Event record · civilian
Washington, D.C. · Chesapeake
Americans burn the Washington Navy Yard
24 August 1814
Navy Yard personnel destroy ships and stores to deny them to the advancing British.
Participants
- Washington Navy Yard personnel
- U.S. officials
- British forces
Outcome
Americans burned ships, stores, and facilities to prevent their capture.
Why it matters
The destruction complicates the familiar image of a capital burned solely by an invading army.
Location evidence
38.880, -76.990 · site 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
- Chesapeake FlotillaNaval History and Heritage Command · archaeology and naval history
Joshua Barney's flotilla and the Washington campaign.