Paul Jennings Describes the White House That Day

From Wikipedia Burning of Washington.

In the last post I mentioned James Madison's personal slave, 15-year-old Paul Jennings describing the events at the White House 24 August 1814.  He later purchased his freedom from the widower Dolley Madison and in a memoir he published in 1865. related those events.

"It has often been stated in print that when Mrs. Madison escaped  from the White House , she cut out  from the frame of the large portrait of Washington (now in one of the parlors there), and carried it off.  She had no  time for doing it.

"It would have required a large ladder to get it down.  All she carried off  was the silver in her reticule (purse in case you're wondering), as the British were thought to be but a few squares off, and were expected an moment."

He went on to tell who were responsible for saving the painting.

Who Saved the Portrait?  Tomorrow.  --Brock-Perry