British Forces Burned Washington, D.C.
On this day · 24 August 1814
On a single August night in 1814, an invading army torched the young republic's Capitol and presidential mansion.
On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812, British expeditionary forces marched into Washington, D.C. after routing American defenders that afternoon at the nearby Battle of Bladensburg. The capital lay almost undefended.
Led by Major General Robert Ross and Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, the troops set fire to the unfinished U.S. Capitol, piling furniture and curtains and igniting them with rocket powder. They then advanced down Pennsylvania Avenue to the President’s House (later the White House), looting it before setting it ablaze around 11 p.m. Buildings housing the State, War, Navy, and Treasury departments also burned.
The collective blaze was so fierce it could reportedly be seen as far away as Baltimore.
This remains the only time since the Revolution that a foreign power has captured and occupied the American capital. A violent storm the next day helped douse the flames, and the gutted public buildings were rebuilt over the following years.
Sources & references
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