British Burns Capitol Building In Civilized Attack

Ilustrasi dalam buku Paul M. Rapin de Thoyras, The History of England, from the Earliest Periods, Volume 1 (Sumber: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - The rioting at the Capitol Building, United States (US) was described as the worst after the British attack on the building two hundred years ago, August 24, 1814. The day started as usual, with a very long meeting, sometimes marked confusion, misinformation, and doubt. But what they didn't realize was that England was coming.

They marched to Washington DC. The exact target of the invaders is still unclear. But their intentions were clearly evil. James Madison, the fourth president, goes to a private home near Navy Yard to attend an emergency war council with his generals and cabinet members.

The secretary of war, John Armstrong, who was conspicuously late for the meeting, had argued in recent days that Britain could not attack Washington DC. He felt that such actions were not important.

Armstrong thought so because in Washington, DC at that time, there were only eight thousand inhabitants and stately government buildings scattered over great distances. To quote The Washington Post, Thursday, January 7, 2021, Britain itself had landed five days earlier near the navigable waters of the Patuxent River, southeast of Washington DC.

There were about 4,500 men, tough warriors born from the Napoleonic Wars. American troops were called in to meet the invaders and defend the Capital, but most of them were local militias, ie farmers and traders with minimal training.

At that time British troops managed to win over American troops in Bladensburg, Maryland. Under the orders of Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cockburn and Major General Robert Ross, Britain raided the Capitol Building, which was under construction at the time.

Britain burns the Capitol

George Munger's watercolor depicting the ruins of the White House after the great fire of August 24, 1814. (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

England knows how to make fire. They piled various items, sprinkled them with gunpowder and placed torches on them. They set many fires inside the Capitol Building, setting fire to the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the grand chambers of the House and Senate.

Later, Cockburn and Ross head to the White House, enjoying the delicious food and drink that President Madison and his staff left behind. The invaders took some souvenirs. A lieutenant goes to the presidential dressing room and wears one of the president's clean shirts.

They then returned to light the fire. The fire burned some of the most beautiful furniture in the US, including items obtained by US President Thomas Jefferson of Paris and personal belongings of Madison. The fire turned the room into a shattered, smoldering shell.

The British also burned down the building that housed the War and State Departments. They also searched the offices of the National Intelligencer newspaper, with Cockburn ordering all the Cs to be confiscated from the press so that editors could no longer write nasty things about him. The Americans themselves had burned the Navy Yard to keep ships and warehouses out of British hands.

Civilized attack, says the British

The invaders immediately left the Capitol. It will be a civilized attack, he said. The reason they call it civilized is because there was no rape, murder and looting. They even avoided the Patent Office after being convinced that the patent was private property.

Fleeing US government leaders and their ineffective military saw fires everywhere. The flames could be seen for 50 miles. The Vogel Book tells of a letter from Mary Hunter, a resident of the Capitol area.

“You never saw a living room as brightly lit as the whole city that night. Few thought of going to sleep. They spent the night gazing at the fire, and lamenting the disgrace of the city. "

During the incident, the President was apparently living on a farm called Salona, ​​in McLean, and failed to meet Mrs. Madison, who had crossed the bridge in Little Falls, not far from the farmhouse called Rokeby. The residents then turned against Madison. The president and his wife were subjected to humiliation when they visited Virginia.

After observing the damage, several members of Congress requested that the federal government be moved to Philadelphia or another city they thought might be safer. Ironically, Washington DC itself has been designated the nation's capital after a horde of drunken soldiers angry with unpaid salaries stormed the Philadelphia State Building in June 1783.