ish fought their way to the American
capital. They were opposed by raw militia, and the few sailors and
marines under Barney. The former fled with promptitude at the very
first fire, but the sailors and marines fought gallantly. The fighting
was sharpest at Bladensburg; and here Barney's blue-jackets won praise
from everybody, even from the enemy whose advance they disputed.
Barney himself led the Americans, and sighted a favorite gun of the
sailors' battery, until he fell desperately wounded. This battery
commanded the road by which the main column of British advanced; and
by its hail of grape and canister it beat back the advancing
regiments, and for some time checked their further progress. The
British thereupon opened with rockets, and sent out sharp-shooters to
pick off the Yankee gunners. One of these riflemen was observed by the
Americans to deliberately build for himself a small redoubt of stones
from an old wall; and, lying down behind it, he began a deliberate
fire upon the Americans. His first bullet went through the cap of one
of the sailors, and the second sent a poor fellow to his long account.
The marines answered with their muskets; but the fellow's stone
rampart saved him, and he continued his fire. Barney vowed to put an
end to that affair, and, carefully sighting one of his cannon, pulled
the lanyard. The heavy round shot was seen to strike the
sharp-shooter's defence, and stones and man disappeared in a cloud of
dust. Meantime, the enemy had thrown out flanking parties under cover
of the woods, and had nearly surrounded the little band of sailors. A
musket-ball struck Barney in the thigh, and he began to grow faint
with loss of blood; and, finding that the militia had fled, and the
sailors were becoming exhausted, the commodore ordered a retreat. The
blue-jackets left the field in good order; but their gallant commander
had gone but a few steps, when the pain of his wound forced him to lie
down under a tree, and await the coming of the enemy. The British soon
came up, led by Gen. Ross and Capt. Wainwright of the navy. After
learning Barney's rank, and courteously offering to secure surgical
aid, the general turned to his companion, and, speaking of the
stubborn resistance made by the battery, said, "I told you it was the
flotilla men."--"Yes. You were right, though I could not believe you,"
was the response. "They have given us the only fighting we have had."

Meanwhile, the British, having routed th