War of 1812
Two hundred years ago this week, the United States suffered the ultimate humiliation at the hands of the British as Washington, D.C., fell. The U.S. Navy had scuttled its flotilla in the Potomac without firing a shot; the Army had run from the battlefield just outside the city as President James Madison and other cabinet members watched. Paul Jennings, a 15-year-old house slave, remembered there had been plans for a great victory celebration.
“On that very morning Gen. Armstrong assured Mrs. Madison there was no danger. The President, with Gen. Armstrong, Gen.
Subscribe to keep reading
This story is from our archive. Get your SandPaper Annual Pass for access to our digital archive, plus everything else a pass includes. Details below.
Annual Pass — $18 Details
365-day access to:
- The complete SandPaper digital archive (stories date back to 2012).
- Full photo galleries from our photographers.
- The entire catalog of SandPaper games, puzzles and quizzes.
How it works
- Enter your email below and click to pay the one-time $18. Card details are entered on Stripe’s secure page.
- You’re in straight away — no password to create, and nothing to set up or manage.
- You stay signed in. If you’re ever signed out, or you read on a new phone or computer, we’ll email you a code to get you back in.
- Never auto-renews. Your pass is good for one year. We will email you when it expires so you can renew if you’d like.
See our site policies for more information.
Already a subscriber? We’ll email a code to get you back in.
