Browse Items (15 total)

This portrait of Washington is a copy of one commissioned by Senator William Bingham of Pennsylvania in 1796. It was acquired by the US government in the 1790s and installed in the White House in the early 1800s.

First Lady Dolley Madison waited in the White House for her husband to return from the battlefield at Bladensburg; while she waited, she wrote this letter to her younger sister Lucy Todd. Mrs. Madison refused to leave until the absolute last moment…

William Thornton was a prominent member of Washington society, Superintendent of the Patent Office, and a Justice of the Peace. On August 26th, when the British had retreated and American officials not yet returned, Thornton organized patrols and…

This engraving from late 1814 shows the White House, also known as the President's House, after it was set fire by the British. For the previous four years, First Lady Dolley Madison had worked with architect and designer Benjamin H. Latrobe to…

This drawing shows the Capitol before its destruction in 1814. It was apparently drawn afterwards from memory by Latrobe, who was Architect of the Capitol from 1803-1811 and again from 1815-1817. Most of the fine decorative work which Latrobe…

The Daily Federal Republican had originally been a Baltimore newspaper, but moved to Georgtown in 1812 after a mob destroyed its offices for printing anti-war statements. The paper was run by members of the Federalist Party, which was the opposition…

Also called Buzzard Point, this piece of land at the juncture of the Washington Channel and the Anacostia River has been used by the United States military since the early 1800s. During the War of 1812, the area housed magazines for cannon and gun…

Although the building which housed the Patent Office in 1814 was called Blodget's Hotel, it was never actually a hotel. From 1800 to 1810, it was the home of the first theatre in Washington. In 1810, both the Patent Office and the Post Office moved…

Paul Jennings was born into slavery on the family farm of James Madison, who was president during the War of 1812. During Madison's presidency and retirement, Jennings served as a "body servant," or valet, to Madison. After Madison's death he…

George R. Gleig left divinity school in 1813 to join the British army in the fight against Napoleon Bonaparte. After Bonaparte's defeat, Gleig was sent to the United States for the final months of the War of 1812. He not only participated in the…