When Washington Burned | The British Invasion of the Capital and a Nation’s Rise from the Ashes by Robert P. Watson looks deeper into the dark day in American history when the country’s capital fell to the British. 

Perhaps no other single day in US history was as threatening to the survival of the nation as August 24, 1814, when British forces captured Washington, DC. This unique moment might have significantly altered the nation’s path forward, but most Americans little remember the event and the reasons why it happened.

When Washington Burned narrates and examines the British campaign and American missteps that led to the fall of Washington during the War of 1812. Watson analyzes the actions of key figures on both sides, such as President James Madison and General William Winder on the US side and Rear Admiral George Cockburn and Major General Robert Ross on the British side. He pinpoints why the campaign was such a disaster for the United States but also tells the redeeming stories of the courageous young clerks and the bold first lady, Dolley Madison, who risked their lives to save priceless artifacts and documents from the flames, including the Constitution. The British invasion was repulsed over the coming weeks and months, and the United States ultimately emerged stronger.

General readers interested in Washington, US history, and military history will be fascinated by this book.

Robert P. Watson, Ph.D., has published three dozen nonfiction books, two encyclopedia sets, three novels, and hundreds of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and reference essays on topics in politics and history. A frequent media commentator, Watson has been interviewed by outlets throughout the United States and internationally and serves as the political analyst for WPTV 5 (NBC) in Florida. For many years he was also a Sunday columnist with the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. An award-winning author, Watson’s recent books include The Presidents’ Wives; Affairs of the State; and America’s First Crisis, which received the 2014 Gold Medal in History from the Independent Publishers’ Association (IPPY). He is a Distinguished Professor of American History at Lynn University.

• ISBN: 9781647123505
• 312 pages
• August 01, 2023

Publisher: Georgetown University Press