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.

Navajo Code Talkers Day, celebrated every year on August 14, is a day that holds great importance in the history of the U.S. This is because the day recognizes the contributions of Navajo marines during World War II. Yes, Navajo marines encoded and transmitted messages using a complex Navajo language-based code during a time when secret communication was essential to win a war. And guess what? The code was never broken by Japanese forces in the Pacific and proved to be of great assistance to the U.S. Marines. On this day, celebrate the great American heroes and their service to the nation!

During both World Wars I and II, the U.S. military needed to encrypt communications from enemy intelligence. American Indians had their own languages and dialects that few outside their tribes understood; therefore, their languages were ideal encryption mechanisms. Over the course of both wars, the Army and the Marine Corps recruited hundreds of American Indians to become Code Talkers. Records at the National Archives document the origins of this program and the group’s wartime contributions.

World War I

Stationed in France in 1918, Choctaw Indians from the 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Division, became the first Code Talkers. At the time, the enemy frequently intercepted Allied communications, inhibiting tactical plans and troop movements.

Leaders of the 142nd turned to American Indian soldiers in the regiment for help. They selected two Choctaw officers to supervise a communications system staffed by eighteen other tribal members. This team began transmitting battle messages in the Choctaw language. The enemy never broke their “code,” and Allied leaders deemed their efforts a success.

For the remainder of the war, the Army continued to enlist soldiers from other tribes as Code Talkers, including the Cheyenne, Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, and Yankton Sioux.

World War II

When the U.S. entered World War II, military leaders remembered the success of the Choctaw Code Talkers and enlisted new recruits from the Navajo, Kiowa, Hopi, Creek, Seminole, and other tribes to encrypt messages for the Army and Marine Corps. (Some sources say Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary who had grown up in the Navajo Nation, suggested using the Navajo language as a code.)

Working with Navajo leaders, the Marine Corps initially recruited 29 Navajo men to train as Code Talkers in specially designed courses. By the end of the war, the Marines had over 400 Navajo men trained as Code Talkers, many of them serving in the Pacific Theater. The Army had similar training programs for its Code Talkers, who generally served in Europe and North Africa.

Their special communication services were used in one of the most extensive military operations ever, the one that happened in Normandy in June of 1944, known as D-Day. They were also pivotal when it came to the battle of Iwo Jima when they secretly transferred more than 800 messages between the command centers and the battlefield.

However, it was not until the 1990s that the value of Navajo code talkers was publicly recognized. In 2001, the veterans that were still alive received the highest honor that can be awarded by the Congress – the Congressional Gold Medal. In the years that followed, their contributions were legally recognized by the Congress, as they passed the Code Talkers Recognition Act in 1982.  In 2014, Arizona passed legislation declaring every August 14 Navajo Code Talkers Day in Arizona.

The Navajo Code

When the Navajo code was first developed, the original selection of 211 words was ascribed with different meanings. In World War II, that number went up to 411. The reason why this code was so difficult to crack is that the Navajo language did not contain any military terminology. To make this work, the Navajo code talkers created an alphabet system that used Navajo words, instead of standard spelling. Also, certain words got a particular meaning, and it looked like this:

The Navajo word for an eagle was atsa, which was a code for a transport plane. Paaki (Hopi language) stood for houses on water, which meant that they were talking about ships. Comanches used the word wakaree’e to name a turtle, and when transferred to code – this was a tank. The Choctaw tribe used the words tushka chipota, which translated to warrior soldier, or just soldier when it came to code. Besh-lo was an iron fish, which obviously meant that a submarine is spotted.

Dutch Schultz was born Arthur Flegenheimer in 1902, but he was already a career criminal by the age of twenty-five. Reported to have had 136 people killed in under ten years, he made millions illegally manufacturing and distributing bootleg liquor during Prohibition.

Dutch Schultz was a classic example of someone being at the right place at the right time. With Prohibition taking hold of the United States between 1920 and 1933, he got his foot on the ladder and never looked back.

Dutch Schulz was born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer in 1902. By the age of 25 he was already a career criminal. Reported to have had 136 people killed in under ten years, he made millions illegally manufacturing and distributing bootleg liquor during Prohibition. It is speculated that his gangster name could have come from the company he became associated with, Schultz Trucking. They transported booze down from Canada for thirsty customers.

From there, Schultz fell in with the formidable Joey Noe, who ran a speakeasy. They created a partnership that challenged the existing underworld authorities– the Mafia’s Five Families and the Irish Mob were their opponents. Schultz was undeterred and kept going, even after Prohibition had ended. A lottery scam was the next move to bolster his bulging finances. He also put the squeeze on restaurants – pay up or wind up on the menu.

With his bank balance coming under serious scrutiny, Schulz realized he would be indicted for income tax invasion. He immediately took steps to protect his money. He decided that he needed a nest egg to fall back on in case he was sent to prison, so he had his top lieutenants clean out his safety deposit boxes and gather together all of his cash from his available bank accounts.

At a hideaway in Connecticut, Dutch, “Lulu” Rosencrantz, and Marty Krompier packed everything up in a steel-plated strongbox. One night, Dutch and Lulu traveled to Phoenicia, New York, and buried everything near the trunk of a tree with an “X” carved into it. Dutch swore Lulu to secrecy.

Schultz then decided his only course of action was to whack prosecutor Thomas Dewey. He thinned out his competition but was eventually talked out of murdering Dewey. His ruthless behavior, however, spooked the crime syndicate, who finally shot Schultz at the Palace Chop House in Newark. On October 23, 1935, Schultz was gunned down by members of the crime syndicate. His bodyguard, “Lulu” Rosencrantz, also fell from shots by rival Mafia figures.

Before his death, Schultz made his confession about his treasure. And even though he swore Lulu to secrecy, Lulu couldn’t keep his mouth shut and told Krompier where the treasure was buried. At some point, he even drew Krompier a map to the treasure. But as fate would have it, Krompier also couldn’t keep his mouth shut and told several people about the treasure. Two henchmen eventually caught up with Marty at a barber shop in New York City, gunned him down and took the map. Krompier survived the attack, but he was never able to locate the treasure without the map.

The treasure is said to be a 2′ by 3′ waterproof container holding gold, diamonds, war bonds, and thousand-dollar bills. According to treasure seekers, a main area of interest is Stony Clove Creek in Phoenicia, NY. Why? Because apparently a picture of the creek was included in Schulz’s possessions passed down to relatives, and they are convinced a nondescript picture of “nothing in particular” along a creek HAS to have meaning.

Schultz’s own lawyer Dixie Davis, claimed to have seen the box in question, and there was the “dying declaration” of Schultz himself. Although reading through the rantings that were recorded by the police at the scene, I couldn’t discern anything remotely resembling a declaration of anything. I have read on line that treasure hunters meet annually in the Catskills to continue the search for the Dutch’s treasure.

Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflects the original.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Georgia

Button Gwinnett

Lyman Hall

George Walton

North Carolina

William Hooper

Joseph Hewes

John Penn

South Carolina

Edward Rutledge

Thomas Heyward, Jr.

Thomas Lynch, Jr.

Arthur Middleton

Massachusetts

John Hancock

Maryland

Samuel Chase

William Paca

Thomas Stone

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia

George Wythe

Richard Henry Lee

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Harrison

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Carter Braxton

Pennsylvania

Robert Morris

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Franklin

John Morton

George Clymer

James Smith

George Taylor

James Wilson

George Ross

Delaware

Caesar Rodney

George Read

Thomas McKean

New York

William Floyd

Philip Livingston

Francis Lewis

Lewis Morris

New Jersey

Richard Stockton

John Witherspoon

Francis Hopkinson

John Hart

Abraham Clark

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett

William Whipple

Massachusetts

Samuel Adams

John Adams

Robert Treat Paine

Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins

William Ellery

Connecticut

Roger Sherman

Samuel Huntington

William Williams

Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire

Matthew Thornton