I only quoted from published sources, not from family history. John Elting's Amateurs, To Arms! A Military History of the War of 1812 has a more vivid account of Robert Gorsuch's chat. As you say, family histories are often exaggerations. That two Gorsuch's serving as company commanders at Bladensburg running away is also implied by historical accounts of their units.

The only certainty is that they are my relatives, as all Gorsuch's in the United States are descended from John Gorsuch (D.D.) who was smothered in a hay mow by Roundheads c. 1647...his widow Ann (n. Lovelace) Gorsuch, fled to Virginia with most of her children shortly after. When the Puritans found their way to the colonies to "cleanse" them of High Church Anglicans, the Gorsuch's fled a second time to Maryland where most of the remain to this day.

v/r Greg