Hot Time in the Old Town, Burning Washington, D.C.-- Part 2

But, the books in the Library of Congress contributed to the flames.  Almost all of the 3,000 books in the library were destroyed.  Later, though, former President Thomas Jefferson donated his private book collection to start a new Library of Congress.

But the Capitol was not a complete loss.    The House rotunda, the east lobby, the staircases and Latrobe's famous  Corn-Cob columns in the Senate entrance hall survived.

After burning the Capitol, the British turned up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House  The president and other government officials had already fled the city, but his wife, Dolley, was still at the White House.  When Madison  urged his wife to leave, she organized the slaves to save  valuables from the British.

Reportedly, she saved the famous Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington, but another account by James Madison's personal slave, Paul Jennings, then age 15, said she didn't save it herself, that others saved it.

When the British arrived, they happily devoured a feast that had been prepared for Madison before setting fire to the White House.

--Brock-Perry