Existing comment:
American:
The first of the battle's players to reach Bladensburg on August 24 was American Brigadier General Stansbury in command of 2,200 Baltimore militiamen, which he placed in a wedge shaped formation on the western side of the Eastern Branch. Three hundred and fifty yards to the formation's front was the Bladensburg Bridge, with the town itself just across the river. On the wedge's left flank was the road to Georgetown, on the right, the road to Washington.
Stansbury's forward defensive line consisted of a small series of earthworks. Here he placed two battalions of riflemen and his battery of small 6 pounders. Behind them an open field extended for 50 yards ending in an apple orchard where Stansbury positioned his second echelon troops.
Winder used the bulk of his force to establish a third line, well behind the "Monroe line." The line's right flank was positioned atop a small grassy knoll; the remainder simply stood in ranks in the center of a broad open field. There were two small detachments sent forward; a battery of three cannons placed on Stansburg's left flank, positioned to rake the orchard so as to cover any retreat of the forward line; and an additional battery of two cannons placed well forward on the Washington road to impede enemy movement down in. Barney arrived shortly after Winder's main body and positioned his men directly in the center of the third line. |