Event record · occupation
Washington, D.C. · Chesapeake
Burning of Washington
24–25 August 1814
British troops burn public buildings; Americans destroy the Navy Yard to deny it to the enemy.
Participants
- British troops
- Washington residents
- U.S. officials
- enslaved and free Black residents
Outcome
Major public buildings burned while Americans destroyed the Navy Yard.
Why it matters
The occupation joined symbolic retaliation to the uncertainty of a capital shaped by slavery.
Location evidence
38.890, -77.040 · city precision
Coordinates locate the named site, city, or broad region; they do not reconstruct unit movements.
Where it sits in the story
This record belongs to a connected military, political, and human sequence. The chapter supplies causes, consequences, competing perspectives, and the limits of the surviving evidence.
Follow the evidence
Evidence behind this event
- War of 1812: A Resource GuideLibrary of Congress · research guide
Primary documents, maps, newspapers, prints, and manuscript collections.