Posted on 08/24/2014 8:55:41 AM PDT by Pharmboy
On Aug. 24, 1814, the British started a fire — and ultimately kindled a capital’s future.
The day began like so many days in Washington, with a painfully long meeting marked by confusion, misinformation and indecision.
The British were coming. They were on the march in the general direction of Washington. The precise target of the invaders remained unclear, but their intentions were surely malign.
James Madison, the fourth president of these young United States, had raced to a private home near the Navy Yard for an emergency war council with top generals and members of his Cabinet. The secretary of war, John Armstrong — conspicuously late for the meeting — had argued in recent days that the British would not possibly attack Washington, because it was too unimportant, with just 8,000 inhabitants and a few grandiose government buildings scattered at a great distance from one another.
“They certainly will not come here. What the devil will they do here? No! No! Baltimore is the place, sir. That is of so much more consequence,” Armstrong had declared.
The British had landed five days earlier near the head of navigable waters on the Patuxent River, southeast of Washington. There were about 4,500 of them — hardened fighters fresh from the Napoleonic wars.
The American forces called out to meet the invaders and defend the capital numbered about 5,500, but most were local militia — farmers and tradesmen with minimal training.
snip...the Enemy was most definitely headed straight for Bladensburg, a town just six miles northeast of the Capitol. This provoked a convulsion of activity. Generals prepared to dash to the field of battle. Madison decided he should go, too. Someone handed him two pistols that he strapped around his waist.
The gunslinging 5-foot-4-inch president galloped on the pike toward Bladensburg.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
hunters over grazers
Yes, Ulysses S. Grant was only 5’8”.
Storms blew in. The fiercest, on the afternoon of the 25th, has been described as a tornado or hurricane, and it might have been a derecho, for it ripped off the roofs of houses and helped squelch the fires in the city.
It is mentioned. Since the wind was so great, they speculate that it was a derecho.
Really DC’s darkest day was Jan 20, 2009.
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Indeed..darker than Oprah’s ass.
LOL, just read the same comment at the source. Wasn’t signed in to “like” it, so...
LIKE.
Speaking of the Brits and the burning of the White House, here is something interesting:
Back in 1998, while in the USAF, I was with a group of senior UK military officers, all flag rank (Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, and British Army—the Brit Army guy was in the same unit that burned the White House).
We were on an after-hours White House West Wing tour given by a friend of mine—one of Bore Gore’s military assistants.
We were walking down one of the hallways when my friend received a radio call via his ear-piece. He stopped, acknowledged the call and then quickly ushered all of us into the nearest room, a closet. We found ourselves jammed inside the closet among folding tables and a bunch of chairs.
We were in the dark (literally), and asked what the heck was going on. We were shushed and told to be quiet. Wow. Maybe a terrorist attack, an attack on the White House. . .what?
We soon heard a bunch of footsteps outside the closet, some muffled voices and the voices and footfalls faded away.
My friend received an ‘all clear’ call and were we allowed to depart the closet.
What just happened, we all asked. . .rightfully concerned that we were.
My friend replied that it was The Beast (Hillary).
She was walking from one part of the West Wing to another and she NEVER wants to see ANYONE when she is going from one office to another. So, when the Beast goes on the move the Secret Service calls everyone and clears the route.
So, that is why seven flag officers from our closest ally were jammed in a closet. . .because The Beast didn’t want to see anyone.
The Beast, The Queen Hillary. . .all warm and fuzzy that she is. . .and some people wonder why she simply can’t get rid of the arrogant, pompous, arrogant, mean, bitter, and did I say arrogant, ice-queen image.
Share!
Should always remember to read all the posts b4 replying. THANKS!
I can totally believe it and I can see Michele doing it too, if she had any imagination
Things were also pretty dark in D.C. after Martin Luther King was assassinated in April 1968.
I watched from the Virginia side of the Potomac as D.C. neighborhoods burned & stores were looted. A pall of smoke hung over the city.
Did I mention that Washington D.C. was & is majority black? The Federal District there has become a virtual fortress since the late sixties’.
Escape from New York becomes Escape from DC. . .same type of lawlessness and brutality.
The eye-opener for me of what went down in The Battle of New Orleans was the fairly recent book, “Patriotic Fire” by Winston Groom. Andrew Jackson sent the remains of the Commander of the British Forces back to England, pickled, in a barrel. That dude had come here, fresh from flamboyant victories over Napoleon, to pay back the upstart uncouth “americans” for their pesky “revolution”. The book would lead one to believe that Andrew Jackson single-handedly, finally and emphatically made the American Revolution stick.
Www.history.navy.mill /library/online/burning washington. Has a number of contemporary reports by various British and American officers on the battle.
The British claim 8to9 thousand US troops in opposition which I don’t believe.
The details of the Navy Yard losses are real interesting. The wood for a 74; the new sloop Argus and the almost finished frigate Columbia were burned along with smaller vessels; two hundred cannons and a tremendous amount of other supplies.
One of the officers writes of his home being looted by other city residents-——kinda like what would happen now.
My bad,......... So much for my “scanning” abilities.
After reading and thinking of the times that Washington was “miraculously” not shot during the war, I am overwhelmed with a love for that time when America was blessed by God and deep mourning that we are witnessing His judgment.
Thanks so much for posting—a great addition to this thread.
Was there some request or protocol or something for Pakenham’s body to be returned to England? Or was sending him back in a pickling barrel a sign of contempt? If so, I find that to be revolting behavior and it would certainly knock my opinion of Jackson down several pegs.
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