FIRST LADY SAVES GILBERT STUART'S PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WASHINGTON

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

by Gilbert Stuart

White House Tour (2017)
Photo by John White

A REMARKABLY LOW POINT IN THE HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY

BRITISH ATTACK WASHINGTON D.C.

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50)On August 24, 1814, British forces launched a surprise attack on the Nation's Capital as President James Madison and the United States Congress fled into Virginia.

The British army under General Robert Ross had overwhelmed an inexperienced militia at Bladensburg, Maryland opening the way into the capital city.  The militiamen were primarily civilian farmers who trained one day a year, and, according to University of Virginia historian Alan Taylor, spent that day "mostly drinking...rather than drilling."

At an emergency meeting near the Navy Yard, Secretary of War John Armstrong argued that the British would not "come to Washington" but would go to Baltimore because it was "of so much more consequence." 

As the British prepared to attack, most of the city's 8000 residents fled.  In an account of the events of the day George Robert Gleig, part of the British force, recalled that the British army...

"proceeded...to burn and destroy everything in the most distant degree connected with government...the Senate House, the President's palace, an extensive dockyard and arsenal (and)...hundreds of cannon..."

The Treasury building as well as the State and War Department structures were also burned.  Meanwhile, Mr. Madison was hiding out in the Virginia countryside looking for someone to board him for the night.  Joel Achenbach describes this scene "as a remarkably low point in the history of the Presidency."


SOURCES

"D.C.'s darkest day, a war that no one remembers," by Joel Achenbach, The Washington Post, August 23, 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/

"The British Burn Washington DC, 1814," Eyewitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

 Burning of Washington 

WASHINGTON DC'S DARKEST DAY

BRITISH ATTACKED NATIONAL CAPITAL 101 YEARS AGO TODAY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) A century and one year ago today, August 24, 1814, British forces launched a surprise attack on the Nation's Capital as President James Madison and the United States Congress fled into Virginia.

The British army under General Robert Ross  overwhelmed an inexperienced militia at Bladensburg, Maryland opening the way into the capital city.  The militiamen were primarily civilian farmers who trained one day a year, and, according to University of Virginia historian Alan Taylor, spent that day "mostly drinking...rather than drilling."

At an emergency meeting near the Navy Yard, Secretary of War John Armstrong argued that the British would not "come to Washington" but would go to Baltimore because it was "of so much more consequence."  Mr. Madison would not be the last POTUS to be given the wrong counsel.

As the British prepared to attack, most of the city's 8000 residents fled.  In an account of the events of the day, George Robert Gleig, part of the British force, recalled that the British army...

"proceeded...to burn and destroy everything in the most distant degree connected with government...the Senate House, the President's palace, an extensive dockyard and arsenal (and)...hundreds of cannon..."

The Treasury building as well as the State and War Department structures were also burned.  Meanwhile, Mr. Madison was hiding out in the Virginia countryside looking for someone to board him for the night.  Joel Achenbach describes this scene "as a remarkably low point in the history of the Presidency."

The British withdrew from Washington on August 26 and President Madison returned to a scorched city the following day.  Achenbach writes that because Americans "spun" the events of late August 1814 in a positive way for their side and because of the wave of patriotism which followed the end of the War of 1812, the attack on Washington turned out to be "one of the best things that ever happened to the city."  

The President's House was reconstructed in 1817 and painted a bright white color.  It soon became known as The White House.

SOURCES

"D.C.'s darkest day, a war that no one remembers," by Joel Achenbach, The Washington Post, August 23, 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/

"The British Burn Washington DC, 1814," Eyewitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

 Burning of Washington