The Washington Navy Yard in the War of 1812-- Part 2: The "No Pen Can Describe the Appalling Sound"

As the British marched into Washington, holding the yard became an impossibility.  With smoke rising from the Capitol, Thomas Tingey ordered the yard burned to prevent capture of naval equipment and ships.

On August 30, 1814, Mary Stockton Hunter, an eyewitness to what happened next, wrote her sister:  "No pen can describe the appalling sound that our ears heard and the sight our eyes saw.  We could see everything clearly from the upper part of our house as plainly as if we had been in the Yard.

"All the vessels of war on fire- the immense quantity of dry timber, together with the houses and stores in flames produced an almost meridian brightness.  You  never saw a drawing room so brightly lighted as the whole city was that night."

--Brock-Perry