Existing comment:
Star Spangled Banner National Historic Trail
The Capitol in Flames
The US Capitol was the British troops' first target when they arrived in Washington on August 24, 1814, only hours after their afternoon victory at the Battle of Bladensburg. The invaders fired rockets through the Capitol's windows. When the building's iron-plated ceiling prevented the fires from spreading, the attackers burst inside, piled up furniture, draperies, and other combustibles, and fired a rocket into the mess. The result was a fire so intense that it melted glass light fixtures.
Temporary Quarters:
The burning of the Capitol, where Congress had voted to declare war on Great Britain in June 1812, left the legislators homeless. So they reunited at the Patent Office, at Seventh and F Streets, NW. On February 16, 1815, Congress ratified the Treaty of Ghent (and the war's end) at the Patent Office.
"I had no objection to burn[ing] arsenals, dockyards, frigates building, stores, barracks. etc ... but we were horrified at the order to burn the elegant houses of Parliament."
-- British Captain Henry Smith |