Memorializing defeat at Bladensburg that led to eventual victory For Joanna Blake, the sculptor who has been designing a memorial to Americans who fought at the Battle of Bladensburg during the War of 1812, the challenge was daunting. How do you create a scene that commemorates a defeat, but a defeat that would prove to be a significant turning point in an eventual U.S. victory? "It galvanized the nation," Blake said of the August 1814 battle. The outcome was a major setback - it opened the door for the British to sack Washington - but alerted the country that its independence was tenuous and that a more sophisticated battle plan and military was needed. Nearly three weeks after the battle at Bladensburg, the Americans were victorious in Baltimore, where Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that became the fledgling nation's anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." (Katherine Frey/THE WASHINGTON POST) - A workbench at John Gianetti's Studio has early drafts of the memorial along with photographs of the models and other artwork used to create the sculpture Monday, November 26, 2012 in Brentwood, MD. Working from photographs with models as her subjects as well as drawings of the historical figures, Joanna Blake created the first draft of the memorial that changed over time. "The Americans might not have had the victory at Baltimore if not for the Battle of Bladensburg," said Blake, a Cottage City resident who worked on the National World War II Memorial in Washington before taking on the job of creating the Bladensburg memorial. Blake, who worked on several possibilities, settled on a design that shows a wounded American Commodore Joshua Barney; Charles Ball, a former slave who served in Barney's flotilla; and an unnamed Marine. While Barney is down and wounded, all three figures are looking up, weapons by their sides, appearing ready for whatever might come next. Blake's 8-by-10-foot panel, recently completed after more than two years of work, will soon go to Laran Bronze of Chester, Pa., which will make a mold before casting it in bronze. The memorial's supporters hope that it will be installed in Balloon Park off U.S. 1 near Bladensburg around the time of the battle's 199th anniversary in August. But like the battle itself, the effort to create a memorial to the Americans who fought has been something of a challenge. It was spearheaded by county residents and history buffs troubled that this significant event in Prince George's County history had no memorial to commemorate it. Key among them was John Giannetti, who served in the Marines and whose Brentwood sculpture studio, where monuments and memorials are created for a wide range of purposes, has been the site of much of Blake's work. Giannetti, along with others from the Aman Trust, a local nonprofit group that supports historic preservation around Bladensburg, is trying to raise the $400,000 or so that the memorial needs to go from dream to reality. With two years of commemorations of the War of 1812 underway throughout the Washington region, Giannetti and his colleagues have joined forces with a broader group of Prince George's residents who are striving to let the world know that their community was the scene of several pivotal events in the War of 1812, which was sparked partly by the British navy pressing unwilling U.S. sailors into service. County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) established a county task force that is working with a group formed by Bladensburg Mayor Walter James to try to call attention to the county's role in the war. All are eyeing the 2014 bicentennial of the Battle of Bladensburg as the focus for major commemorations and events.