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 ...
Was it a hurricane or a tornado?
There are accounts of both, in quick succession.
Returning a body in a pickle barrel was the only way to ship a body in the days before embalming. Remember the time it took to sail across the Atlantic in those days.
It was common for high ranking officers to be returned to their homeland in that fashion back then. Lower ranked officers and enlisted men were burried where they fell.
Of course in those days, they probably didn’t give hurricanes names before they hit. As in, “hurricane Nemo is coming!!” There was only a during and after. The “hurricane” that hit at that time has since been referred to as The Hurricane of Providence. It can be googled under that name, and you will find accounts of the hurricane and/or tornado. We, of course make a distinction between the two meteorological events. Back in those days, ......would they have?
Hopefully you now have your answer, thanks to some very astute fellow posters. I would much prefer that it knock your opinion of ME down several pegs than your opinion of Andrew Jackson.
I like 1812, too.
Not enough is mentioned even about Madison.
He took the “Commander in Chief” sobriquet very seriously and figured if war was near, he should be out there.
That’s much more than we can say for many of our presidents.
Terrible storm probably complete with tornadoes that rendered them ineffectual and helped douse the fires.
That was a great book. The man is a native here so it was particularly interesting, but he is most famous of course for his excellent “Night to Remember”, another of my pet topics.
Shorter than Adams? ;-D
I seriously doubt it was a hurricane. Would have been much more widely noted, affecting a huge area. Not even listed on hurricane charts these days.
>>weren’t people shorter in those days generally?<<
Not really: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heights_of_presidents_and_presidential_candidates_of_the_United_States
T.J. and G.W. were 6’+.
Monroe was the shortest ever.
As a short guy who commands great respect, the one thing this list doesn’t measure is the brass % in the gonads :)
Already answered here. But I will also add that General Ross was killed at North Point approaching Baltimore and was likewise pickled and sent to Halifax (IIRC latter). It was a very serious approach to help preserve bodies.
Monroe and his regiment crossed over and marched through a Nor'easter snow storm north and then east towards Trenton. Along the way, the soldiers were spotted by a young patriot doctor, John Riker, whose dogs had been awakened in the pre-dawn early morning. Riker volunteered to lend his medical bag to the efforts saying that as many doctors as possible would be needed fearing severe casualties from a clash with the battle-tested German-speaking Hessian professional mercenary soldiers.
Avoiding detection, the Americans approached the center of Trenton from north and south. When the Hessians sounded the alarm, they tried to get several of their artillery pieces in action to pour grapeshot into the Americans marching down towards the homes they had commandeered. Knowing that this would slow the assault, after a volley of artillery fire, Lieutenant Monroe and General Washington's cousin, Captain William Washington and their men rushed to seize the guns before they could fire. Both young officers were severely wounded.
Captain Washington was badly wounded in both hands, and young Lieutenant James Monroe was carried from the field bleeding badly after he was struck in the left shoulder by a musket ball, which severed an artery. It would be the young volunteer doctor, John Riker who clamped the artery, keeping him from bleeding to death and saving the life of a man who would go on to achieve so much in politics both as a Virginian and on the national stage as a future President.[9] The wounded soldier, Monroe was sent home to Virginia to nurse his injuries. The Battle of Trenton would be Monroe's only battle as he would spend the next three months recuperating from his wound.
In John Trumbull's painting Capture of the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton, Monroe can be seen lying wounded at left center of the painting. In the famous painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware, Monroe is depicted holding the American flag.[10][11]
Thanks.
And during the Revolution at the battle of Brooklyn it was fog that saved Washington’s army and the remainder of the Maryland line.
Tony Blair addressed Congress after 9-11. In his speech he reported that Congressional dignitaries had given him a tour of the Capitol and showed him scorch marks from when the British burned the Capitol. He looked up with a deadpan and said, "sorry about that." It was a great moment.
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