Tschiffely to John Badollet, November 14, 1814

Description:	Signed by Tschiffely, from “the city of Washington”. In this letter Tschiffely tells Badollet that he has taken so long to respond to Badollet’s last letter (received September 20th) because of the British occupation and burning of Washington that occurred on August 24th. After the attack, Tschiffely had to live in an encampment until October 8th; after that he fell ill for more than two weeks, then had to spend a considerable amount of time catching up on work, and thus was unable to write Badollet sooner. He does say that Salomon wrote Badollet twice in the meantime, but left it to Tschiffely to write the details of the military skirmish since he was part of it from beginning to end. On August 18th the Americans got word that a party of six or seven thousand British soldiers disembarked at Nottingham, which Tschiffely says is approximately forty miles from Washington, and the American troops scrambled to assemble at a moment’s notice. They did not march immediately, however; they waited until noon the next day, and according to Tschiffely they only made a progress of about eight miles. On August 20th they moved another short distance (less than six miles, by Tschiffely’s account), “giving the enemy all the advantage they could have desired”. Tschiffely’s detachment consisted of light infantry, a company of carabiniers (riflemen/musketmen), and a company of light artillerymen, which he says were “the elite of the corps”. At 4 a.m. on Monday, August 22nd a vanguard of volunteers moved ahead to scout for British troops, and approximately nine miles out they encountered a regiment of enemy cavalry. The cavalry retreated in haste and the American force pursued them, but it was a trap; the British quickly surrounded and divided them until, caught in a rapidly-worsening situation, they had no choice but to fall back. On the 23rd, after the President had reviewed the troops, Tschiffely’s detachment was sent out in advance yet again. They traveled about eight miles forward again, until the steep slope of the hills blocked their view of the road ahead; their commanding officer felt it would be too dangerous for them all to descend into a valley they could not see their way out of, so he held the artillery back and ordered the rest of the detachment forward. Descending into that “devil of a valley”, Tschiffely and his compatriots felt that they were close to the British—no more than three hundred yards away, specifically—but “moving on nevertheless, we followed a curve in the road and fell right on them”. The British force was below them on the hill’s declining slope and did not see the Americans, who took advantage of the situation. The musketmen broke off to the left, while Tschiffely’s company went to the right; they were seen and immediately attacked, but the musketmen quickly crested the hill to their left and began to fire as the British scrambled to flank them. The waiting artillerymen crested the hill and came to their aid, but the Americans still had to retreat. As Tschiffely writes, “they attacked briskly and in good order, but what can 300 men do against 1200?” The situation was too dangerous for them to risk more decisive action so they fled, and in doing so managed not to lose a single man to death or injury, though Tschiffely reports that they wounded fifteen to twenty English soldiers. The enemy pursued them back to their base camp, where they rejoined the main corps before going all the way back to Washington. Instead of following the road they had been on, however, the British forces changed course and made directly for Bladensburg, Maryland, which is approximately seven miles from Washington on the road to Baltimore. The American army marched at 11 o’clock in the morning on August 24th, and had occupied the highlands around Bladensburg by 1 in the afternoon. Tschiffely says that because Badollet isn’t familiar with Bladensburg or the surrounding environs there would be no point in describing their exact position, but he does say it was favorable to that of the British. He also says that their artillery was more formidable and they had more reason to fight, but even so, the American army had to fall back after just over an hour of battle—a disaster that Tschiffely blames on the ignorance and stupidity of their General-in-Chief. Tschiffely does not name the General directly, but says he failed to burn a bridge that the enemy later used to cross the Potomac, an action that is historically attributed to Brigadier General Tobias Stansbury. In spite of everything Tschiffely says his own detachment was the last to leave the battlefield and that they fought honorably; he is proud to have been a part of this corps of distinguished men. In closing he apologizes for his grammar and spelling errors, as it has been a long time since he last used French, and sends along his well wishes as well as those of Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Salomon.
Origin:	1814-11-14
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16066coll35/id/309
Collection:	Vincennes University Archives
Copyright:	Digital image ©2015 Vincennes University
Geography:	United States -- Indiana -- Knox County -- Vincennes -- November 14, 1814
Subjects:	Badollet, John, 1757-1837 -- Correspondence United States -- History -- War of 1812

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