THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
7
with the ostensible purpose of attacking Commodore Barney's flotilla
which had taken refuge at the head of the river. The real purpose,
however, as subsequent developments showed , was to attack Washington.
On ascending the river as far as possible British forces to the num
ber of 6,000 were debarked and started toward the American capital.
The only part of the American army available for the defense of the
city numbered between 3,000 and 4,000 men, with 17 pieces of artillery.
These offered some resistance to the British advance but being for the
most part raw, undisciplined soldiers they were incapable of doing very
efficient fighting and retreated before the seasoned "red coats," leaving
the field clear to the capital. At last the British marched triumphantly
into Washington and began to put into execution the threat of the Brit
ish officer to the effect that the "Yankee capital grounds" would be
converted into a cow pasture.
. After the capitulation of the city the British soldiers began to set fire to
it, burning the capital and the various public buildings,' including the
president's house which was then called the "president's palace." Ac
cording to accounts that have come down from that time Dolly Madi
son, the president's wife, stopped long enough to cut a portrait of
George Washington from its frame and carry it. off to safety, leaving
the "palace" with the president's dinner steaming on the table to the
mercies of the invaders.
Rushing into the building the British troopers applied to its draperies
flaming brands which they had seized from a burning saloon. All of
the furniture and inside furnishings were broken up to feed the flames
which destroyed everything on the inside and scorched the outside con
siderably. When the structure was repaired later the marks of the fire
on the outside were obliterated by the use of white paint. In this way
the celebrated building came to be called the "White House."
An Englishman who was present describes the scene in the following
manner: "The-blazing houses, ships, and stores, the report of explod
ing magazines and the crash of falling roofs was one of the finest sights
to be conceived. The sky was brilliantly illuminated by the conflagra
tion. The scene was as striking and sublime as the burning of St. Se
bastian's. Toward morning a violent storm of rain, accompanied by
thunder and lightning, came on, whose flashes seemed to vie in brilli
ancy with the flames which burst from the roofs of burning houses,
while the thunder drowned the noise of falling walls and was only inter
rupted by the occasional roar of cannon and of large depots of gun
powder as they exploded, one by one."
As Washington was the capital of the American republic the British
felt greatly elated over its capture while the Americans felt the deepest
chagrin and indignation. In fact the burning of the city was regarded