The Burning of the Capitol

August 24, 1814

In the evening hours of August 24, 1814, during the second year of the War of 1812, British expeditionary forces under the command of Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cockburn and Major General Robert Ross set fire to the unfinished Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. All the public buildings in the developing city, except the Patent Office Building, were put to the torch in retaliation for what the British perceived as A black and white pen etching depicting the British forces torching the young city of Wahington. British troops move in from the right as Americans try desperately to fend of the enemy by land and sea.excessive destruction by American forces the year before in York, capital of upper Canada.

Once British forces had left the Capitol in ruins, there were proposals in the House of Representatives to temporarily move the seat of government to Philadelphia. Although there were persuasive arguments for the proposed move, Washington was to remain the capital of the war-weary Republic.

On the right a pen etching of "The Taking of the City of Washnigton in America".

National Intelligencer*

August 24, 1814

A notice from James H. Blake, the mayor of Washington D.C., to inform the populace that "all able-bodied Citizens remaining here" were to report to the Capitol building by 6 o'clock in the morning to help man the defenses for the city. It would be too little, too late.

* The National Intelligencer began in 1800. Thirteen years later, it became the Daily National Intelligencer and was the primary Capitol Hill news source for many years.

British Forces Storm the Capitol

Earlier in the day on August 24, American forces at the Battle of Bladensburg unsuccessfully tried to stop the British advance toward Washington. Although the British suffered many casualties, they were able to continue on their march toward Washington unmolested by the retreating remnants of Brig. Gen. William Winder's tattered American army. Upon reaching Capitol Hill sometime before 9:00 p.m., the order was given by Vice Adm. Cockburn to torch the Capitol.

This color photograph of a painting by Allyn Cox is a vibrant rendition of the Captiol burning. Troops in red uniforms line the path to the Capitol, which burns bright in the background.

"All this was as it should be, and had the arm of vengeance been extended no further, there would not have been room given for so much as a whisper of disapprobation. But, unfortunately, it did not stop here; a noble library, several printing offices, and all the national archives were likewise committed to the flames, which, though no doubt the property of Government, might better have been spared." -Lt. George R. Gleig, British Army

from Gleig, George Robert. Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans in the Years 1814-1815, 4th ed. London: J. Murry, 1836.

Samuel Alleyne Otis The first Secretary of the Senate.
Artist: Gilbert Stuart.Samuel Alleyne Otis. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. This was a gift of the Honorable and Mrs. Robert H. Thayer, 1980.11.2.
Images may be restricted by copyright. Please contact the National Gallery of Art for copyright and ordering information.

A black and white bust portrait of Lewis Machen reveals a younger man sporting and intense gaze.

Lewis H. Machen. Courtesy of the U.S. Senate Historical Office. Images may be restricted by copyright. Please contact the Senate Historical Office for copyright and ordering information.

Saving Senate Documents

The first Secretary of the Senate, Samuel Otis, had died in April 1814, and no one had been appointed to take his place. As a result, no provisions had been made for the removal or protection of state documents, archives, and the executive proceedings of the first twenty-five years of the U.S. Congress.

As panic and fear gripped the Capitol, a twenty-four year old clerk named Lewis H. Machen made plans to steal away the executive proceedings of the U.S. Senate so that they would not fall into British hands. With the help of the office's messenger, Tobias, Machen transported these documents to Brookeville, Maryland, where they remained for a month until they were returned to the Capitol.

"...what would have been said at home and abroad-what would have the tinge of every American countenance-if the executive history of the Senate for a period of twenty-five years had been blotted forever from the memory or knowledge of man?"
-Lewis H. Machen, Senate Clerk

from Rives, William C. Rescue of Senate Records, Washington, September 12, 1836.

"Light Up." Wood engraving featured in Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Dec. 1872. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. This image may be restricted by copyright. Please contact the Library of Congress for copyright and ordering information.

The Destruction of the Capitol

At the time of the British invasion, the unfinished Capitol building comprised two wings: the North Wing, containing the Senate chamber, the Supreme Court, and various offices; and the South Wing, containing the larger chamber for the House of Representatives and accompanying offices. The wings were connected by a wooden causeway. Although the Capitol was still unfinished in 1814, the developing structure suggested to an early English visitor, Francis Bailey, "a building worthy the taste and enterprise of a free and flourishing people."

Architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who had been appointed Survey of Public Buildings in 1803, was responsible for the ornate sculptural details of the interior of the Capitol. After the inferno gutted the building, the ruins had been further assaulted by the wet and frost of the winter of 1815, and what remained was in a terrible state of decay. However, because of the vaulted ceiling designed by Latrobe, the first-floor Senate Vestibule remained largely intact, including the acclaimed "corncob capitals."

The "corncob capitals" designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe and carved by Giuseppe Franzoni in 1809 survived the fire. As seen in the photos above, they still stand in the east front entry in the Senate Vestibule.

These "Americanized" columns prompted much praise: "This capital, during the summer session obtained me more applause from members of Congress than all the works of magnitude, of difficulty and of splendor that surround them," Latrobe wrote to former President Thomas Jefferson in August 1809. The columns still stand today.

Bailey quote: Bailey, Francis, F.R.S. "Journal of a Tour in Unsettled Parts of North America in 1796 and 1797." Ed. Jack D.L. Holmes. Southern Illinois University Press, 1969.
Latrobe quote: Van Horne, John C., ed. The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Series IV, Correspondence and miscellaneous papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe: v.2, 1805-1810. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986.

This is the painting, The Capitol after It Was Burned by British Troops in 1814. Watercolor by Munger, 1814. Courtesy of the Kiplinger Washington Collection. This image may be restricted by copyright. Please contact the Kiplinger Collection for copyright and ordering information.

A Move to Philadelphia?

Once Congress reconvened in the Patent Office Building on September 19, 1814, the question on every Members' mind was whether to move the seat of government from Washington to Philadelphia. The question was taken up in the House in a motion sponsored by Rep. Jonathan Fisk of New York.

Opposing opinions fell along a north and south divide.

Representatives from northern states supported moving the capital because of the cost of reconstructing the destroyed buildings, and fear that the British would return and possibly capture members of Congress. Southern representatives questioned Congress' authority to move the seat of government:

". . . if we go, the President and the Departments will follow, and thus we move the Government. Thus by a sort of legislative legerdemain* we put the Government on wheels and push off at full gallop. I must confess, Mr. Speaker, I am shocked by such an argument," explained Rep. Joseph Pearson of North Carolina.

The proposal to move the capital was defeated in the House by an 83-74 vote. The measure was never taken up in the Senate.

(* Legerdemain most often means "sleight of hand" or "craftiness," but it can also mean "a display of skill." How do you think it was intended in this case?)

Pearson quote: Annals of Congress: 13th Congress, 3rd Session: 362.

Text Credited to Timothy Stutz, U.S. Senate Library.