PRESIDENT ESCAPES CAPITAL AS BRITISH ARMY ROLLS IN
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On August 23, 1814, British forces attacked Washington, D.C. The attack was part of an offensive in the third year of the War of 1812. British forces under Major General Robert Ross* had rolled through American defenses at Bladensburg, Maryland to get in position to launch their attack on the Capital.
According to an account by one of Ross's men, George Gleig, the General attempted to negotiate a truce but his party carrying a white flag was fired upon by an enemy sniper and Ross's horse was killed. Gleig's version of events says that this resulted in General Ross's decision to cause as much damage to the city as possible.
His army headed toward the President's House where James Madison's wife, Dolley, ordered the Gilbert Stuart portrait of President George Washington cut out of its frame, rolled up, and whisked away to safety. Mrs. Madison escaped across the Potomac River by carriage. The portrait the First Lady saved was actually a copy of Stuart's original.
*General Ross was killed a few days later during the battle at Baltimore, MD.
George Washington Portrait
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On August 23, 1814, British forces attacked Washington, D.C. The attack was part of an offensive in the third year of the War of 1812. British forces under Major General Robert Ross* had rolled through American defenses at Bladensburg, Maryland to get in position to launch their attack on the Capital.
According to an account by one of Ross's men, George Gleig, the General attempted to negotiate a truce but his party carrying a white flag was fired upon by an enemy sniper and Ross's horse was killed. Gleig's version of events says that this resulted in General Ross's decision to cause as much damage to the city as possible.
His army headed toward the President's House where James Madison's wife, Dolley, ordered the Gilbert Stuart portrait of President George Washington cut out of its frame, rolled up, and whisked away to safety. Mrs. Madison escaped across the Potomac River by carriage. The portrait the First Lady saved was actually a copy of Stuart's original.
*General Ross was killed a few days later during the battle at Baltimore, MD.
George Washington Portrait
by Gilbert Stuart
White House Tour (2017)
Photo by John White
Photo by John White
