War All Around

War All Around. Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. Perched above the Potomac River, Mount Welby was nearly surrounded by the war in August 1814. Mary Welby DeButts describes hearing “every fire” from the Battle of Bladensburg and how the house was illuminated by fires in Washington. She writes of finding rockets “on our hill” and that a British fleet “lay directly before our house.”, Mount Welby was in earshot of explosions that destroyed Fort Washington and within view of the plundering of Alexandria., Conflicting Loyalties , The war was especially hard for Mount Welby’s owners, Dr. Samuel DeButts from Ireland and his wife Mary from England. Unable to access English banks and markets, the British sympathizers struggled to keep their farm., “You know not how it hurt me to think I was so near my Countrymen, and must look upon them as Enemy.” , –Mary Welby DeButts to Millicent Welby Ridgehill, March 18, 1815. , (Inscription under the image on the right) , Congreve rockets, named for the inventor, were a new military weapon used by British land and naval forces. Three Congreve rockets landed near the DeButts home at Mount Welby.