BURNING OF WASHINGTON
The British Invasion of 1814
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BURNING OF WASHINGTON
Full Description:
With all the immediacy of an eyewitness account, Anthony Pitch tells the dramatic story of the British invasion of Washington in the summer of 1814, an episode many call a defining moment in the coming-of-age of the United States. The British torched the Capitol, the White House, and many other public buildings, setting off an inferno that illuminated the countryside for miles and sending President James Madison scurrying out of town while his wife Dolley rescued a life-sized portrait of George Washington from the flames. The author's gripping narrative--hailed by a White House curator, a Senate historian, and the chairman of the National Geographic Society, among others--is filled with vivid details of the attack. Not confining his story to Washington, Pitch also describes the brave, resourceful defense of nearby Fort McHenry and tells how Francis Scott Key, a British hostage on a ship near the Baltimore harbor during the fort's bombardment, wrote a poem that became the national anthem.
See Related Items:
Encyclopedia of the War of 1812
"Pitch’s book is packed with interesting things and very well researched. His bibliography and footnotes are complete and provide a tantalizing trove of things to follow up on. This book is definitely worth reading." — What Would the Founders Think?
