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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, the bay had pretty much turned into a british lake, royal navy squadron under the " georn showed up and quickly established domain over the water here.

george, a very effective officer, served under nelson in the war, sent here to set things up, had a dull sense of humor, ruthless without being vicious, and he pretty quickly determines if the americans are not capable of providing much in the way of a real defense. and from the start, he sees washington as being vulnerable. quickly, as he spreads terror up and down the bay, he becomes not only the most feared man in america, but possibly the most hated. he's compared to satan among others and does notp do much t dissuade opinion and takes a

number of anybody who shows any sort of resistance can expect to be taken away in chains up to hallifax. the bay really provided access to the richest and most important land in america at this time. certainly, in addition to being the home of the capital, washington, d.c., some of the most important cities like obaml and norfolk were on the water and within easy access of the british, so by establishing control of the bay, the british were able to put a lot of pressure on the united states. it's important to remember that this war was primarily until this point had been fought along the canadian frontier. the united states was trying to take over some of the territory of the colonies that belonged to great britain in british north

america, today ontario and quebec. they were not6o֖ having a grea deal of success with that, and in order to relieve the pressure on the frontier area, the british had sent coburn and his squadron here in 1813 with the idea of causing some trouble, and this is exaccoburn t does. in fact, there's a british historian who's in the united states at the time that the war breaks out, and he later says until george coburn shows up, people are only known by hearsay there was a war going on. that changes really quickly once coburn arrives. he goes on, i think, what's best described as a reign of terror up and down the bay. burning a number of towns. plantations. you know, any sort of place where he runs into any

resistance whatsoever under coburn's rules, that was good enough for burning the place, and so the town at the top of the bay in maryland was burned. half the town's houses were burned down. the town of hampton in virginia ñ burned. some of the inhabitants killed by army troops$ú including fre prisoners with the british, and the effect of all this terror is to really paralyze both the militia units which are supposed to be protecting this area and the american government. you know, coburn, nobody was sure where he would strike next, and the british also made very good use of the real weakness in american society, and that was our reliance on slavery. a number of plan titations up a

down the shoreline of the bay and rivers feeding into it, and the british encouraged american slaves to come over to the other side to escape british promising their freedom and opportunity if they wished to fight against their former masters, and a lot of them do. they come, you know, down to the waterways in makeshift rafts and make their way out to the british fleet. coburp sets up a basetè of operations on the island in the middle of the bay, the deep water harbor, and this is a perfect place for running the x expedition operation. the a number of coming over to the british side are trained there as marines and they form a regimen of colonial marines, and they turned out to be effective

fighters and provide british with intelligence. they knew the waterways and the back roads, in many cases, better than their masters did, and the british made excellent use of the information and pretty much coming up the spreading terror wherever they go. news, of course, comes back to washington. there's enormous fear that washington or other cities like baltimore could be targets. the british can't make it that far. the rivers, including the potam potamic, had shuls in them making it hard for british ships laiden with heavy guns to make it as far as washington.

i think there was sort of too much complacency in some ways about what the dangers were in the highest seat of government. john armstrong is absolutely washington would be a target for british, and the rest of the cabinet was skeptical the british had the wherewithal to make their way to washington. now, from the start, coburn thought washington could be taken, and when he comes back in 1814 after wirning in bermuda, he decides to push harder. he sends messages to london that more force be sent over writing that if he was given just a small number of army troops sent over, he could have within his

possession the capital of the united states in short order. he gets his wish and key development is that they advocates, and great britain, l for more than 20 years are freed up to send more force over here% and agree toá%1ñ send several thousandsw$5 troops over to jo forces here with the royal navy and other troops are sent up to canada to bolster the british position up there. coburn uses the time waiting for the troops to arrive to further scout the rivers here. he is checking out the depths of

the rivers and trying to figure out how to navigate them and decides it is possible to send ships up the potamic. in august of 1814, some 4,000 troops arrived in the bay under robert ross. ross was one of wellington's most abled lieutenants in the wars bought over in spain, q"jfrance, and wellington personally chose ross to head the expedition to america. now, 4,000 troops by the scope of things going on in europe was tiny. you'd have armies of over a hundred thousand fighting in the continent in europe in recent

years, so 4,000 troops did not sound like much to some of the royal navy commanders here, but c on per sues with the attack on make use of several waterways under attack on washington. if the british force sailed up the potamic, everybody would know that washington was the ultimate target. coburn decides or=0bxç recommen that the vd(ñ be split up, that one squadron sail up the river and threaten the capital and city of alexandria. the main force is going to go up the river into southern fh+3÷ maryland, and the advantage of the river was that it would

intention because a move up the river means many things. it might mean an attack on washington, but it could mean an overland attack on baltimore or attack on annapolis, or it could mean the british were simply chasing after commodore joshua barny, the american commander of the shallow draft barges suited for navigating shallow waters of the bay and rivers feeding into it. barney by the summer of 1814 hañ been trapped in the river. he was further up river(0ú thane british, and the british could use barney's presence in the river to more or less shield the movement towards the capital, and that's exactly what coburn

recommends and what the british cochrin agree to do. on august 19th, 1814, the army lands in benedict, which is about half way up the river from the bay towards washington. meantime, you have the other squadron underneath captain james gordon sailing up the potamic and still other sthhips sailing up the bay to threaten baltimore. there's a three-pronged operation. the main attack is accompanied by the 4,000 troop, and admiral coburn and the royal marines, and after landing at benedict,

they move by land and by water, royal marines andl further up the river and succeeded in trapping joshua and his army. they escape with his men. but the net result of this is that the commanders back in washington were utterly paralyzed as to what they should be doing. they had a squad coming up the potamic, a force they were not sure how large, in the river with forces that had been landed. there is a lot of hope they just after barney and after destroying that, they would reboard ships and move back into the bay. ÷

in doing anything setting up fences around washington and in terms of mustering much of the force. it's been getting little support from the secretary of war, john armstrong, who even at this late date with british troops on the ground, moving in the direction of the capital, still maintains that washington is under no threat whatsoever, and he thinks it's much more likely that the british are after barney or go up to baltimore, which, at that time, was a biggest city than washington. baltimore, 40,000 people, third largest city in the united states, and one of the really important ports in the country whereas washington at this time lp!9 a washington at this time village, you know, 8,0003(=u pe in the city, of course, it's home to the federal government with the white house and the

capital, but it didn't seem like much of a target to armstrong, so the result is that the british are able to play on the american indecision and moveóx closer to washington. they move up?v to upper marlbor about 15 to 20 miles from the city. the instructions, don't say anything about trying toah]g ce the capital of the united states. )jz and not to do anything that's going to risk this force. which ultimately is intended for an attack on new orleans. ross is persuaded that the american defenses are very light, that the militia, fearful of having a slave uprising or

slave escape have been reluctant there's little defenses on the way to washington, and ross isr persuaded largely by the fact that he's met little resistance moving from benedict up to upper marlboro. little contact at all with american forces, no defenses set up on the way, no ambushes, many positions where the americans could slow down the british advance. he was astonish that nothing of the sort had been done, and this encourages him. he's almost suspicious he's being lured into an ambush because of the lack of american÷ resistan resistance. the general is moving forces back and forth, moves from washington into maryland at a point where he can position himself íop+ez the attacking force and the "1qcapital, and ls

his nerve, marches back to washington. his force gradually keeps getting larger. it had only been about 2100 when the british landed at benedict, and within four or five days, enough forces had been gathered that they now outnumber thedda' british force. but through a series of fakes and just playing up on the american indecision, ross comets to move towards the capital and city and moves more north towards the village. this is what is known as the ancostia river, and then it was the eastern branch of the yrw potamic, a tributary of the potamic, which plays a key part

=b used to be a deep river when it was founded in 1749. this wasbh$ a deep water port w ships around the globe to take away tobacco that was grown in the country around here, but by 1812, silt filled in a lot of the eastern branch, so it was no longer any kind of a major port, but still a port by virtue of all the roads that crossed this. and the river up there was shallow and fordable whereas the eastern branch down river fromú here is a major river still that you need to have a bridge pretty

much to be able to cross it, certainly with the british crossing it without a bridge in this first bridge that we see right in front of us was the location of the what was them known as the europe branch bridge. it was not that far from the washington navy yard, and in order to get into washington from more direct approach, the british would have to cross the river at this bridge, and the american commanders had set up r bridge ready to blow it when the british approached. ross opted tontwç;vq÷ cross the couple miles up river from where we are now. and august 24th at noon after%se

sends forces across the river, first ones cross on the bridge which the americans neglected to blow in the chaos and confusion of the moment, and led by colonel william thornton, one of the brigade commanders, they hit the maryland militia head on, quickly were able to envelope the americans, get around them, and force the militia to retreat pretty quickly. the militia retreated to a second line of defense, and the british kept oncoming. they also had concrete rockets, a relatively new weapon at the time. coburn used them with quite a bit of effectiveness in the campaign, but most of the american militia troops had not

seen them before, and these rockets were notoriously difficult to aim, but they were really weapons of terror because they were almost like human sky rockets that would flair up in the sky and come down and cause a blaze and quite a bit of damage where they hit, but because they were so difficult to aim, you know, they were difficult -- they were not a very reliable weapon for the british, but they were good at frightening the american troops, and the british were able to use them with great effectiveness for that reason. they started firing these, many of them were going over the heads of the militia troops, but that was enough to cause some of running. in fact, president madison has ridden up from washington. his headquarters was down here near the navy yard where the

general winder had convened on the morning of august 24th. madison and most of the cabinet had come there as well, and madison had ridden by horse there to mostly to observe and make sure his secretary of war, john armstrong, would give general winder the support he needed. ma madison almost runs into fighting lines. the1 bv british arrive as madis gets there, and he rides across the bridge before being told by a scout who was up front that mr. madison, the british, and the attorney general, richard rush, turn around and they head back to american lines where they observe the battle.

once the fight starts out, madison is initially encouraged by the first resistance of the american militia is showing, and the british, when they start firing rockets, fire one that goes over the head of madison and the rest of his cabinet officers. it was sailed high harmlessly, but madison at this point+ k becomes the first american president to come under fire on a battlefield. madison moved back0fñ at that t to a somewhat safer distance. in the meantime, the american lines are starting to collapse as the british start crossing the river and force some are using the bridge, others wade across the water, and pretty soon, they have enough of a force that the second line of militia is collapsing. one of the problems they

encutter here was command interference. they had james monroe, secretary of state, he had come to scout out the lines. he had basically been serving as a scout for several days for madison, secretary of state, he was pretty much throwingt'(9m hf into the danger's way, but he directs some of the militia troops to move further back from the front line, and this leads other, and monroe did not really do the american troops much of a favor by attempts to reorganize them. you have two lines now of militia, and they have general designated any kind of rally

point. winder already had a lot of experience at retreating now, just as the british had advanced on washington. he ordered the troops back a number of time, but he really botches this retreat. as the militia follow back, a lot of them start heading north towards baltimore. and, really, none of them are line of defense, which is born by joshua barney and his navy men, and the district militia, which raced up from washingtontr6ñ during the course of the morning in the terrible heat. in fact, the maryland militia commanders were not inform of the third line. no one told them joshua barney and the district militia form behind them. they are retreating in the chaotic fashion, and winder is losing his nerve and ends up

ordering a general retreat, and this even as the british are starting to approach the third line of the defense, which is made up of barney and the district of and the district of militia, and the british at blatensburg have to move up the hill to attack this line. and varney is on the district/maryland line, and he had big guns that he had brought with him, and also had some of the u.s. marine corps here from the marine barracks here from washington to the support the flotilla men. and so the british as they are trying to move into the space of the guns, they take a quite significant casualties, and the front line troops from the 59th one-quarter casual citi-- casuas

and very significant q!mbloodsh and it appeared to varney and the rest of the militia men that they were on the verge of turning the tide here. and winder with the militia retreat has ordered the general retreat. varney does not get this word, and he and his men keep on fighting, and then he sees that the district militia have pulled back orders from wind er. ross, manages to get high ground over varney and the flotilla n men, and some of the british sharp shooters are able to take down a number of the flotilla men and including some of the gun crews, and varney, himself, he is hit in the hip and severely wounded, and he tries to disguise the wound from the british, but and from his own men, because he does not want sfaith. but, very quickly, varney is also running out of ammunition,

and all of the crews that were bringing his crews, the civilian crews, they had joined in the general retreat, and varney was running out of ammunition, and it was clear that he was close to it at this point, and so he then orders his men tow+d@ñ suro and retreat. he orders themk1"to leave him o the battlefield. one of his officers stays with him, and most of the flotilla men are able to escape back towards washington. varney is left on the battlefield, and pretty soon he is found by some of the british soldiers who run and get admiral coburn. varney over the course of the previous several months had been really the one american officer who had really offered strong resistance to the british and coburn and ross were really impressed with with him, and ross comes up as well. they agreed to pardon varney on

the spot, meaning that he wouldn't be officially held in british custody, but he was out of the war at this point until he could be traded for another prisoner. the americans are now in full retreat back towards washington. the british own the field at bladensburg, and this is sometimes called the bladensburú battle, because of the way that the americans retreated so myfsm quickly, it is also a discredit to the brave fighting that happened here from the varney flotilla and those who took the heavy casualties and at one point thought they could turn the tide÷-[a of the battle. certainly the british fought bravely uphill a against the

guns in that typef of heat. but these guys were known as wellingtons and visibles for a  reason. they had fought the british forces, and the forces here were not a match for them ultimately. the british are left with an open road into washington. madison is retreating back to the city. ahead of the troops, and he sends word back the washington to dolly thatodc the british ar coming. n now, this bridge has been rigged to blow by the americans. and the british don't waste much bladensburg road to the district of columbia. it is not quite dark, but evening time and as the british enter the district of columbia,

the orders are given to blow the bridge. it is ironic, because the british are already on this side of the river. they are already in washington, but for whatever reason, the americans decide to blow this bridge anyway. it was a wooden bridge. it is really a fairly substantial bridge that, you know, too a fair amount of explosives to take down. the wood, when itá blew up, it went sky high into the air, and tremendous black cloud of smoke. winder had wanted to make sure that it blew up, and it certainly did. at the navy yard, commodore stingy who is in charge of the navy yard sees the bridge blowing, and starts to make

preparations for burning the washington navy yard. ross and coburn had been left with an open pass into washington. so, as they are moving down bladensburg road entering the city, they come to a halt, not very far from the capital. there is a home, the belmont home that is known today as two blocks or so from the capital. and then, the evidence to me is pretty clear that ross and eco burn had already agreed that washington, washington's federal buildings should be burned. and in the reports that they sent back to london afterwards, they described this as the

object of the exe pe dission. coburn's hope in all of this had been that by capturing the capital, they would so4!(tsr&iae the government of james madison or jimmy as he calls him that they could force the government to collapse, force the united states to make peace on british terms, and possibly even causing the dissolution of the american union. and ross had come to see it that way as well. war. he want ted to get back to his wife who was sending him letters describing, you know, indicating that she was on the vergeaf-÷ o nervous breakdown, because she had not expecteded her husband after fight iing with wellingto in the peninsula and now to have to go fight another war in

america. ross believes that capturing washington is the stroke that ends the war. so,er and so as they are approaching the capital, they do the drums are rolled, and the men are sent forward to see if there is anyone to negotiate with. ross and coburn are very near the capital at the school shots from inside of the house actually strike his horse and hit several soldiers causing some casualtiecasualties, and r quickly orders that the house be surrounded, and they have already escaped and the best evidence is that these are some is of varney's flotilla men who

didn't want to surrender, and they had taken some shots at the britishment system of the british officers would later claim that the way that the british came under fire in this manner is what prompted them to burn the capital and the white house, but i -- and the indication indications are that this decision had been made, and this is what is very quickly happens. as the british are making preparations, they see a big lights on the horizon and not very far away, and that is from the washington navy yard. and it looks like the washington navy yard is going up in flames. before the battle of bladensburg, the secretary of the navy, william jones had come up to madison that morning and asked for permission to burn8nce navy yard, if the british were

to capture washington. the washington navy yard was the oldest military installation in the country, and a key facility, in addition to holding vast amounts of naval goods, there was a frigate that was under construction here as well as a schooler and other ships being repaired, allowing this material to fall into the british hands would have been a di ssaster in now, thomas tin ji wgy was the british born commandant of the british navy yard. and he had received his instructions from jones to not let it fall in british hands. as theaú9 british are coming i

branch bridge blows up, and he starts to make preparations to blow up the washington navy y d yard. some of the residents in the area that lived around the navy yard and implored them not the burn it. the big wind was that the big fear was the navy yard and surrounding it would go up in flames as well. so tingy agrees to at least wait for more scouting are reports until he knows what the british are up to. tingy's, on of the navy clerks at the navy yard mordchai booth agrees to go -\áing, and (ph; @% accompanied by captain creighton, one of the senior

officers at the navy yard and they ride through town and they encounter and find the british on capitol hill, and they come can under fire from british centuries near the capitol and they ride back with the orders from tingy to blow it. the navy yard is stocked with timber and powder and tar, and ti tingy has materials laid out, and they start to put torches to the lines of powder. very quickly, much of the navy yard is upp in flames, including it makes a tremendous con flag ration that is of course very visible to thed ) british on

capitol hill, but also from many miles around. there would be later complaint s that the americans shouldn't have burn ed the navy yard, and why did they do that to cause all of the destruction to the valuable military installation, but it is clear that the british would have done it if the they would have captured supplies that would have been &bd and so it is still an active so the british see the navy yard in flames, and if they had any compunctions about burning the capitol before that, they

certainly did at this point. some of the british troops lined up in front of the capitol which at that point wasn't the capitol that we see today. the dome did not yet exist. you had basically two separate buildings, the house chamber and the sena>!c.hamber which had been built. also housing the supreme court and the library of congress. so, quite a bit of importance for the youngx&á nation in tho two buildings that were r:ç gangway. a the british fired a volley of shots into the building basically to make sure that there were no troops lying in ambush, and then broke through into the building and coburn came in personally and started to rummaging through and found

one of madison's congressional books there, which he had taken as a souvenir, and lot of to british were impressed with the grandeur of the building, and the house chamber in particular had been built essentially to last through the history of the republic, and it was really p b probably the most impressive room in america at this time, the or nate sculpturkul -- orncs and the british went to work piling desks into the middle of the cham can ber and other flammable material, and all of the other books from the library of congressjw made quite good tinder for lighting the fires. they put gun powder paste around the windows, and also fired some rockets from inside of the building up through, into the ceiling, and roof of the building. it took a while, but before too ññ and they started on the

south side and then moved up to the north and then pretty soon both chambers were completely engulfed in flames. there was fire just whipping up in the spiral above, above the buildings that madison could see as he's riding off into virginia, this%2 of the american democracy going up in flames. tingy, and some of his party were rolling awe of the navy yard and out here on the water where we are now. the site of the navy yard and the capitol in flames filled them with awe and despair, and it is a sight that anybody who saw would never forget.bhy

we're on the potomac river approaching÷@j( georgetown. right near the watergate and the kennedy center. not that far from the white house. on the afternoon of august 24th, as the battle of bladensburg is a note sent by james madison as he depart iing the battlefield that things are going very badly at bladensburg, and the ma liil has collapsed and that washington is in grave danger, and he recommends that she, she

dolly had been making preparation a and number of the belongings had been packed up into wagons and carriages, but at the same time she had insisted on not conveying a seps of panic, and she had ordered that dinner be sent for the president and any officers and other visitors who might be coming back to the white house later in the day, and so that the servants were setting up the dining room for a large dinner, and in the meantime, there is panic out in the streets as word of what is going nonbladensburg spreads, and the streets are starting to filßfñ up with refugees trying to get out of town, and dolly madison makes some last preparations at the

white house,na(,ñ and once she the message from president madison. among the things that she spots at the last minute is the portrait of george washington. gi gilbert stewart portrait that life-sized, and it had taken on an iconic status in the united states. and president washington ha had been dead for about 15 years at this point, and already visitors would often come to look at at this portrait of the first president. and dolly madison grasped at the thought to have the portrait to land in british hands would be adding insult to injury, and so she instructs some of the servants, including the madison's house slave, paul jennings, and the gardener tom mcgraw to get down the portrait down awe off of the wall.

that is difficult. and dolly madison gets the credit for saving the picture, but she actually leaves at this point, and being urged by citizens and others who were saying that she is in great danger and needed to leave immediately. so she takes the silver@qwc ande of the other pd>ómruju)u$ her and gets in the carriage to drive up to georgetown to leave jennings and some of the other servants to get the portrait down, which they finally manage to do with the help of a hatchet. now, the portrait would then be 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 georgetown where the sun is setting at this point. and there's a ferry known as mason's ferry that could carry people as well as horses across the river over here to mason's %% next to the virginia shore. today known as theodore roosevelt island. from there, madison, who's accompanied by paul jennings, the house, the madison house slave and several aides rides by causeway into virginia, and would spend the next three days as a refugee. there is no air force one or marine one helicopter to take them away. madison is on his own. georgetown are so clogged that

she cannot reunite with the president. she ends up going further up river, chain bridge and crossing into virginia, and it would be better part of the day before ñ reunited. after burning theñfz÷ capital, and coburn move with the troops down pennsylvania avenue to the white house. dolly and james madison had both left a number of hours earlier. and the british along the way stopped and talked to some madison was and were somewhat disappointed to learn that he had already left the city. as they approached the white house, they passed a tavern on t the corner right near the treasury building. they actually went in to order

dinner, and the woman proprietor tried to get them to go off to did not work. continued down pennsylvania avenue and entered the white bìáhp &hc% unlocked. having been abandoned in the previous hours,8[aé and s servants had all left. entering it into the dining room they found the great feast that dolly madison had ordered set for the evening. and needless to say,+b they didt hesitate to help themselves to it. and this is one of those remarkable stories that is actually quite true. the british were wined and dined the place afire.

again, they went through with the gun powder paste and rubbed that on the door flames and around the windows. they gathered a number of chairs and other flammable material, and they created a little bonfires and set the drapes afire. pretty soon the entire building was up in flames. some of the british soldiers actually felt a sense of regret about it. this was such a beautiful feel some regret of seeing such a place go up in flames. but again, the british antipathy towards madison was so great e pretty much overshadowed by the hope that this would force the united

states to make a quick peace. >> so the british who had been locked in this incredible struggle with france for two decades at this point, and the u.s. declaration of war in 1812 against great war was great treachery, and they were to save the world from napoleon andz r? the united states to stab them in the back was an unforgivable act, and for the first two years of the war, they had been tied up with the fight with napoleon. but when that war seems to be over, they have more forces to send over. there was certain ly an element of revenge that flowed through the mind of many of the soldiers and the sailors that marched into washington 200 years ago. madison as he is riding into the

virginia kcountryside is able t see glimpses of the fires back in washington, and pretty soon they are lighting up the entire night, and it is evidence that the late in the night that the white house is also in flames. the very sad moment for the president and for the nation.smr we are practically beneath]#aip francis scott key bridge. of course, it is named for key who lived almost exactly where the bridge enters thep@ d.c. st there. in fact, right near where that ramp leading up to the bridge is to the whitehurst free wway whe

the home used to stand on m-street, and a nice, nice brick home sort of overlooking the river with a garden cascading down to the shore. key was interesting guy. he was one with of the first of what we now know a washington attorney. a maryland native, and he was about in his mid-30s in the, during the war, and ironically for someonedñ0ñ that we associa with those patriotic of all of spangled banner" he like a allll other americans was opposed to the war. he thmthvó it was insane for te united states to declare war on great britain, a very powerful nation. he was a religious man and actually celebrates when some of

the u.s. attempts to invade canada fail. he writes to his friend john randolph of virginia that, that though this may be treason, i embrace the name tray tor, and -- traitor, and that just goes to show the depth of the emotion against this war, and key was not alone in this. and he felt quite differently whene8is home, and maryland and washington were being2 so he had actually volunteered for the militia, and he had served in the georgetown artillery during some of coburn's raids, and then at bladensburg, he is actually out there as a civilian volunteer to district militia. it does things particularly, but after the fight he comes back to the home, and from his home here in georgetown, he witnesses, the

burning of washington, and he is in something of a state of shock. he had sent his family which included six children by then and his wife away up to the family home in maryland, but he's been quite fearful that georgetown will be attacked. a a few days later, it is from this home that he would launch the mission to try to gain 8p maryland who had been taken prisoner by the british, a and this would ultimately lead to his eyewitnessing of the bombardment of ft. mchenry and ultimately to thev f writing e national antent them.