Earlier that summer, a new military district, the tenth, was defined so that special defensive action could be taken for this very occassion. The general chosen to be the authority for the district was William Winder, nephew of the Governor of Maryland. It was an obvious political appeasement. Winder did not have significant experience and had been captured at the battle of Stoney Creek. He had been traded back to the US earlier in the year of 1814.
A Mini-Biography:
Winder's normal civilian occupation was as a lawyer. He was aquainted with another lawyer, Francis Key who was serving as a military aide in Winder's command. Winder lived in Maryland and was married to his first cousin Gertrude Polk, daughter of his aunt Ester. Confusingly, Gen. Winder's father had also been a general and had the same first name. Winder was known by his middle name; Henry. He has several decendents, some now living. One decendent, yet ANOTHER General Winder, is listed as having died in 1865, presumably in the Civil War.
Getting the militia soldiers together was not a problem. Gen. Winder had divided his enthusiastic men into two brigades. One was put in Ft. Washington and along the Potomac River near Pitscataway just in case the British landed in that area. The main brigade was kept in Maryland and put under command of General Walter Smith. Confusingly, there was another General Smith, Samuel Smith, in Baltimore.
To some militia men, the drilling and marching in the hot August sun instead of being at their usual, income producing occupation was a great annoyance. But most were patriotic and the young ones were quite enthusiastic. Sec. Armstrong felt keeping the men in the field was foolish, expensive, and unnecessary. Winder told him when some first showed up they had no guns. Winder also tried to explain that militia had to get used to working together; they could not be thrown into a battle "cold". They were not like regular soldiers that were used to battle and working with each other. Armstrong, a former general, knew all this. He just felt the men would not be needed to all this was pointless. He didn't care to have his mind changed, for who knew better than he?
The immediate question was where to send Smith's brigade. That is, where would the British attack? For the time being, they were kept at a rather central location; Long Old Fields. There was plenty of information coming in about the British. Most of it was hogwash and exaggerated nonsense from frightened citizens. Secretary of State James Monroe, who had left college to fight the British in the American Revolution, decided he would be a reliable scout, and took some horse soldiers and went east.
Historians have faulted Gen. Winder to varying degrees, but it is certain he took his job seriously and did all he could to prepare. He had ridden around Maryland all that summer examining the roads and countryside and being familiar with places and their possibilities. He had tried and tried to get supplies from his superior, Armstrong, but to little avail. Armstrong felt Canada deserved the supplies more and continued to assert Washington would not be a target. Indeed, good things were finally starting to happen in Canada for the US, and having Canadian territory was a powerful bargaining tool as well as an economic asset.
Two foremost characteristics of a military force are mobility and firepower. It is known that Gen. Smith tried to get wagons after the British landed, but did anyone consider obtaining them earlier, during the "summer of preparation"? Winder DID line up mobile firepower; cannons. Not only were they available on paper", but he verified that they were actually there, with ammo, and crews and limbers. He squared this problem away.
It is easy for us to sit back and be post-facto armchair generals. But if we forget history from the summer of 1814 forward, we can begin to appreciate the situation. To the average reader, to whom few (if any) details of this entire matter are known, this is easy. That is one characteristic that makes this story so interesting; almost like breaking news. Except, you know how it basically ended; we won the war. But did the British reach Washington DC? If they had captured our capital, we would have lost the war, right? Read on and find out!