The burning of Washington : the British invasion of 1814 / Anthony S. Pitch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pitch, Anthony.

Series:

Bluejacket books

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Washington (D.C.)--History--Capture by the British, 1814.

Washington (D.C.).

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xv, 298 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Annapolis, Md. : Naval Institute Press, 2000, ©1998.

Summary:

In the hot and humid summer of 1814 British troops completed a fifty-mile march to capture the young American capital, putting to rout along the way pitiful citizen militiamen (some in winter gear, others barefoot) while President James Madison rode out of town to safety. Among those remaining, a realization spread that Washington had been "abandoned to a horrid fate." In no time, British arsonists set off an inferno whose glow was seen fifty miles away and from which burn marks are visible today on original stones of the White House. This attack was one of the defining moments in the coming-of-age of the United States, and Anthony Pitch tells the dramatic story with all the immediacy of an eyewitness account.

Contents:

War

Target Washington

A village for a capital

Invasion

Pandemonium

The juggernaut rolls on

The battle of Bladensburg

The capital abandoned

Washington in flames

A lightning occupation

A flag furled in darkness

Refuge among pacifists

Alexandria surrenders

Baltimore defiant

The battle of North Point

Bombs over Baltimore

The birth of an anthem.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-283) and index.

ISBN:

1557504253

9781557504258

OCLC:

44646576