Lantern Slide of the U.S. Capitol after burning by the British in 1814, NARA ID 183514856.
The Taking of the City of Washington 1814. Copy of engraving. NARA 532909.
Ruins of the Capitol After the Fire. 1814. Copy of print, NARA ID 518221.
"Capture of the City of Washington," August 1814. Engraving from The History of England by Paul de Rapin -Thoyras. NARA ID 531090.
FLASHBACK: BURNING OF THE CAPITOL, 1814
By Miriam Kleiman, Program Director for Public Affairs.
On August 24 and 25, 1814, British troops occupied DC, and burned the Capitol, the President’s house, and other public buildings (in revenge for U.S. troops burning government buildings in Canada during the Battle of York). Despite the growing number of troops and show of force, President James Madison’s Secretary of War John Armstrong downplayed the possibility of such an attack in DC, convinced that Baltimore would be the likely target: “They certainly will not come here. What the devil will they do here? No! No! Baltimore is the place, sir. That is of so much more consequence.”
The destruction was so extensive (an estimated $30 million then, equivalent to $586 million today) that when Congress returned in September 1814 it considered moving to another city. What saved DC from further destruction? What insurance companies call an “act of God”; a freak storm brought torrential rains that extinguished the fires. British account from George Muller’s The Darkest Day:
Of the prodigious force of the wind it is impossible for you to form any conception. Roofs of houses were torn off by it, and whisked into the air like sheets of paper; while the rain which accompanied it resembled the rushing of a mighty cataract rather than the dropping of a shower.
The darkness was as great as if the sun had long set and the last remains of twilight had come on, occasionally relieved by flashes of vivid lightning streaming through it; which, together with the noise of the wind and the thunder, the crash of falling buildings, and the tearing of roofs as they were stript from the walls, produced the most appalling effect I ever have, and probably ever shall, witness.
This lasted for nearly two hours without intermission, during which time many of the houses spared by us were blown down and thirty of our men, besides several of the inhabitants, buried beneath their ruins.
Our column was as completely dispersed as if it had received a total defeat, some of the men flying for shelter behind walls and buildings and others falling flat upon the ground to prevent themselves from being carried away by the tempest…
P.S.: You Had Better Remove the Records: Early Federal Archives and the Burning of Washington during the War of 1812, Prologue story by NARA Historian Jessie Kratz.
Rescue of the Papers of State During the Burning of Washington, White House Historical Association, by NARA Historian Jessie Kratz.
Tornado saves capital, scares British, Pieces of History blog post by Rob Crotty.
