Lore of the Corps - The Battle of Bladensburg

On this day in 1814, 103 Marines and "flotillamen" from the Washington Navy Yard held off a numerically superior British force long enough to help save the Declaration of Independence.

"It was an unmitigated military disaster, save for a small band of US Marines whose desperate defense of the nation's capital allowed for the Declaration of Independence - and the President - to be whisked away to safety."  Claire Barret, Military Times.