Burning of Washington

Burning of Washington Part of the War of 1812 Burning of Washington 1814 Date August 24, 1814 Location Washington, D.C. Result British razing of Washington, D.C. Belligerents United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United States Commanders and leaders Robert Ross George Cockburn N/A Strength 4,250 7,640 Casualties and losses 1 KIA Approximately 30 accidental deaths Several killed from weather Unknown

The Burning of Washington was an armed conflict during the War of 1812 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America. On August 24, 1814, led by General Robert Ross, a British force occupied Washington, D.C. and set fire to many public buildings following the American defeat at the Battle of Bladensburg. The facilities of the U.S. government, including the White House and U.S. Capitol, were largely destroyed, though strict discipline and the British commander's orders to burn only public buildings are credited with preserving the city's private buildings. This has been the only time since the Revolutionary War that a foreign power has captured and occupied the United States capital.

Reasons for the attack

After the defeat and exile of Napoleon Bonaparte in April 1814, large numbers of troops and ships became available to the British to prosecute the war against the United States. The Earl of Bathurst, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, despatched troops to the American coast, initially to distract the United States government from the campaigns against Canada. Early in 1814, Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies Station. He already had plans for carrying the war to the United States, by launching attacks in Virginia and at New Orleans.

Rear Admiral George Cockburn had been commanding the squadron in Chesapeake Bay since the previous year. On June 25 he wrote to Cochrane, stressing that the defences of the region were weak, and several major cities were vulnerable to attack. Cochrane suggested attacking Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia. On July 17, Cockburn recommended Washington as the target, because of the comparative ease of assailability and "the greater political effect likely to result".

An added motive for attacking American towns and cities was the "wanton destruction of private property along the north shores of Lake Erie" by American forces in May of that year, the most notable being the Raid on Port Dover. On 2nd June, 1814, Governor-General of Canada Sir George Prévost had written to Cochrane calling for a retaliation against American depredations against non-combatant civilians and private property, acts which were at the time considered to be against the civilised laws of war. On July 18, Cochrane in turn issued orders to Cockburn informing him that to "deter the enemy from a repetition of similar outrages...You are hereby required and directed to destroy and lay waste such towns and districts as you may find assailable."

Events

Capture of the City of Washington, Engraving from The History of England by Paul de Rapin-Thoyras

A force of 2,500 soldiers under Major General Robert Ross had just arrived in Bermuda aboard HMS Royal Oak, three frigates, three sloops, and ten other vessels. Together with Royal Marines already under Cockburn's command, Ross landed at Benedict, Maryland on August 19, and routed the US Navy's Chesapeake Bay Flotilla, a detachment of US Marines, and the inexperienced American militia at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24.

Immediately after the battle, the British sent an advance guard of soldiers to Capitol Hill. Major General Ross sent a party under a flag of truce to agree to terms, but they were attacked by partisans from a house at the corner of Maryland Avenue, Constitution Avenue, and Second Street NE. This was to be the only resistance the soldiers met within the city. The house was burned, and the Union Flag was then raised over Washington.^{[citation needed]}

The White House ruins after the conflagration of August 24, 1814. Watercolor by George Munger, displayed at the White House

The United States Capitol after the burning of Washington, D.C. in the War of 1812. Watercolor and ink depiction from 1814, restored.

The buildings housing the Senate and House of Representatives—construction on the central rotunda of the Capitol had not yet begun—were set ablaze not long after. The interiors of both buildings, including the Library of Congress, were destroyed, although the thick walls and a torrential rainfall preserved their exteriors. (Thomas Jefferson later sold his library to the government to restock the Library of Congress.)

White House

The troops then turned northwest up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House. After the government officials fled, Dolley Madison remained behind with the White House slaves to save valuables from the British. One of Madison's slaves, Paul Jennings, was an eyewitness. He later wrote:

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 for doing it. It would have required a ladder to get it down. All she carried off was the silver in her reticule, as the British were thought to be but a few squares off, and were expected every moment.

Jennings said that the people who saved the painting and removed the objects were:

John Susé (a Frenchman, then door-keeper, and still living) and Magraw, the President's gardener, took it down and sent it off on a wagon, with some large silver urns and such other valuables as could be hastily got hold of. When the British did arrive, they ate up the very dinner, and drank the wines, &c., that I had prepared for the President's party.

The soldiers then burned the house, and fuel was added to the fires that night to ensure they would continue burning into the next day; the smoke was reportedly visible as far away as Baltimore and the Patuxent River.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009 there was a White House ceremony to honor the efforts of Jennings in rescuing the Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington. "A dozen descendants of Jennings came to Washington, to visit the White House. For a few precious minutes, they were able to look at the painting their relative helped save." In an interview given to NPR, Jennings' great-great-grandson confirmed that Jennings later purchased his freedom and remarked "We were able to take a family portrait in front of the painting, which was for me one of the high points."

Other property in Washington

The Burning of Washington forms the background to this portrait of Rear Admiral George Cockburn

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 they had written so many negative items about him, branding him as "The Ruffian." Instead he ordered his troops to tear the building down brick by brick making sure that they destroyed all the "C" type so that no more pieces mentioning his name could be printed^{[citation needed]}.

The British also burned the United States Treasury Building and other public buildings. Much of the historic Washington Navy Yard, founded by Thomas Jefferson and the first federal installation in the United States, was burned by the Americans to prevent capture of stores and ammunition, as well as the 44-gun frigate USS Columbia which was then being built. The Navy Yard's Latrobe Gate, Quarters A, and Quarters B were the only buildings to escape destruction. The United States Patent Office building was saved by the efforts of William Thornton, the Architect of the Capitol and then the Superintendent of Patents. The British understood the importance of its preservation. Also spared were the Marine Barracks, which some attribute as a gesture of respect for their conduct at Bladensburg.

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 attempting to destroy the powder 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 a day after the attack began, a sudden thunderstorm spawned a tornado that passed through part of the city, killing British troops and American civilians alike, tossing cannons, and putting out most of the fires. This forced the British troops to return to their ships, many of which were badly damaged by the storm, and so the actual occupation of Washington lasted about 26 hours. President Madison and the rest of the government quickly returned to the city.^{[citation needed]}

The attack on Washington cost the Royal Navy one man killed and six wounded, of whom the one fatality and three of the wounded were from the Corps of Colonial Marines.

Alexandria was captured by a separate British force during the raid on Alexandria, even as Ross's troops left Washington. A deal with the mayor kept that town from being burned.

Aftermath

Most contemporary American observers, including even newspapers which represented the views of anti-war Federalists, condemned the destruction of the public buildings as needless vandalism.

Within Britain, the burning of the capitol and other buildings at Washington shocked the nation and was denounced by most of the continent of Europe. According to the The Annual Register, it had "..brought a heavy censure on the British character..", with some members of Parliament, including the anti-establishment MP Samuel Whitbread, joining in the criticism.

However most of Britain felt it was justified for American incursions into Canada and because it was the United States who had declared and initiated the war. Several commentators regarded the destruction as just revenge for the American destruction of the Parliament buildings and other public buildings in York, the provincial capital of Upper Canada the year previously. Sir George Prevost wrote that "as a just retribution, the proud capital at Washington has experienced a similar fate." The Reverend John Strachan, who as Rector of York had witnessed the American acts there, wrote to Thomas Jefferson that the damage to Washington "was a small retaliation after redress had been refused for burnings and depredations, not only of public but private property, committed by them in Canada."

Reconstruction

The thick sandstone walls of the White House and Capitol survived, although scarred with smoke and scorch marks. Fearful of the loss of the capital, Washington businessmen financed the construction of the Old Brick Capitol, where Congress met while the Capitol was reconstructed from 1815 to 1819. Reconstruction of the White House also began in early 1815 and was finished in time for President James Monroe's inauguration in 1817. Madison resided in The Octagon House for the remainder of his term.

Bibliography

• Cruikshank, Ernest. "The Documentary History of the campaign upon the Niagara frontier. [Part 1-2"]. University of Calgary. http://www.nosracines.ca/e/page.aspx?id=769621. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
• Hickey, Donal R. (1989). The War of 1812, A Forgotten Conflict. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, Chicago and Urbana. ISBN 0-252-01613-0. 
• Hitsman, J. Mackay; Graves, Donald E. (1999). The Incredible War of 1812. Toronto: Robin Brass Studio. ISBN 1-896941-13-3. 
• Jennings, Paul (1865). A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison. Brookyn: George C. Beadle. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jennings/jennings.html. 
• Morriss, Roger (1997). Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition: Admiral Sir George Cockburn, 1772-1853. University of Exeter Press. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G2Cb30bdutcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Roger+Morriss,+Cockburn+and+the+British+Navy+in+Transition:+Admiral+Sir+George+Cockburn&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Roger%20Morriss%2C%20Cockburn%20and%20the%20British%20Navy%20in%20Transition%3A%20Admiral%20Sir%20George%20Cockburn&f=false. 
• Roosevelt, Theodore (1883). The naval war of 1812:. New York: G.P. Putnam's sons. pp. 541. http://books.google.com/books?id=Fb1CAAAAYAAJ&hl=en. 

Further reading

• Gura, David Descendants Of A Slave See The Painting He Saved NPR, August 24, 2009.
• Latimer, Jon. 1812: War with America, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-674-02584-9
• Martin, John. "The British Are Coming: Historian Anthony Pitch Describes Washington Ablaze," LC Information Bulletin, September 1998
• Pack, A. James. The Man Who Burned The White House, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987. ISBN 0-87021-420-9
• Phelan, Mary Kay. The Burning of Washington: August 1814, Ty Crowell Co, 1975. ISBN 0-690-00486-9
• Pitch, Anthony S. The Burning of Washington, White House History Magazine, Fall 1998
• Pitch, Anthony S. The Burning of Washington, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55750-425-3
• Siegel, Robert Descendant Of White House Slave Shares Legacy NPR, August 24, 2009.
• Whitehorne, Joseph A. The Battle for Baltimore: 1814 (1997)
• Listing by surname of Royal Marines (2nd Battn, 3rd Battn, Colonial Marines) paid prize money for participating in the attack on Washington