as the battle of bladensburg is winding down. a note sent by james madison as he s departing are attlefield that things going very badly at bladensburg. has collapsed and washington is in grave danger. recommends that she leave add once. now dolly had been making the rations, a number of belongings belongings had been packed up to wagons and carriages. same time, she had insisted on not conveying a panic but ordered that dinner be set for the president other officers and visitors that might be coming ink to the white house later the day. setting up there dining room and meantime, in the there s panic out streets as word of what s going bladensburg spreads and the streets are starting to fill p with refugees trying to get out of town. makes last dison preparations at the white house. message from the president madison. among the things that she spots is the ast minute ortrait of george washington, portrait that was life size. it took on an iconic status in the united states. w
200 years ago on august 24th, 1814, british forces burned the capitol building, president s house, and most federal buildings. next, author of through the perilous fight uses the boat to take us on a river tour of the burning of washington. this program is about 90 minutes. i ve had a boat on the potamic, oh, about 30 years. it s a great way to see the city. it looks really like a different city as seen from the water. lots of people think of the potamic as an obstacle to cross on the way to d.c., like a commuter obstacle, but it s the reason that the city is where it is, and it s one of the most remarkable urban rivers in the country, i think. well, we re in the middle =f the river off port washington, maryland, about eight or nine miles south of washington. more than anything, this the waterways really define the attack on washington and the ultimate attack on baltimore. this british were really making good use of the waterways, chez peak bay, the rivers, and by 1813,
saved by several businessmen from new york who came by4pqoñ secured a wagon and took it away in maryland for safekeeping. now, dolly rides into georgetown adison friends, and she is etown waiting more word from madison. president madison arrives at the white house around 4:00 in the afternoon. dolly is left, and he takes sort of the last look around the place, and she is accompanied by a couple of aides. he is obviously exhausted and a 60-year-old man who had been riding out on a horseback out to a battlefield to come under rocket fire, and has come back to the white house, and you can only imagine what his thoughts are at this moment. this is the nation that he had helped conceive. he had been the guiding light behind the constitution. and now, you know, america s great enemy great britain had a clear path and was on its way into washington. he stopped and pauses for a glass of wine and collects his thoughts and then gets on horseback to ride down here to georgeto georgetow
country, that that s more than just a raid, that it s a significant moment in international history and so i severely disagree with my canadian counterparts that what happened here was a very important moment in both british and american history. i ve even had canadians say they got the white house. let s do this. so that s the last question and want to give everyone 30 seconds to close up and geez. so sum up the war of 1812 in 30 seconds and i don t want the audience to forget they will be around, there will be book signings. you don t want to miss that opportunity. doctor, please start us off. 30 seconds. i did an analysis of raids, skirmishes and battles of war of the 1812. province of ontario and state of maryland tied on the numbers and virginia came in third. i find that very interesting. so the chesapeake theater had more raids, skirmishes and battles than any other theater during the war of 1812 to canada needs to start thinking about that. and i d like to
arrive in washington. they re 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 it s incredible. this man, this renaissance man, every subject you can think of is there. archaeology. history. art. farming. it s 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 th