midnight
Winder had but three thousand men , most of them undisciplined , to oppose this force ; and he prudently retreated toward Washington followed by Ross , who , on the 23d of August , was joined by Cockburn and his seamen . Uncertain whether Washington City or Fort Washington was the destination of the enemy , Winder left a force at Bladensburg about four miles from the capitol , and with other troops watched the highways leading in other directions , while he hastened to the city to inform the president that the enemy were camped in ten miles of the capitol . Neither President Madison nor his cabinet slept that night . Fernando and his riflemen were sent to Bladensburg at midnight , and on the morning of August 24 , 1814 , a small scouting party sent down the road came back reporting that the British army was on the advance . Fernando with his riflemen went to meet the enemy and hold them in check as long as possible . About ten o'clock , they came in sight of the advance of the enemy . About two hundred redcoats were led by an officer on horseback .