Okla-homey
8/24/2006, 05:43 AM
August 24, 1814: British troops capture and burn Washington
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/2408/aajeffersonlibrary1e3hl.jpg
192 years ago today, during the splendid little War of 1812, British forces under General Robert Ross overwhelmed American militiamen at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland, and marched unopposed into Washington, D.C.
The United States capital complex would not be damaged by enemy action again until the jihaadist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 when an airliner flown by Muslim fanatics from Saudi Arabia plowed in to headquarters of the US Department of Defense (a/k/a/ "The Pentagon".)
http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/3676/rosss2hl.jpg
Major General Robert Ross was killed shortly after his triumph in a skirmish near Baltimore, and his family received from the Crown the distinction of thereafter being designated Ross of Bladensburg
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/9894/a255med6tv.gif
President James Madison
Most congressmen and government officials fled the nation's capital as soon as word came of the American defeat because they knew the loss meant the British were headed into the capital bent on mischief, but the second term President James Madison and his beautiful young wife, Dolley, doing their best to secure important items in the White House, escaped just before the invaders arrived.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/8939/dolly4wn.jpg
First Lady Dolley Madison
Dolley Madison managed to save the now famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington which appears on the $1 bill. Legends abound that she cut it from its frame, rolled it up and hid it in her skirts. In reality, she probably just took it off the wall and had the servants load it in a wagon with the rest of the stuff she was intent on saving.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/1381/washington7xi.jpg
The Stuart portrait was never finished, but it is probably the most recognizable image of the first president. Washington himself had approved Stuart's work.
Earlier in the day, President Madison had personally been present at the Battle of Bladensburg and had at one point actually taken command of one of the few remaining American artillery batteries, thus becoming the first and only president to exercise in actual battle his authority as commander in chief -- at least until that movie with Will Smith in which the prez flies a F/A-18..."Independenece Day".
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/9869/raids1vs.gif
Note the proximity of the Bladensburg battlefield to Washington. It was just a short stroll from the site of the British victory to downtown DC and no American force was left to block the way
The British army entered Washington in the late afternoon on August 24th. General Ross and his officers dined that night at the deserted White House. Meanwhile, the British troops, ecstatic that they had captured their enemy's capital, began setting the city aflame in revenge for the burning of Canadian government buildings by US troops earlier in the war.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/9808/18141up.jpg
The White House, a number of federal buildings, and several private homes were destroyed. The still uncompleted Capitol building was also set on fire, and the House of Representatives and the Library of Congress were gutted before a torrential downpour doused the flames.
That providential rainstorm did indeed put fires out all over the city and, uncharacteristically for Washington, even included a tornado that was responsible for killing several British soldiers and destroying a great deal of the redcoats' tents, supplies and equipment.
Just two days after capturing our capital, on August 26, General Ross, realizing his untenable hold on the capital area, ordered a withdrawal from Washington. The very next day, President and Mrs Madison returned to a smoking and charred Washington and vowed to rebuild the city. James Hoban, the original architect of the White House, completed reconstruction of the executive mansion in 1817.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1916/wwww1936mlargeni1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
James Hoban, original architect of the White House.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7769/wwwwwjameshobanwhitehousedesigncl5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Front elevation view of Hoban's original design. Note that the neo-classic Georgian design lacked the distinctive porches added later
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/7909/3g03675r0zo.jpg
US and British peace...came at Christmas of 1814 and has endured to this day
The war ended when the Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas Eve 1814.
Meanwhile, Andy Jackson leading US regulars, militiamen and some pretty unsavory cats gathered up from the jails, bars, whorehouses and bayous in and around NOLA (including pirate leader Jean Lafitte,) crushed a British force outside New Orleans, on January 8 1815.
This battle occured a full two weeks after the war had officially ended...because word of peace had not yet made it to New Orleans(....or the postman was drunk -- which is entirely possible in "The Big Easy.")
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/1011/pomeroylandscape8yk.jpg
Battle of New Orleans. The bad guys wore red. The good guys fired from behind hastily dug earthworks augmented with cotton bales which make pretty good fortifications
John Madison, the last of the Founders of the Republic, died quietly on his plantation in Virginia in 1836. His wife Dolley, 14 years his junior, died in 1849.
Historical Footnote
"Dolly Madison" is a snack cake maker...and darn tasty ones too.
http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6292/besign080av.th.jpg (http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=besign080av.jpg)
Distinguishable by the spelling of the first name, Dolley Madison was First Lady of the United States, and is still the only first lady to ever appear on US coinage.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/2646/dolleymadisonobv7nk.jpg
Dolley Madison commemorative dollar issued in 1999.
http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/7486/insane7zo4rk.jpg
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/2408/aajeffersonlibrary1e3hl.jpg
192 years ago today, during the splendid little War of 1812, British forces under General Robert Ross overwhelmed American militiamen at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland, and marched unopposed into Washington, D.C.
The United States capital complex would not be damaged by enemy action again until the jihaadist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 when an airliner flown by Muslim fanatics from Saudi Arabia plowed in to headquarters of the US Department of Defense (a/k/a/ "The Pentagon".)
http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/3676/rosss2hl.jpg
Major General Robert Ross was killed shortly after his triumph in a skirmish near Baltimore, and his family received from the Crown the distinction of thereafter being designated Ross of Bladensburg
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/9894/a255med6tv.gif
President James Madison
Most congressmen and government officials fled the nation's capital as soon as word came of the American defeat because they knew the loss meant the British were headed into the capital bent on mischief, but the second term President James Madison and his beautiful young wife, Dolley, doing their best to secure important items in the White House, escaped just before the invaders arrived.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/8939/dolly4wn.jpg
First Lady Dolley Madison
Dolley Madison managed to save the now famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington which appears on the $1 bill. Legends abound that she cut it from its frame, rolled it up and hid it in her skirts. In reality, she probably just took it off the wall and had the servants load it in a wagon with the rest of the stuff she was intent on saving.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/1381/washington7xi.jpg
The Stuart portrait was never finished, but it is probably the most recognizable image of the first president. Washington himself had approved Stuart's work.
Earlier in the day, President Madison had personally been present at the Battle of Bladensburg and had at one point actually taken command of one of the few remaining American artillery batteries, thus becoming the first and only president to exercise in actual battle his authority as commander in chief -- at least until that movie with Will Smith in which the prez flies a F/A-18..."Independenece Day".
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/9869/raids1vs.gif
Note the proximity of the Bladensburg battlefield to Washington. It was just a short stroll from the site of the British victory to downtown DC and no American force was left to block the way
The British army entered Washington in the late afternoon on August 24th. General Ross and his officers dined that night at the deserted White House. Meanwhile, the British troops, ecstatic that they had captured their enemy's capital, began setting the city aflame in revenge for the burning of Canadian government buildings by US troops earlier in the war.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/9808/18141up.jpg
The White House, a number of federal buildings, and several private homes were destroyed. The still uncompleted Capitol building was also set on fire, and the House of Representatives and the Library of Congress were gutted before a torrential downpour doused the flames.
That providential rainstorm did indeed put fires out all over the city and, uncharacteristically for Washington, even included a tornado that was responsible for killing several British soldiers and destroying a great deal of the redcoats' tents, supplies and equipment.
Just two days after capturing our capital, on August 26, General Ross, realizing his untenable hold on the capital area, ordered a withdrawal from Washington. The very next day, President and Mrs Madison returned to a smoking and charred Washington and vowed to rebuild the city. James Hoban, the original architect of the White House, completed reconstruction of the executive mansion in 1817.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1916/wwww1936mlargeni1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
James Hoban, original architect of the White House.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7769/wwwwwjameshobanwhitehousedesigncl5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Front elevation view of Hoban's original design. Note that the neo-classic Georgian design lacked the distinctive porches added later
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/7909/3g03675r0zo.jpg
US and British peace...came at Christmas of 1814 and has endured to this day
The war ended when the Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas Eve 1814.
Meanwhile, Andy Jackson leading US regulars, militiamen and some pretty unsavory cats gathered up from the jails, bars, whorehouses and bayous in and around NOLA (including pirate leader Jean Lafitte,) crushed a British force outside New Orleans, on January 8 1815.
This battle occured a full two weeks after the war had officially ended...because word of peace had not yet made it to New Orleans(....or the postman was drunk -- which is entirely possible in "The Big Easy.")
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/1011/pomeroylandscape8yk.jpg
Battle of New Orleans. The bad guys wore red. The good guys fired from behind hastily dug earthworks augmented with cotton bales which make pretty good fortifications
John Madison, the last of the Founders of the Republic, died quietly on his plantation in Virginia in 1836. His wife Dolley, 14 years his junior, died in 1849.
Historical Footnote
"Dolly Madison" is a snack cake maker...and darn tasty ones too.
http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6292/besign080av.th.jpg (http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=besign080av.jpg)
Distinguishable by the spelling of the first name, Dolley Madison was First Lady of the United States, and is still the only first lady to ever appear on US coinage.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/2646/dolleymadisonobv7nk.jpg
Dolley Madison commemorative dollar issued in 1999.
http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/7486/insane7zo4rk.jpg