“The Capitol has not been breached like this since the War of 1812” – have you been hearing similar statements but didn’t really know what they were talking about? Here we go:
The War of 1812 was declared by the US against Britain in June of 1812. To complicate your high school civics test answers, the war lasted until 1815.
Why did the US declare war on Britain? Because the US was sick of economic sanctions and the stealing of seamen. (This is called ‘impressment’ – when you press other soldiers/seamen in to service for your own battles.)
What happened? The Brits didn’t like the push back very much, and they knew the US had a poorly trained army, so they sailed in to the Chesapeake Bay in the summer of 1814. They then sailed/marched to Washington DC. Using a combination of gunpowder paste and torches, they burned down not only the Capitol but the president’s house (James Madison), the naval yard, several warships and sundry other buildings on August 24, 1814. The fires were put out not by firefighters but by a fortunate summer rain.
But, the US kinda deserved it as we burned down the Canadian capital of York in April of 1813.
Image: from the Library of Congress. The burnt Capitol building. Why it was not completely razed by an uncontrolled fire will be discussed in my next post.
