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Flight of the Madisons
The flight routes of President James Madison and First Lady Dolley Madison are not exact and much of the evidence of where they stayed is circumstantial. Many of the stops along the two routes of the Madisons are no longer in existence or are privately owned. Intense development of the region in the twentieth century greatly impacted the historic integrity
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Funding the War of 1812
The nation went to war without a wide-ranging financial strategy. The federal government's revenue largely came from customs duties and land sales, but war meant that revenue from these sources nosedived. There was no federal taxation of incomes and the Bank of the United States' charter had been allowed to run out in 1811, depriving the government of a major source
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Saving the Washington Portrait
Many Washington residents, fearing the rumored British attack, had packed what they could on wagons or set out on foot into the countryside on August 22, 1814. Although the town was in a state of pandemonium, the first lady remained calm and directed the rescue of valuable documents, silver, and the full-length 1797 "Lansdowne portrait" of George Washington by artist Gilbert Stuart. The
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Tensions in the Capital
President James Madison arrived back in Washington about 5:00 p.m. on August 27, 1814 and took up temporary lodgings at the F Street home of his brother-in-law, Richard Cutts. James and Dolley Madison had lived there during 1801-1809 when he was secretary of state. On August 28 Dolley Madison returned to Washington, disguised in another woman's clothing (as directed by her husband), dejected
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The Naval War of 1812
Britain's navy began its war in North Atlantic waters with a crushing advantage over the United States in numbers of both ships and sailors, but events were to prove that the U.S. Navy's pluck and resourcefulness would inflict punishing setbacks on its larger opponent.Wartime successes of the U.S. Navy included a victory by the USS Constitution ("Old
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The Octagon
On September 8, 1814, the Madisons moved into the Octagon, second in size only to the burned President's House, and the only private home in Washington with the requisite elegance and scale for grand entertaining. Designed by William Thornton, the Octagon was built in 1800-01 as a winter townhouse for Colonel John Tayloe III, a wealthy Virginia planter and horse breeder. An
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Lincoln in His Shop
In the summer of 1864, Kentuckian John Bullock called upon President Abraham Lincoln at the White House to make a personal appeal. The young Bullock took his seat in the reception area adjacent to Lincoln’s office alongside numerous other individuals, hoping for an opportunity to have but a few minutes with the nation’s leader. Uncertain if the president would even
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The Burning of Washington
Shortly before Mordechai Booth fled the capital on Wednesday, August 24, 1814, he rode over to the President’s House to see whether anyone was still inside. Near the entrance he saw an American colonel who dismounted, walked to the front door, pulled hard on the bell rope, banged on the door, and shouted for the steward, Jean Sioussat, known as French Jo
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Slavery, Freedom, and the Struggle to Keep a Family Together
Although President Thomas Jefferson owned hundreds of enslaved men, women, and children in his lifetime, he brought only a handful with him to the White House. In need of additional help, he hired the labor of an enslaved man named John Freeman from Dr. William Baker, the Maryland physician who owned him. The practice of hiring out enslaved workers in
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Pathbreakers: Oscar Stanton DePriest and Jessie L. Williams DePriest
Shelley Stokes-Hammond prepared these biographical sketches as part of a project for a graduate documentation course at Goucher College where she received a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation in 2011.In March 1929, Oscar Stanton DePriest became the first African American to serve in the United States Congress since George H. White of North Carolina left the House in 1901. DePriest was
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Dolley Madison's House
Did you know that after her husband's death, First Lady Dolley Madison was so poor that she had to accept money from a former slave and hand-outs from her neighbors on Lafayette Square? The yellow house on the corner of H Street and Madison Place was Dolley Madison's home from 1837 until her death in 1849. Originally built by her brother-in-law, Richard
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Elizabeth Keckly
Born into slavery in 1818, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly (also spelled Keckley) learned to sew from her mother and this skill would eventually bring her freedom and success. She developed into an accomplished seamstress and the income from her dressmaking supported the family that enslaved her. In 1855, she purchased her freedom and that of her son with loans from her clients. After