On August 24, after centuries of dormancy, Mount Vesuvius erupts in southern Italy, devastating the prosperous Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing thousands. The cities, buried under a thick layer of volcanic material and mud, were never rebuilt and largely The unit had Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.
After the feat, Webb became an international celebrity, admired for both his prowess in the water and his penchant for risk-taking.
Born in Rumors had abounded for years that a natural cross of snow lay hidden high in the rugged mountains of Colorado. Many claimed to have On August 24, , Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life for the murder of John Lennon, a founding member of The Beatles, one of the most successful bands in the history of popular music. On December 8, , Chapman shot and killed the year-old singer, Boesky offered Siegel, a mergers-and-acquisitions executive, a job, but Siegel, who was looking for some kind of Above all, seizing the capital would humiliate and demoralize American and, as a bonus, might even lead to the disintegration of the United States.
Early warning signs that Washington would be targeted went unheeded, even though the British press had openly speculated on the fate of the American capital. Little action was taken, even after U. Secretary of War John Armstrong refused to take these signals seriously, even as the British fleet sailed into the Patuxent River, fifty miles east of Washington, in August But they certainly will not come here!
What the devil will they do here? Baltimore is the place, Sir. That is of so much more consequence. I f the secretary of war, a former major general with access to every morsel of intelligence, refused to take the British seriously, small wonder that the general population was caught off guard.
As word of the British advance on land filtered through to Washingtonians, the uneasy calm turned into a full-fledged flight, driven by fear, then stark terror in the widening pandemonium. It was the hottest summer in memory and no rain had fallen for three weeks.
The dusty roads were clogged with desperate refugees, their meager possessions spilling over in the stampede to escape. Others fled to the wooded surroundings, preferring the security of the wild to the insecurity of their homes. Among those who escaped was Georgetown librarian and bookshop owner Joseph Milligan, who fled far across Virginia, arriving so incoherent and irrational at the home of an acquaintance that he told his host he thought he was being pursued by the British.
Saner counsels prevailed in the government agencies, where many of the offices remained staffed because most of the clerks were over the age of forty-five and therefore exempt from call-up into the militia. But in the basement of the House of Representatives most of the offices were empty because nearly all of the employees were young men.
Only J. Frost, a newcomer over forty-five, remained at this desk. In this moment of acute crisis a man of scant experience and even less authority was burdened with the responsibility for making snap decisions of crucial importance. He was sorely in need of the guiding hand of the clerk of the House of Representatives, Patrick Magruder, a former member of Congress and custodian of the Library of Congress.
But here, as in so many instances throughout this catastrophe, the human factor was paramount. Events turned on the nature and whereabouts of individuals. Magruder had been ill for months and had finally taken the advice of his doctor to leave the city to try to restore his health at mineral spas. But he, too, had been marched out of the city to meet the enemy. He was finally stood down at night on Sunday, August 21, three days before the British seized the capital.
But when he went looking for transport the following day, it was already too late. Most of the carts and wagons had been grabbed by the military, and the remainder were piled high with the goods of civilians in flight. In desperation, Burch ordered three messengers to scour the countryside for transport. They came back with only one cart and four oxen, procured from a man who lived six miles out in the countryside.
Into this single cart they loaded the most important documents of the House of Representatives, then turned the oxen around and drove nine miles into the countryside, where they unloaded the documents in a place of safety. They returned to Washington, but on Wednesday, August 24, just hours before the British hoisted the Union Jack on Capitol Hill, they all joined in the general exodus of refugees. Burch and Frost were frustrated beyond measure.
Both men knew they could have saved all the papers of the House, and even the vast contents of the Library of Congress, if only they had been able to seize more transport. The archival material of the Senate was in equal jeopardy because no one of administrative seniority was on hand to take charge.
Samuel Otis, the secretary of the Senate since , had died in April , and no one had appointed his successor in the intervening four months. The principal clerk was away from the city, leaving only two younger clerks, John McDonald and Lewis Machen, to decide whether to take matters into their own hands.
Machen, twenty-four, should have been called up into the D. He had not yet been called up into the Maryland militia, so he decided to make himself available for civilian tasks at the U. Machen waited in vain for an executive order or instructions from higher up, but neither was forthcoming. By noon on Sunday the 21 st , just three days before the British marched into Washington, he could wait no longer. McDonald readily agreed, but now they were faced with finding suitable transport, a commodity that had become more precious than jewelry.
Machen obtained a single wagon by telling the driver he would impound it if the driver did not hand it over voluntarily. However, when they arrived back at the Capitol, they discovered McDonald had gone, apparently to make arrangements for the safety of his family.
The following morning, when McDonald arrived, he took the loaded wagon to the Quaker village of Brookeville, in neighboring Montgomery County, out of the path of the advancing British. The Senate documents remained there until the following month, when they were returned to Washington. Secretary of State James Monroe, out spying on horseback as the British advanced east of Washington, sent a scribbled note to the State Department telling his staff to secure as best they could the precious national documents and departmental records.
One of the clerks, Stephen Pleasonton, hurried out to buy coarse, durable linen and ordered it cut and made up into book bags. Together with other clerks, he stuffed the bags with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, international treaties, and the correspondence of George Washington, including the historic letter resigning his commission.
Pleasonton replied without hesitation that he had a difference belief and thought it prudent to try to safeguard the papers of the Revolutionary government. Pleasonton loaded the bags into carts and crossed the Potomac River, driving two miles upstream above Georgetown, where he deposited them in an abandoned mill.
A spy or turncoat could easily lead the enemy to his nearby hiding place. So he reloaded the carts with his precious cargo and drove thirty-five miles inland to Leesburg, Virginia, where he placed the documents in an empty house, locked the door, and gave the key to the local sheriff. Then he checked into a hotel, too tired to join the townspeople who flocked into the streets that night to watch the glow in the sky over the burning city of Washington.
On the evening of the 29 th we reached Benedict, and re-embarked the following day. As the campaign was being planned, negotiations were already underway between British and American Commissioners appointed to treat for peace.
The first conference took place on 8 August However, this success was short lived. News soon filtered through that Major-General Ross had been killed during the subsequent Battle of Baltimore and on 8 January British forces were decisively beaten at the Battle of New Orleans.
Although the Treaty of Ghent was signed on 24 December , war raged on with successes on both sides until the treaty was finally ratified by the United States of America on 17 February , bringing to an end a war that neither side had particularly wanted. Yes, you are right David. I had meant to put in modern day Belgium. It is too much of a distraction in a short blog about Washington to describe the secession of the Southern Provinces of the Netherlands in to become the Kingdom of Belgium in , but at least by this reply that is explained.
Thank you for your comment. I believe that major general Ross was from Ireland. Indeed the small town of Rostrevor in county Down, Northern Ireland was called after him. Am I correct in this belief? The town does not appear to have been named after him though, as the etymology predates him. No mention is made of the library books that were burnt. Were they used as kindling or is that a myth? Your email address will not be published.
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