Burning of Washington

The burning of Washington was a British amphibious attack on the capital of the United States during the War of 1812, led by Rear Admiral George Cockburn as part of the Chesapeake campaign planned by Admiral John Warren. After American forces were beaten at the Battle of Bladensburg on 24 August 1814, a force under Major-General Robert Ross marched into Washington, D.C., and that evening British soldiers and sailors set fire to public buildings including the White House, the Capitol and the Navy Yard. The attack was partly retaliation for the American burning of York and Port Dover in Upper Canada the year before. The British held the city for roughly 26 hours, and a heavy thunderstorm helped put out the fires. It is the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a foreign power has captured and occupied a US capital.