Bladensburg

Bladensburg

(blā`dənzbûrg), town (1990 pop. 8,064), Prince Georges co., S central Md., a residential suburb of Washington, D.C.; chartered 1742, inc. 1854. The defeat (Aug. 24, 1814) at Bladensburg of American troops under Gen. W. H. Winder permitted the British under Gen. Robert Ross to march on Washington, D.C., and burn many of the public buildings. The town was also the scene of a historic duel in which Stephen DecaturDecatur, Stephen
, 1779–1820, American naval officer, b. Sinepuxent, near Berlin, Md.; son of a naval officer, Stephen Decatur. After joining the U.S. navy in 1798, he rose to fame in the Tripolitan War.
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 was mortally wounded (1820) by James BarronBarron, James,
1768–1851, U.S. naval officer, b. Hampton, Va. Of a seafaring family, he served in the Virginia navy in the Revolution, entered the U.S. navy as a lieutenant in 1798, and held commands in the Mediterranean at the time of the Tripolitan War.
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.