Never the Same River Twice: Interpreting the War of 1812’s Battle of Bladensburg

Bladensburg Waterfront Park

Sarah Fritz/Anacostia Trails Heritage Area

Recipient: Anacostia Trails Heritage Area

Amount: $15,200

In the days following the shocking events of August 24, 1814, Margaret Bayard Smith (1778-1844) recounted how “spectators stood in awful silence” on the streets of the newly formed nation’s capital as “the city was light and the heavens redden’d with the blaze.” For 26 hours, Washington D.C. burned as the British set fire to public symbols of American democracy, including the presidential mansion.

Earlier that day in Bladensburg, Maryland, just five miles northeast of the Capitol building, American General William Winder struggled to assemble his poorly trained and exhausted defensive line to confront the approaching British. Though their numbers were 2,000 less, British Major General Robert Ross’ men were in expert condition as they had just come from fighting France in the Napoleonic Wars. Approaching from the southeast, Ross observed the American's missing battalions, and ordered his men to push west across the Anacostia River. The American lines quickly crumbled and dispersed in chaos – Winder had not planned a retreat. The American defeat at the Battle of Bladensburg cleared the way for the British to march directly into the nation’s capital, seeking vengeance for the American burning of the Canadian capital just one year earlier.

With funds awarded through an American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) Battlefield Interpretation Grant, Anacostia Trails Heritage Area will evaluate existing interpretive methods and create a plan to engage visitors of Bladensburg’s urban, waterfront landscape with this critical moment in the War of 1812. The project will design a strategy to unify visitor experiences of the historical and contemporary landscape with multilingual content and enhanced accessibility. The project also will consider augmented reality technologies that enable visitors to explore the waterfront at the time of the battle. By making the history of the Battle of Bladensburg engaging and accessible, Anacostia Trails Heritage Area’s project invites communities along the trail to explore the currents of their lives through the stories of the past, to protect our shared heritage, and to enjoy these special places for years to come. Anacostia Trails Heritage Area’s 2022 award builds on foundational research conducted with the support of a 2018 NPS ABPP Preservation Planning Grant.

Battlefield Interpretation Grants from the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program empower preservation partners nationwide to modernize and enhance battlefield interpretation – to inspire wonder, understanding and empathy at the places that witnessed some of our nation’s most challenging events. In addition, the program administers three other grants: Battlefield Land Acquisition, Preservation Planning, and Battlefield Restoration Grants. This financial assistance generates community-driven stewardship of historic resources at the state, tribal and local levels.

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Check out the American Battlefield Protection Program's website for more information about various grant offerings and eligibility.

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