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"In the [President's House] not an inch, but its crack'd and blacken'd walls remain'd. That scene... which when I last visited it was so splendid... was now nothing but ashes."
-- Margaret Bayard Smith letter, August 30, 1814
The iconic portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart was among the treasures saved from the British attack on the White House.
Scorch marks from the White House fire are still visible at two locations. |