Washington, DC on Fire

The Burning of Washington was a British invasion of Washington City (now Washington DC), during the War of 1812. It is the only time since the Revolutionary War that a foreign power has captured and occupied the capitol of the United States.

The United Kingdom was already at war with France when the Americans declared war in 1812, but the war with France took up most of Britain’s attention and military resources. The initial British strategy against the United States focused on imposing a partial blockade at sea, and maintaining a defensive stance on land. Reinforcements were held back from Canada and reliance was instead made on local militias and native allies to bolster the British Army in Canada. However, with the defeat and exile of Napoleon in April 1814, Britain was able to use its now available troops and ships to prosecute its war with the United States

Following the defeat of American forces at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, a British force led by Major General Robert Ross marched to Washington. That night, British forces set fire to multiple government and military buildings, including the White House (then called the Presidential Mansion), the Capitol Building, as well as other facilities of the government. The attack was in part a retaliation for American destruction in Canada: U.S. forces had burned and looted its capitol the previous year and then had burned buildings in Port Dover. Less than a day after the attack began, a heavy thunderstorm—possibly a hurricane—and a tornado extinguished the fires. The occupation of Washington lasted for roughly 26 hours.

 President James Madison, military officials, and his government evacuated and were able to find refuge for the night in Brookeville, a small town in Maryland, which is known today as the “United States’ Capital for a Day.”; President Madison spent the night in the house of Caleb Bentley, a Quaker who lived and worked in Brookeville. Bentley’s house, known today as the Madison House, still exists. Following the storm, the British returned to their ships, many of which required repairs due to the storm.

Rear Admiral George Cockburn had commanded the squadron in Chesapeake Bay since the previous year. On June 25, he wrote to Admiral Alexander Cochrane stressing that the defenses there were weak, and he felt that several major cities were vulnerable to attack. Cochrane suggested attacking Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia. Rear Admiral Cockburn accurately predicted that “within a short period of time, with enough force, we could easily have at our mercy the capital”. He had recommended Washington as the target, because of the comparative ease of attacking the national capital and “the greater political effect likely to result”.  Major General Ross was less optimistic. He “never dreamt for one minute that an army of 3,500 men with 1,000 marines reinforcement, with no cavalry, hardly any artillery, could march 50 miles inland and capture an enemy capital”.  Ross also refused to accept Cockburn’s recommendation to burn the entire city. He spared nearly all of the privately owned properties.

The Capitol was, according to some contemporary travelers, the only building in Washington “worthy to be noticed”, so it was a prime target for the British. Upon arrival into the city, the British targeted the Capitol (first the southern wing, containing the House of Representatives, then the northern wing, containing the Senate). Prior to setting it aflame, the British sacked the building (which at that time housed Congress, the Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court).

The British intended to burn the building to the ground. They set fire to the southern wing first. The flames grew so quickly that the British were prevented from collecting enough wood to burn the stone walls completely. However, the Library of Congress’s contents in the northern wing contributed to the flames on that side. Among the items destroyed was the 3,000-volume collection of the Library of Congress and the intricate decorations of the neoclassical columns, pediments, and sculptures.  The wooden ceilings and floors burned, and the glass skylights melted because of the intense heat. The building was not a complete loss however; the House rotunda, the east lobby, the staircases, and Latrobe’s famous Corn-Cob Columns in the Senate entrance hall all survived.

After burning the Capitol, the British turned northwest up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House. After US government officials and President Madison fled the city, the First Lady Dolly Madison received a letter from her husband, urging her to be prepared to leave Washington at a moment’s notice. Dolley organized the enslaved and other staff to save valuables from the British. It has often been stated in print, that when Mrs. Madison escaped from the White House, she cut out from the frame the large portrait of Washington (now in one of the parlors there), and carried it off. She had no time to do that. It would have required a ladder to get it down. Instead, it was later revealed in a journal that the French door-keeper and the gardener were actually responsible for removing and saving the portrait. All she carried off was the silver in her handbag, as the British were thought to be but a few squares off, and were expected any moment. The soldiers burned the president’s house, and fuel was added to the fires that night to ensure they would continue burning into the next day.

The day after the destruction of the White House, Rear Admiral Cockburn entered the building of the D.C. newspaper, the National Intelligencer, intending to burn it down. However, several women persuaded him not to because they were afraid the fire would spread to their neighboring houses. Cockburn wanted to destroy the newspaper because its reporters had written so negatively about him, branding him “The Ruffian”. Instead, he ordered his troops to tear the building down brick by brick, and ordered all the “C” type destroyed “so that the rascals can have no further means of abusing my name”.

The British then sought out the United States Treasury and the Department of War in hopes of finding money or items of worth, but the Treasury only held old records and the only items remaining in the War and State Department were letters and appointment recommendations. Still, the buildings were burned.  “When the smoke cleared from the dreadful attack, the Patent Office was the only Government building … left untouched” in Washington.

The Americans had already burned much of the historic Washington Navy Yard, the frigate USS Columbia and the USS Argus to prevent the British from obtaining stores of ammunition and guns. In the afternoon of August 25, General Ross sent two hundred men to secure a fort on Greenleaf’s Point. The fort, later known as Fort McNair, had already been destroyed by the Americans, but 150 barrels of gunpowder remained. While the British were trying to destroy it by dropping the barrels into a well, the powder ignited. As many as thirty men were killed in the explosion, and many others were maimed.

Less than four days after the attack began, a sudden, very heavy thunderstorm—possibly a hurricane—put out the fires. It also spun off a tornado that passed through the center of the capital, setting down on Constitution Avenue and lifting two cannons before dropping them several yards away and killing British troops and American civilians alike. Following the storm, the British troops returned to their ships, many of which were badly damaged. There is some debate regarding the effect of this storm on the occupation. While some assert that the storm forced their retreat, it seems likely from their destructive and arsonous actions before the storm, and their written orders from Cochrane to “destroy and lay waste”, that their intention was merely to raze the city, rather than occupy it for an extended period. It is also clear that commander Robert Ross never intended to damage private buildings as had been recommended by Cockburn and Alexander Cochrane.

Whatever the case, the British occupation of Washington lasted only about 26 hours. Despite this, the “Storm that saved Washington”, as it became known, did the opposite according to some. The rains sizzled and cracked the already charred walls of the White House and ripped away at structures the British had no plans to destroy (such as the Patent Office). The storm may have exacerbated an already dire situation for Washington D.C.

President Madison and the military officers returned to Washington by September 1, on which date Madison issued a proclamation calling on citizens to defend the District of Columbia. Congress did not return for three and a half weeks, and when they did, they assembled in special session on September 19 in the Post and Patent Office building at Blodgett’s Hotel, one of the few buildings large enough to hold all members to be spared. Congress met in this building until December 1815, when construction of the Capitol was complete.