shall tonight in Baltimore—or in Hell!” Thus spoke British Maj. Gen. Robert Ross, who commanded His Majesty George III’s land forces opposite the nascent United States’ third largest city on Sept. 12, 1814. It was no mere boast, as just three weeks earlier the redoubtable Irish warrior, supported by Rear Adm. George Cockburn, had routed the American army at Bladensburg, Md., and torched federal buildings (including the White House) in the capital at Washington, D.C.—surely
