heavy casualties. However, as the 1/44th threatened Smith's open left flank, Winder ordered Smith to retreat also. Smith's brigade fell back initially in good order, but Winder's orders to retreat apparently did not reach Barney, and his situation worsened when the civilian drivers of the carts carrying his reserve ammunition joined the general rout, leaving the Marine gun crews with fewer than three rounds of canister, round shot and charges in their caissons. Barney's 300 sailors and 103 Marines nevertheless held off the British frontal attacks, launching counter-attacks armed with hand pikes and cutlasses, with cries of "Board'em! Board'em!". Eventually, as the British 1/4th and 1/44th Regiments enveloped their left flank, Barney ordered his men to retreat to avoid capture. Barney himself was badly wounded in the thigh with a musket ball and was taken prisoner. The British later congratulated Barney for his bravery and released him. Beall's troops were also driven from the hill they held, after an ineffectual resistance. Winder had not given any instructions before the battle in the case of a retreat and as the American militia left the battlefield, he issued contradictory orders to halt and reform, or fall back on the Capitol where Secretary of War John Armstrong Jr. hoped vainly to make a stand, using the federal buildings as strongpoints, or retreat through Georgetown to Tenleytown. Most of the militia simply fled the field with no destination in mind, or deserted the ranks to see to the safety of their families. The efforts of British commander Robert Ross during the battle deserve praise, according to journalist Steve Vogel, in his book about that era. "He conducted a brilliant campaign of deception, feinting one way or the other, marching and then doubling back, and was able to paralyze the Americans and prevent them from defending Bladensburg". Casualties Although the British had suffered heavier casualties than the U.S. (many inflicted by Barney's guns), they had completely routed the defenders. British casualties were 64 dead and 185 wounded. Some of the British dead "died without sustaining a scratch. They collapsed from heat exhaustion and the strain of punishing forced marches over the five days since landing at Benedict". Heidler's Encyclopedia of the War of 1812 gives the U.S. loss as "10 or 12 killed, 40 wounded" and "about 100" captured. Henry Adams and John S. Williams both give the American casualties as 26 killed and 51