William Henry Winder (1775 – 1824) was an American soldier and a Maryland lawyer. He was a controversial general in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812.
Winder was born in Somerset County, Maryland. He was the nephew of Levin Winder. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and from 1798 to 1812 practiced law in Baltimore. He was commissioned as a colonel in the U.S. Army at the start of the War of 1812. Promoted to brigadier general, he ...
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William Henry Winder (1775 – 1824) was an American soldier and a Maryland lawyer. He was a controversial general in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812.
Winder was born in Somerset County, Maryland. He was the nephew of Levin Winder. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, and from 1798 to 1812 practiced law in Baltimore. He was commissioned as a colonel in the U.S. Army at the start of the War of 1812. Promoted to brigadier general, he was one of two acting commanders of the American army at the Battle of Stoney Creek in July 1813, where he was captured, along with fellow commander John Chandler.
Exchanged the following year, Winder was appointed commander of the defenses of Washington and Baltimore by President James Madison on July 4, 1814. In August General Ross with several thousand troops advanced upon Washington. Winder had only a few hundred regulars, and a mob of some thousands of militia to oppose them. The Americans met the British at the Battle of Bladensburg on...
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