmishers. Ross rode forward to direct his men and was shot through the right arm and into the chest. He died while being carried back towards the fleet, before the War of 1812 ended.
His body was preserved in a barrel of Jamaican rum aboard HMS Tonnant. When that ship was diverted to New Orleans, Ross’s body was transferred to HMS Royal Oak and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was buried in the Old Burying Ground there on 29 September 1814. The campaign had taken him from command at Washington to death in the field in under three weeks.
Commemoration on both sides of the Atlantic
Ross’s memory has been marked in his home village, in London and in the United States. A granite obelisk near the shore of Carlingford Lough commemorates him at Rostrevor. A smaller memorial was erected in Kilbroney Parish Church by soldiers who had served with him at Maida. His military career is also commemorated by a national monument in St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Its inscription records both the capture of Washington and his death while directing an attack near Baltimore.
His descendants received an augmentation to the Ross family arms, including an arm holding a broken American flagstaff, and the family name became Ross-of-Bladensburg. The added motto was “Bladensburg”. These honours reflect the British commemoration of his military service; they do not erase the destruction for which he is chiefly remembered in Washington. The American capital also keeps its own record of the episode: a portrait of Ross is displayed in the United States Capitol, alongside depictions and exhibits concerning the burning.
Why Major General Robert Ross deserves a place in British Legacy
Ross belongs in British Legacy because his career shows how the British Army’s European wars and the War of 1812 were connected through the service of individual officers. He fought in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, served in the Peninsular campaigns, recovered from a serious wound at Orthez and then took command of an expeditionary force in North America. At Bladensburg, his army’s victory enabled the capture of Washington. That advance, and the burning of the capital’s public buildings, became one of the most consequential and contentious British operations of the war.
A responsible account of Ross’s legacy must hold military commemoration beside the consequences of his actions. British memorials in Rostrevor and St Paul’s Cathedral record the officer and his service; Washington’s damaged government buildings and its continuing displays record the other side of the same campaign. Ross’s orders to spare private property complicate the account without undoing responsibility for the destruction of public buildings under his command. His death near Baltimore, soon after Washington, also makes clear that the campaign was not a simple story of triumph. Remembering Ross in Britain means understanding both his long service and the contested legacy of the operation that made him famous.
Sources
Robert Ross (British Army officer, born 1766), revision 1379816299
Adapted in part from Robert Ross (British Army officer, born 1766) by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text has been edited and combined with the existing article; this adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.
