The burning of Washington : the British invasion of 1814 /

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 re...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pitch, Anthony.
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Annapolis, Md. : Naval Institute Press, 2000, ©1998.
Series:Bluejacket books
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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.
Physical Description: xv, 298 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-283) and index.
ISBN: 1557504253
9781557504258