The British Invasion Force Arrives
The summer of 1814 would prove to be one of the most pivotal moments in American history. On August 24, 1814, the British, led by Ross and Cockburn, entered Washington with a force of 4,500 “battle hardened” men. These weren’t fresh recruits – they were seasoned veterans who had just finished helping defeat Napoleon in Europe. With the defeat and exile of Napoleon in April 1814, Britain was able to use its newly available troops and in 1814, Britain and a coalition of nations had recently defeated Napoleon and his army, so Britain’s resources could be directed almost entirely towards the war in America. The timing couldn’t have been worse for the young American republic.
A Capital City Left Defenseless
Early warning signs that Washington would be targeted went unheeded, even though the British press had openly speculated on the fate of the American capital. Little action was taken, even after U.S. emissaries in Europe warned that the fall of Napoleon in mid-1814 would free up thousands of British troops for the war against America. Washington D.C. was essentially a sitting duck, with minimal defenses and a scattered militia that would prove no match for the approaching professional army. According to the White House Historical Society and Dolley’s personal letters, President James Madison had left the White House on August 22 to meet with his generals on the battlefield, just as British troops threatened to enter the capitol.
The Battle of Bladensburg Seals the Capital’s Fate
On August 24th, 1814, the Battle of Bladensburg took place outside of Washington, resulting in an embarrassing American defeat. The defeat at Bladensburg allowed for the British soldiers led by Major General Robert Ross to enter the nation’s capital. The American forces were so quickly routed that the engagement became mockingly known as the “Bladensburg Races” for how fast the militia fled the battlefield. This humiliating defeat left nothing between the British army and the American capital. It was the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a foreign power had captured and occupied a United States capital. The unthinkable was about to happen.
Dolley Madison’s Desperate Last Stand
The next day, Dolley and a few servants scanned the horizon with spyglasses waiting for either Madison or the British army to show up. Time was running out fast, and the First Lady faced an impossible decision. In a letter dated August 23, Dolley wrote to her sister that a friend who came to help her escape was exasperated at her insistence on saving the portrait. She could hear the sounds of battle getting closer, but there was something she simply couldn’t leave behind. As the British advanced, the first lady perceived the George Washington portrait’s symbolic importance to the nation. “I insist on waiting until the large picture of Gen. Washington is secured,” Madison wrote in a letter to her sister.
The Race to Save America’s Greatest Treasure
Convinced by friends that it was time to flee, the First Lady pointed to Gilbert Stuart’s full-length portrait of President George Washington. “Save that picture, if possible,” she instructed Paul Jennings, a 15-year-old enslaved African-American. “If not possible, destroy it: under no circumstance allow it to fall into the hands of the British.” But with the British approaching and time running short, she ordered Jennings to break the frame apart so the canvas could be removed with a knife. The portrait was too valuable to risk falling into enemy hands. First Lady Dolley Madison ordered the Washington painting to be saved, and it was taken down off the wall and sent out of harm’s way by a group of individuals–Jean Pierre Sioussat, the White House steward; Paul Jennings, an enslaved worker; Thomas McGrath, the White House gardener; and two men from New York, Jacob Barker and Robert G.L. De Peyster.
The British Army Enters Washington
Shortly before Mordechai Booth fled the capital on Wednesday, August 24, 1814, he rode over to the President’s House to see whether anyone was still inside. Near the entrance he saw an American colonel who dismounted, walked to the front door, pulled hard on the bell rope, banged on the door, and shouted for the steward, Jean Sioussat, known as French John. But, Booth recorded, “all was as silent as a church.” The city had been abandoned by its government and most of its residents. While Cockburn recommended burning the entire city, Ross planned to damage only public buildings. Ross, who was described by historian John McCavitt as “an officer and a gentleman”, initially planned for an orderly surrender of Washington. However, as he and his men entered the city under a flag of truce, American soldiers remaining in the city “treacherously” opened fire, wounding Ross’ horse and killing two of his men. McCavitt argued that this led him to “reluctantly” order the burning of the White House and the Capitol building.
The President’s House Goes Up in Flames
Soldiers reportedly sat down to eat a meal made of leftover food from the White House scullery using White House dishes and silver before ransacking the presidential mansion and setting it ablaze. The British troops made themselves at home before carrying out their orders. Following the defeat of American forces at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, a British army led by Major-General Robert Ross marched on Washington, D.C. That evening, British soldiers and sailors set fire to multiple public buildings, including the Presidential Mansion, United States Capitol, and Washington Navy Yard. The inferno was so great that the glow in the night sky was seen from fifty miles away by British crewmen aboard warships in the Patuxent River by anxious Americans in Baltimore and in Leesburg, Virginia.
Nature Intervenes to Save the Capital
Only a heavy rainstorm prevented the entire structure from being destroyed. On August 25, a tornado blew through the city, bringing torrential rains that quelled both fires and British desire to pursue further action in Washington. Mother Nature essentially saved what remained of the American capital from complete obliteration. The storm was so fierce that it reportedly killed more British soldiers than the Americans had managed in battle. Some witnesses described it as divine intervention, suggesting that even the heavens were defending the young republic. The British, perhaps taking this as an omen, decided it was time to leave Washington behind.
The Architectural Bones Survive
At the time, the U.S. Capitol was still being constructed and consisted of only the north and south wings connected by a wooden walkway spanning the area intended for the center building. Damage to parts of the wings was severe, but the building was not completely destroyed. Fortunately, architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe had used fire-proof building materials, such as sheet iron, marble, sandstone, zinc and copper. His extensive use of masonry vaulting also proved to be practical as well as aesthetic. Only the exterior walls remained, and they had to be torn down and mostly reconstructed because of weakening from the fire and subsequent exposure to the elements, except for portions of the south wall. While the buildings looked devastated, their stone foundations had given them a fighting chance at resurrection.
The Immediate Aftermath and Government Response
President Madison and the military officers returned to Washington by September 1, on which date Madison issued a proclamation calling on citizens to defend the District of Columbia. Congress did not return for three and a half weeks. When they did so, they assembled in special session on September 19 in the Post and Patent Office building at Blodgett’s Hotel, one of the few buildings large enough to hold all members to be spared. Congress met in this building until December 1815, when construction of the Old Brick Capitol was complete. The government was essentially homeless, operating out of whatever buildings had survived the flames. After the fire, President James Madison resided in the Octagon House from 1814 to 1815, and then in the Seven Buildings from 1815 to the end of his term.
The Great Rebuilding Begins
After the British left the city, the government hired James Hoban, designer of the original President’s House, to supervise the rebuilding of the mansion and executive office buildings, while Benjamin H. Latrobe returned as Architect of the Capitol. Hoban and his crew had taken nearly ten years to build the first President’s House; the post-fire restoration took about three years to make the mansion habitable again. Hoban used timber framing instead of brick to reconstruct the interior walls and substructure in order to finish the work quickly. This decision would come back to haunt the building decades later, but it got Americans back into their symbolic home. Congress had provided, on February 13, 1815, “That the President of the United States cause to be repaired or rebuilt forthwith, the President’s House, Capitol and public offices, on their present sites in the city of Washington.”
A Phoenix Rising from the Ashes
Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Washington was quickly rebuilt, with the White House becoming operational in 1817 and the Capitol Building was operational by 1819. Thomas Law, a foreign visitor who went to Washington, described the city after the war like a phoenix rising from the fires stronger than ever before. The War of 1812 showed the world that America was a force to be reckoned with and would continue to be perpetual. The speed of reconstruction amazed international observers who had expected the young nation to crumble under the humiliation.
The Saved Portrait Returns Home
Two friends of the Madison family then carted the portrait away, storing it in a farmhouse outside Washington for safekeeping. After the repair of the White House from fire damage, Washington’s portrait returned to the executive mansion. It is the only item currently on display that was present when the White House opened in 1800. The portrait currently hangs in the East Room of the White House, paired with a full-length portrait of Martha Washington. The painting that Dolley Madison risked her life to save became a powerful symbol of American resilience. Today, visitors can still see this same portrait, a tangible connection to that desperate night when everything seemed lost but wasn’t.
