Many of his lectures and programs have been broadcast for them before. Were lucky to have him tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, mr. Anthony pitch. N÷ thank you veepjz much for coming. Just put that down. Its raining outside and so im very flad to see a lot of people here tonight. I want to tell you that a few years ago i escorted somebody into the white house, and his name was major ed ross, the same name Major General robert ross who burnt the white house. He was a descendant. And he wanted to see the scorch marks that i told him were there. They are under the front door and theres a big stone archway where you can see massive scorch marks from the fires set by the british in 1814. And n the pastry chef who has offices close by couldnt stop giggling. He thought heres a man whos come to finish the job. I like to write stories that are epic, true and sad. People ask me why dont you write something funny . I cant. I really like to write epic stories. Vietnam was one and then i wrote the burningxvm[y of washington is certainly a roler coaster of a story, the president escapes. The city is in flames. The National Anthem comes out of it. And you have Andrew Jacksons victory at new orleans. All in the same campaign. And when my book was reviewed by account the Times Literary Supplement in london the reviewer said, he described what happened here as an amusing little incident. Well, he was parading his ignorance because he didnt realize that the british suffered their greatest defeat in the long annuls of the valiant history of military conflict. At the hands of americans. Had that happened before the peace treaty was signed, i think we might have controlled canada today. But Winston Churchill described this as not a war of independence. He denied it was a war of independence. Now, who am i to argue with that great man . But fortunately, hes not with us today so i can challenge him. If your ships are boarded on the high seas bay enemy and they force bring haul off sailors, then if you dont do anything, you are surrendering your sovereignty. Its an affront to the dignity and sovereignty of a nation and thats why i call it without question a war of independence. So now let me tell you what washington was like in 1814. It was a gawky village, a mere embryo of what it aspired to be. There were only 8,000 residents of 1 6 were slaves and the attorney general described it as a meager village with a few bad houses and extensive swamps. And to british diplomat called the hole. When the same diplomat saw the president in stockings greeting foreign diplomats he wrote down to his mother, dearest ma, luckily for me i have been in turkey and write at home in this simplicity of manners. That was the best quote i 6jxg. So why would they want to target this village that had no Strategic Value at all . They wanted to humiliate and demoralize the americans. And if they could seize the capital during wartime it might even lead to them to the breakup of the United States. The commander of the british commander of forces in north america wanted to give the americans what he called a complete dropping. And this was in part payback for american excesses in canada. Where they burned and planted some of the public and private buildings most recently in york and now called toronto and in the villages on the niagara frontier. The countries have been at war for years because britain and france had been at war for years with each side targeting the other trade with neutral america and this meant boarding american ships and banning american ships from each others ports under certain conditions. In addition, thousands of british troops desserted to the american merchant marine for better pay and conditions and many of them took out citizenship. In a sixyear period, leading up to 1810, the british hold up about 5,000 sailors from american ships. About 1,300 of these were later found to have been born in america. So, for years, americans have tolerated this until 1811 and a new breed was elected to congress. Men like henry clay of kentucky and john c. Calhoun of south carolina, both of whom had been born after the declaration of independence. So what was tollerible for the oldernh generation was insufferable for the new generation, the younger generation. War for them was the only answer and the man that led the crusade against war was representative John Randolph of roanoke. 7c he argued, how can you take up arms against a people who share the same language, same blood, same religion, habeus kor put, Representative Government and he said the works of shakespeare and newton. Call hun was not going to have any of this. He didnt share randolphs attachment to the former colonial power. He replied great indeed must be the reason for going to war if so much had bound us together in the past and in the summer of 1812, a bitterly divided congress, as bitter as it was in the vietnam war, declared war on britain. And for two years, it was a distant rumble on the canadian frontier. If you lived in washington and did not read the newspaper, you might not have known it. It was a war going on. But in 1814, napoleon fell and anxious american diplomats in america warned James Madisons government to free up thousands of additional troops for the war against america. But the capital remained under defended and the principle reason none other than the secretary of war, john armstrong. He was within of those up time and time again. People who believe that their judgment is best for everybody else. Even when reality to the contrary stares them in the face. He was one of them. He was a former minister to france, a Major General and it was said of him that nature and habits forbid him to speak well of any man. He was that kind of person. Cock sure. Stubborn. Self assured. And when a fleet of british warships came up the Chesapeake Bay in summer of 1814, a frantic head of the d. C. militia, maj general john van mess went to see the secretary of war. He said they would not come without such a fleet without meaning to strike but they wont come here. What will they do . Baltimore is the place. And so, you see, this is a lesson to be learned from the war of 1812. The attack on washington. If you put intelligence in the hands of one man or a small cod ri of people, you are asking for trouble because it doesnt have the analysis that a greater inspection would have by a greater number of people. That is the lesson to be learned. I dont think its been learned but that is the greatest lesson. Armstrong was the most reviled man in the country afterwards. And he quit his job when the people tore off their ep lets and they refused to serve under him. He was dismissed with graffiti on the ruined capitol. Describing him as a coward and he was the wrong person in the right job at the wrong place. And so, that was armstrong. Now, he dismissed the Major General in those words. He wasnt the kind of person who could see that they were going to attack baltimore. Washington. Even though their own president speculated that6fn they would attack baltimore, philadelphia or washington. So, the british sailed up the river and disembarked about 5,000 troops at benedict on the 19th of august, 1814. The path to the capitol was clear. The capitol itself was like tethered prey and as a british began the 50mile march inland, fear in washington turned to terror and terror gave way to pandemonium. It was a hottest summer on memory. Not rained in three weeks. Dry and dusty roads were clogged meager possessions spilling over the sides of the carts and wagons. Transport was more precious than jewelry and other washingtonians spread to the woods preferring pair doxically the security of the wild to the insecurity of their own homes. Thats setting what it was like. And so, i dislike books that give a dry recitation of facts. Thats not how it happened. These were real people with our emotions, reacting to different circumstances. And this is what i tried to portray. What happened to the people involved. Rather than a dry list of statistics. Many of the Government Agencies remain staffed because most of the clerks were over 45 and therefore exempt from callup into militia. But in the basement of the house of representatives, nearly all the offices were empty because most of the clerks were young ob people. Only j. T. Frost, a newcomer, remained at his desk. He was over 45 so in this moment of unparalleled crisis, a man of scant experience and Weak Authority is now burdened with the need to make rapid decisions of national importance. He was sorely in need of the guarding hand of patrick mcgruder, the clerk of the house, but he was ill for months and hed finally taken his doctors advice to leave town at this very moment to try and help restore his health of mineral spas. Thats how history operates around one man. And so, nobody was around to adviad advise poor frost on how or when to save the papers of the house from enemy vandals. I used this word vandals with care. Its denigrating the british but there is no other word that would fit what they did later. And so, there was a colleague of his called samuel burch. He tried hard to reason with the superiors and to remain at the desk but he, too, marched out of the city to meet the enemy. He was stood down three days before the british hoisted the union jack on capitol hill and when he went looking for transport the following day it was 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. . c to scour the countryside with transport. They came back in 1814 with one cart and four oxen. Taken from the man who lived 6 miles out of town. Loaded it up, turned the oxen around, drove nine miles into did countryside and depositived them in safety. And only to join the exodus as the british arrived at sunset, august 24th, 1814. Frost frustrated beyond measure. Papers of the house and even the vast contents of the library of congress if only they had been able to seize more transport. Now, the library of congress in those days faced the western edge of the wall of the mall. Western edge of the capitol. Overlooking the mall. And it was a large room, about 86 feet long with timbered ceilings so it went up like a tinderbox. All 3,000 books were destroyed. Ironically, many of them were printed in britain and some of them were on british parliamentary procedure. You know about Thomas Jefferson offering and it was accepted his private library as a nucleus of a new library of congress 6, 487 and he said it will take about two weeks for the wagons to arrive in washington. Theyre so great. They had a fire in the middle of the 19th century but you can see what remains of them in curved bookcases at the library of congress and its incredible. This man, this renaissance man, every subject you can think of is there. Archaeology. History. Art. Farming. Its all there in different languages. That was Thomas Jefferson. Amazing. Well, two days before the british arrived, the commandant ordered the navy clerk to get a hold of transport to take 124 barrels of gun powder out of the navy yard into the safety of virginia. Booth settled up across into georgetown and saw a wagon outside a store. He rode up and told the two apparent owners he was impounding it for the department of navy. This is wartime. And so some citizens who might normally have buckled to bureaucratic pressure bustled chasing off government officials with abuse and profanities. This is exactly what happened to booth. In a vivid chronicle written two weeks after the departure of the british, he described what happened next. And its got my fingerprints all over it at the National Archives. I dismounted and followed them into the store. Where they made use of such language as was degrading to gentlemen. He didnt have any backup power. He didnt get the wagon. But booth was one of the last to free the city before the british arrived. And before he did so, he decided to check at the white house to see if anybody was there and to get reliable information. When he rode up, he saw an american colonel on horseback near the front door. The colonel dismounted, walked over to the locked front door of the white house, pulled hard on the bell rope and banged on the name of chief john the chief of the household staff but wrote booth all was as silent as a church and only then did he realize in his words, quote, the metropolis of the country was abandoned to his horrid fate. He represented america at that moment. And then a note arrived at the Sate Department scribbled by secretary of state james monroe who was then on horseback spying on the British Advance east of washington. He ordered his staff to secure as best they could the precious National Documents in the departmental records. One of the clerks, Stephen Pleasanton, remember that name, stephen with a ph and pleasanton. This is one of the bravest men ill talk about tonight. He and others but pleasanton described himself as chiefly instrumental in this. Very gently put the originals believe it or not of the declaration of independence, the constitution, International Treaties and George Washingtons correspondence into bags that he had made up into book bags that were linen. Whilst this is being done, none other than the secretary of war passed by and armstrong rebuked him for being alarmist and thinking the british were on the way to washington. Pleasanton was intimidated. Thats amazing. Imagine. He stood up to the secretary of war and said its more prudent to try and protect the documents of the revolutionary government so he loaded them on to carts, crossed the Potomac River and drove two miles7n upstream of georgetown where he put them in an abandoned mill but then he immediately had second thoughts. He was now opposite fox holes foundry, the largest manufacturer of munitions in the country and certain to be targeted by the british. A spy or turncoat could leave an enemy to the nearby hiding place. So he went further into virginia. Got some wagons, came back and loaded them up. And he drove 35 miles west to leesburg, virginia. Put them in an empty house. Locked the door. And gave the key to the collector of Internal Revenue and then he checked into a hotel. That night, the residence of leesburg went into the streets and they could see the fiery glow over the burning city of washington. Pleasanton was not amongst them. He was too tired and fast asleep. Now, i know this happened because 39 years later, excuse me. I have a slight sinus problem. 39 years later, pleasanton thought that he was going to be he was going to lose his job because he3 department kno anybody and the Incoming Administration and in those days you had to know people. So, he wrote a letter to his eminent friend James Buchanan who became president just before lincoln and he outlined everything he had done, that memorable 24th of august, 1814, and he said, i could have been rewarded by thousands of pound sterling by the british if id given them the documents and i didnt. And the letter is in the papers in the library of congress. Now, i was always upset by the condition of president s grave. I had been to Congressional Cemetery many times, about a mile behind the u. S. Capitol. And it was at an angle and you couldnt read his name too well so i held a fund raising walk to restore the tombstone. And we walked from the capitol to the white house. As we passed the National Archives, i was telling stories all the time from the war of 1812 and i said, if it were not for Stephen Pleasanton you probably would not be able to see those documents in the National Archives today. And of course, i raised the money and we got an expert and restored the tombstone. Up right now and the man got the credit so long overdue. Now, i want to tell you about a woman who was equally as brave safety of her own life. Her name is Dolly Madison. She is without a doubt the most beloved first lady ever to live in the white house. Jackie kennedy was admired but dolly was beloved and people said that when she wore her jewelry it was outshown by her personality. She was a marvelous woman. Look how she risked her life or captivity to save a painting. None of us would do that. Ikxez certainly wouldnt. But she did. And its not surprising that people paid courtesy calls on her until her death on lafayette square, new years day in particular. Courtesy calls from the president onwards down. What shelkqwe does was this. Gilbert stewarts full length portrait of George Washington hung in the west hall of the large dining room. It had been acquired by the federal government in 1800 for the white house at a cost of 800. And at that moment, two new yorkers, friends of herls, came in to the white house and they asked if they could do anything to help. This is jacob barker and according to a historian who interviewed them later, she said fall into the hands of the british. When she saw that her slave Paul Jennings was taking too long to unscrew the giant frame from the wall, she told him to break the canvas. And fortunately at that moment, french john came in. It becomes murky. Did]aen french john tell jennio stop and with dollys approval took out the knife and cut the fabric from its frame . 95 inches long, 59 3 4 inches wide. Or, did dolly tell the slave to break it from the wood and take it out . We dont know for sure. But the conservators didnt find any cut marks on the canvas. And so, were not quite sure. ÷ whatever happened, they gave it to barker one of the new yorkers who started to roll it up. Until he was stopped by the frenchman. They put a flat in the wagon and drove through georgetown into the countryside and left wit a farmer they lodged with overnight and a few weeks latter, they returned i