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Home , Burning of Washington, Charters of Freedom, Jefferson Memorial, National Intelligencer, Stephen Pleasonton

“P.S.: You had better remove the records” Early Federal Archives and the Burning of during the

By Jessie Kratz

hen British troops began to advance toward And so clerks packed Wthe ’ new capital of Wash­ such things as the books and ington in the summer of 1814, it was clear that papers of the State Department; government leaders had not prepared an adequate unpublished secret journals of defense for the city and its government buildings. Congress; ’s The British navy already had control of nearby Chesa­ commission and correspondence; peake Bay and some 4,500 troops in the port town of the Articles of Confederation; papers Benedict, —poised for an attack on the capital. of the ; and all the Despite the show of force, the secretary of war, treaties, laws, and correspondence dating John Armstrong, was convinced the British were back to 1789. more interested in the port of Baltimore than in Along with these early records, the clerks Washington, which then had only 8,200 residents. also bagged up the Charters of Freedom—the Secretary of State felt differently collective term for the Declaration of Indepen­ and met with President to discuss dence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. the enemy’s intentions. Then Monroe himself rode And so these three documents began a long jour­ by horse, accompanied by cavalry, into southern ney as the War of 1812 raged. Maryland to scout the situation. The journey would not end until 1952, when Upon seeing the British advancing toward all three were placed together, side by side, in special Washington, Monroe dispatched a note to Presi­ encasements in the Rotunda of the National Archives dent Madison. It said that the British were pushing Building in Washington, D.C. toward the capital, American troops were retreat- ing—and they were outnumbered. Early Federal Papers Faced “The enemy are in full march for Washington. Many Moves, Poor Storage Have the materials prepared to destroy the bridges,” Each year, millions of people visit the National Archives Build­ Monroe wrote. And in a significant postscript, he ing to view the Charters of Freedom in the Rotunda. Within the added: “You had better remove the records.” Archives’ vaults and stacks, millions of other federal records are safely Monroe’s message set off a scramble among gov­ stored, ensuring they will be available to researchers for years to come. ernment officials to round up all the records they This was not always the case. could. The British surely would burn them if they reached the capital. Andrew Ellicott’s 1794 plan of the proposed location for the city of Washington.

36 Prologue Summer 2014 Prologue 37 The Taking of the City of Washington by the British Forces under Major General Ross on August 24, 1814. Officials saved the nation’s founding documents, but many congressional records, and archives of the Navy,War, and Treasury Departments were lost in fires.

Between the First Continental Con­ the new federal government would create. up furniture, books, and papers—including, gress in 1774 and the establishment of the At the same time, it left each federal depart- most likely, the Declaration, Constitution, and National Archives in 1934, the government’s ment or court responsible for keeping its the Bill of Rights (newly passed in 1791)— records lacked a stable and secure storage own archives. In doing so, Congress failed shipped them up the River, and environment. Early in the nation’s history, to create a consistent record-keeping policy carted them to Trenton, . federal records faced a number of potential or a central, safe place for storing the new When the department moved back to calamities, including poor storage condi­ government’s records. Philadelphia, clerks took the reverse trip. tions, neglect, theft, and fire. The of 1790 created a new They repeated this process three times, each Perhaps the most striking example of home for the federal government, in a yet- time putting the nation’s most precious his- the perilous conditions the Charters faced to-be-built city along the on torical records in jeopardy. occurred two centuries ago during the land donated by Maryland and . The In May 1800, federal department heads War of 1812. The first Congress under the act, however, scheduled the move to the new began moving their offices and staffs to the Constitution gave the responsibility to pre­ capital for 10 years later, in 1800, and forced new federal city: Washington. The govern- serve records of the government to the new federal clerks to pack official papers and move ment loaded its books and papers, including Department of State. them from —the prior seat of gov- the archives and the Charters of Freedom, These early records included the papers of ernment—to Philadelphia, the interim seat of onto ships and transported them south to the old Department of Foreign Affairs; the government, then later to Washington. Washington. Unfortunately, the move did papers of the Confederation and Continen­ not immediately improve the safety and tal Congresses; George Washington’s papers The New Capital, Washington: security of federal records. as Commander of the Continental Army; No Better Place for Records Early transplants to Washington faced con- and the Declaration of Independence and While in Philadelphia, the State Depart- ditions unlike those in Philadelphia or New Constitution. ment moved to several locations around the York City. Architect Pierre L’Enfant created a The First Congress also charged the city, as well as outside of the city to avoid recur- very ambitious plan for the new city, but by Department of State with gathering and ring yellow fever epidemics. For each move the time the government began moving in, his preserving many of the important records out of Philadelphia, the department packed plan was not even close to being realized.

38 Prologue Summer 2014 and 17th Street, NW. Again, the Department of State shared space with other government offices, including the Department of War and the Department of the Navy. Though the numerous relocations did not require traveling great distances, conditions in Washington made any move difficult. In dry weather the dirt streets turned to dust bowls; in the rain the roads became rivers of mud. Getting around Washington on foot or even carriage often became a nightmare—the city had few discernible roads, no street signs, and only a handful of buildings to serve as land- marks. These were not ideal, or even suitable, conditions for transporting and safekeeping the nation’s most valuable documents. With each move within the city, the archives faced the same problems as they had before arriving in Washington—the records had to be packed up and moved, A 1792 plan for the City of Washington shows locations for the Capitol and the Presidents House and city then unpacked and stored again. boundaries. Congress had approved the site for the new seat of government in 1790. Government officials of the era knew In 1800 Washington bore little resem- icated space. For the first few months, State and that the nation’s most precious documents blance to a city, let alone the majestic seat several other government offices shared the Trea- endured inadequate storage conditions. In of empire L’Enfant had envisioned. Many sury Department Building, east of the White 1810, Congress investigated the condition of planned buildings remained under con- House on Avenue, NW. federal archives housed in public buildings. struction or altogether unbuilt. The city was Luckily, the State Department’s move turned During the investigation, Secretary of barely equipped to house anyone, let alone out to be very well timed. In January 1801 a State Smith reported on the “ancient the federal government and its archives. fire destroyed a portion of the Treasury Depart- records and papers” in his custody. He Newly arriving government officials ment’s records, including both current docu- described how the records, which he deemed expressed their disappointment with the ments and historical records. Had State not “highly important to the History of the lack of amenities the new city offered. moved out of Treasury’s building, the nation’s United States,” were housed in trunks and One member of Congress described his sur- most important early records, including the boxes in the cramped attics in their building. roundings as “both melancholy and ludicrous Charters, likely would have burned. Smith acknowledged his department’s . . . a city in ruins.” Another Representative com- inability to properly store the papers and pared L’Enfant’s plan with what he actually saw: pleaded with Congress to build a fireproof Packing, Unpacking, Packing building, remove the papers from his cus- The , leading, as Again Around Washington tody, and “to employ a person to arrange the laid down on paper, from the Capitol A few months later, the State Department papers in proper order.” to the President’s Mansion, was then briefly moved into a house on the north side of After all departments reported on the condi- nearly the whole distance a deep morass, Pennsylvania Avenue between 21st and 22nd tion of their archives, the committee acknowl- covered with alder bushes, which were Streets, NW. The following summer, they edged the records were in “a state of great cut through the width of the intended packed up their archives and the Charters and disorder and exposure; and in a situation nei- avenue during the then ensuing winter. moved yet again—this time into a new build- ther safe nor convenient nor honorable to the ing west of the Executive Mansion, on the site nation.” They further concluded records had By June 7, 1800, the Department of State and where the Old Executive Office Building now been exposed to fire and robbery, dangers aug- its archives, including the Charters, lacked a ded- sits at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, mented by the lack of security and fireproofing.

P.S.: You Had Better Remove the Records Prologue 39 James Monroe’s warnings that the British forces were marching toward Washington created panic in the city and a rush to save as many federal records as possible.

Stephen Pleasonton (above) and other State De- partment clerks rescued the Charters of Freedom Secretary of State James Monroe observed British forces advancing toward Washington and wrote President stored at the department by storing them in coarse James Madison on August 22, 1814, urging him to remove important government records from the city. linen bags and carting them away.

Ultimately, rather than moving each threat: destruction by invading forces. At In 1813, the British navy, in control of department’s archives to a safe, central place, the time the war began, government offi- the , destroyed American later that year Congress appropriated funds cials had done little more to safeguard the warships, burned government supplies, to construct “as many fire proof rooms as nation’s records and had not yet built the raided port towns, and halted coastal trade. shall be sufficient for the convenient deposit congressionally approved fireproof rooms. By the summer of 1814, with 4,500 Brit- of all the public records of the United States In general, Washington, with a popula- ish troops roughly 40 miles away in Bene- belonging to, or in the custody of the State, tion of 8,200, remained very much a city dict, Maryland, government officials began War, and Navy Departments.” in progress. The city still offered little in to take the threat seriously. terms of infrastructure, culture, or com- In August, Monroe himself visited the War of 1812 Poses New Threat merce. Many government officials expressed front lines, joining Gen. William Winder, To Records: Enemy Capture a desire to move the capital once again, and whom Madison had recently appointed as With the onset of the War of 1812, the these complaints came before the city faced commander of the defenses of Washington nation’s early records faced yet another a major setback late in the war. and Baltimore.

40 Prologue Summer 2014 Once Monroe saw where the British were headed, he sent his warning to Madison and said the outnumbered American troops were retreating. Monroe’s message sent the citi- zens of Washington into a frenzy. Local resi- dents fled, taking with them the city’s supply of horses, wagons, and carts. Government agents trying to save as many federal records as possible scrambled to secure any remaining means of transport they could find. Some government clerks even tried using their official positions to impound carts and wagons, but they had little success in persuad- ing residents who were busy removing their personal belongings. Upon hearing of Monroe’s message, State Department clerks John Graham, Stephen Pleasonton, and Josias King took it upon them- selves to save the valuable archives—including the Charters of Freedom—stored at State. They bought coarse linen to make bags into which they stuffed the archives and loaded them into carts.

Recollections Years Later A map shows the route of Maj. Gen. Robert Ross’s forces from Benedict, on the Patuxent River, to the City of Washington in August 1818. Help Tell Story of Records Few contemporary accounts of the Charters’ Pleasonton recalled, in an account taken made a point to inform Pleasonton that he evacuation from Washington exist, and most of 34 years later, that while he transported was being foolish because the British were what is known about the events comes to us the documents through a passageway, he not coming to Washington, so there was no from recollections recorded years later. ran into Secretary of War Armstrong, who reason for alarm.

A drawing portrays the destruction of Washington by the British, which included the unfinished Capitol, the Executive Mansion, and ships and ammunition at the Navy Yard.

P.S.: You Had Better Remove the Records Prologue 41 A view of the Capitol after the destruction on August 24, 1814. It consisted solely of the North (Senate) and South (House) wings.

“I replied that we were under a different arrived in Washington when the clerks were Department of State and were still held in the belief,” Pleasonton recalled. “It was part of clearing out the records. That said, the basic Capitol. By the time the young clerks of the prudence to preserve the valuable papers of fact that the clerks managed to gather and House and Senate offices took action, it was the Government.” carry the nation’s most valuable records out too late to rescue all of the records. An 1883 Washington Post article further of Washington—saving them from possible After finally obtaining a cart and oxen, dramatized the evacuation by reporting destruction—remains true. House clerks Samuel Burch and J. T. Frost “just as [Pleasanton] was about to leave, and The clerks first took several document-loaded frantically moved House papers to a secret with the sound of the British artillery upon carts to a vacant gristmill on the Virginia side of location in the country nine miles outside upon his ears, he passed through the Potomac River, a few miles above George- of the city. Senate clerk Lewis Machen took the room of Secretary Monroe and saw town. The mill, however, sat near a foundry a wagonload of documents to his farm in there the Declaration of Independence and that made munitions for the war. Although Maryland’s Prince George’s County, which General Washington’s first Commission, in the foundry was on the Maryland side of the adjoins the District of Columbia. The frames. Knowing that these would be very Potomac, the clerks still feared it might bring following morning, his colleague, John valuable acquisitions to the British Museum, the enemy too near their precious cargo. McDonald, shepherded the documents he broke the glass, removed them from their Pleasonton recounted that he considered to the town of Brookeville, Maryland, in frame, rolled them up and mounting his “the papers unsafe at the Mill, as, if the British northern Montgomery County. horse, rode off.” forces got to Washington, they would probably In the chaos, the House and Senate clerks It’s a good story, but it is clearly embel- detach a force for the purpose of destroying a knew they had to leave valuable materials lished given that the British had not yet foundry for canon and shot in its neighbor- behind. Machen noted that he loaded what hood, and would be led by some evil disposed he considered the most valuable documents, person to destroy the Mill and papers.” including confidential papers, “one of which To learn more about They looked for another location. I knew to contain the number and positions • The travels of the Charters of The next day, August 24, 1814, the clerks of the entire American military force,” and Freedom, go to www.archives. obtained wagons from nearby farmers and he believed the documents he loaded in the gov/publications/prologue/2002/winter/travels­ moved the documents to Leesburg, Virginia, wagon constituted the only copy of the Sen- charters.html. • How the War of 1812 was fought in the about 35 miles northwest of Washington. ate’s history over the quarter century. South, go to www.archives.gov/publications/ There, they locked the valuable documents into Burch and Frost also salvaged as many prologue/2013/spring/norfolk.pdf. a cellar vault of an abandoned house and gave of the House’s most important papers as • How to use genealogical records from the the keys to Leesburg’s sheriff for safekeeping. they could, but in a letter to Congress they War of 1812, go to www.archives.gov/publica­ Congress’s papers, lacking anyone with such expressed their frustration that more could tions/prologue/1991/winter/war-of-1812.html. prudence, were in greater jeopardy. Congres- have been saved: “Everything belonging to sional records had not been transferred to the the office might have been removed in time,

42 Prologue Summer 2014 if carriages could have been procured; but it tributions to the general stock of historical was altogether impossible to procure them, instruction and political science.” either for hire, or by force.” In addition to the loss of many congres- sional records, archives of the Navy, War, British Invade, Destroy Capitol, and Treasury Departments went up with the , Other Buildings. flames that destroyed their buildings. While government clerks evacuated Wash- However, the government had to carry on. ington, the British marched, unimpeded, Madison occupied a house formerly occu- into the city. They found Washington nearly pied by the French minister and never again abandoned. Congress had recessed for the lived in the White House, staying in private summer, and President Madison, after a residences for the rest of his term. Congress brief appearance at the front lines, had met in Blodgett’s Hotel, one of the few pub- retreated to Virginia. Most other residents lic buildings to survive the British attack. had fled to the countryside. After spending a few weeks in Leesburg, In the vacant city, British troops vandalized State Department officials quietly returned and set fire to the unfinished Capitol build- the papers and archives, including the Char- ing—which consisted of just the North (Sen- ters, to Washington. The archives moved ate) and South (House) wings—the Library of into a house on G Street, the Department of Congress, and the Supreme Court. They then State’s temporary office. marched up Pennsylvania Avenue and burned In addition to the extensive physical dam- and looted the Executive Mansion and the age, the attack struck a great psychological A Marine Honor Guard stands watch at the base of the Jefferson Memorial, where the original nearby government buildings. At the Navy blow to the still-growing city. Congress appro- Declaration of Independence was placed to Yard, they torched ships and ammunitions. priated funds to repair and rebuild the Execu- commemorate the bicentennial of Jefferson’s birth on April 12, 1943. The next morning the city was still smol- tive Mansion, the Capitol, and public offices dering—both with fire and 100-degree tem- on their sites rather than start from had just moved into a fireproof building—the peratures. The British had largely spared scratch. To protect their real estate invest- new U.S. Patent Office. This same building private property, but a fierce storm had ments, private citizens and businessmen also now holds the Smithsonian American Art uprooted trees, leveled buildings, and flat- raised money to temporarily house the gov- Museum and National Portrait Gallery. tened homes. Once the storm subsided, ernment and reconstruct government offices. The Patent Office displayed the Declara- British forces retreated, satisfied the city was tion in a sunlit room for many years. Both sufficiently devastated. Charters Move Around, the light and smoke from a nearby fireplace State Department historians credit Mon- Receive Little Special Care caused much of the damage and fading that roe, Pleasonton, and their colleagues for sav- Although the British occupation nearly today’s visitors see. ing the nation’s irreplaceable archives. destroyed the Charters of Freedom—and actu- The Declaration briefly moved to Phila- “Imagine,” State Department Historian ally destroyed many valuable federal records— delphia in 1876 for exhibit at the Centen- Gaillard Hunt wrote in 1914, “the indelible Congress did not include provisions for a nial International Exhibition, and when it shame which would have followed if they had centralized archives in its plans to rebuild the city. returned, the State Department hung it in its been less loyal and resourceful, and Cockburn Over the years, the Charters and other library until 1894. That year, State Depart- and Ross [the British commanders] had carried valuable historic documents continued to ment officials finally recognized its fragile away with them, as trophies of their exploit, endure poor storage conditions, lack of suit- and deteriorated condition and stowed it the rolls of the Declaration of Independence able space, constant shuffling around the away in a steel safe. The two other charter and the Constitution of the United States.” city, and a near-constant threat of fire. documents—the Constitution and the Bill of President Madison returned to a city in Until 1841, the Department of State and Rights—had remained out of public display ruins. He lambasted the British forces for wan- its archives (including the Charters) moved to and therefore escaped similar deterioration. tonly destroying “depositories of the public various locations around Washington. In that In 1920, a committee appointed by the archives, not only precious to the nation as year, Secretary of State Daniel Webster trans- secretary of state reported that the depart- the memorials of its origin and its early trans- ferred some the most valuable historical docu- ment lacked sufficient space, security, or actions, but interesting to all nations as con- ments to the commissioner of patents, who fireproofing to safely store the archives. It rec-

P.S.: You Had Better Remove the Records Prologue 43 ommended that some historical documents, Even so, for many years the Librarian of the Charters of Freedom underwent con­ including the Declaration and the Constitu­ Congress refused to relinquish the documents. servation treatment and were sealed in new tion be transferred to the . state-of-the-art encasements. The following year, the Librarian of Con­ No Permanent Home for Charters With the exception of the 2001–2003 gress happily took over of the Until 1952 at the National Archives period, the three documents have been on documents and in 1924 placed the Consti­ More than a century after the War of continuous display in the Rotunda as a high­ tution and Declaration of Independence on 1812, while World War II swept through light for millions of tourists, school children, public display. Europe, the Librarian of Congress made and other visitors each year. While some Ten years later, Congress created the National plans to evacuate the priceless documents visitors comment on their faded text, it is Archives to house the federal government’s out of Washington as a precautionary mea­ perhaps more appropriate to marvel at how permanently valuable records. The Archives sure. He ordered the Declaration and the they have survived their long journey to the immediately began identifying and locating Constitution, along with other historically Archives. P federal records in storage in various locations in valuable records, sent to the United States Washington and around the country. Bullion Depository, better known as Fort Note on Sources Staff found records in basements, attics, Knox, Kentucky. The documents remained Primary sources consulted include: Records of the carriage houses, and abandoned buildings. there for most of the war. (The Declaration Department of State (Record Group 59), Records of the National Archives (RG 64), Records of the The records had suffered from neglect, ver­ was brought back to Washington for a week U.S. House of Representatives (RG 233), American min, and theft as a result of being housed in in 1943 and displayed during the bicenten­ State Papers, United States Congressional Serial Set, unsuitable and unsupervised storage areas. nial of ’s birth.) U.S. Statues at Large, Annals of Congress, Washing­ ton , Washington Evening Star, Even some of the nation’s most important By the 1950s, the Archives had lost Washington Post, The American Presidency Project, documents such as the Bill of Rights were patience with its empty shrine to the found­ and Founders Online (www.founders.archives.gov). stored in potentially hazardous conditions. ing documents. For a summary of the , see Anthony Pitch, The Burning of Washington: The The Bill of Rights was not transferred to President Harry Truman’s remarks during British Invasion of 1814 (Naval Institute Press, 1998). the Library of Congress with the Declara­ a Constitution Day ceremony at the Library For the early history of the Department of State see tion and Constitution; it remained with the of Congress opened the door for the Archives Gaillard Hunt, The Department of State(New Haven, Department of State in the Old Executive to makes its move: “I hope that these first 10 CT: Yale University Press, 1914), and The Buildings of the Department of State (Department of State Pub­ Office Building. amendments will be . . . sealed up and placed lication 89, Department and Foreign Service Series: A 1936 Washington Post article reported alongside the original document.” 158, 1977). that the Bill of Rights was kept in a “khaki­ Archivist Wayne Grover entered secret For the early history of Washington, D.C., see James Sterling Young, The Washington Community, bound cardboard folder sitting upward with negotiations with the Librarian of Congress 1800–1828. (New York: Columbia University Press, other early papers . . . in an uninspiring to acquire the Declaration, the Constitu­ 1966); Constance McLaughlin Green, Washington: green steel cabinet. . . . . It would take no tion, and papers of the Continental and Village and Capital, 1800–1878 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962); Washington, City expert cracksman to open the cabinet. It Confederation Congresses. and Capital, by the Federal Writers’ Project of the could almost be done with a can–opener. In 1952, with great fanfare, the Librarian Works Progress Administration (Washington: U.S. Most of the time it is left unguarded.” of Congress agreed to transfer these records to Government Printing Office, 1937); and Centennial In 1938 the Department of State trans­ the National Archives. When the Constitution History of the City of Washington, DC (Dayton, OH: United Brethren Publishing House, 1892). ferred the Bill of Rights and the bulk of and Declaration arrived on December 13, they Sources relating to the travels of the Charters of the historical records in its custody to the joined the Bill of Rights for permanent display Freedom include The Constitution of the United States National Archives. in the National Archives Exhibition Hall. Together with an Account of Its Travels Since September 17, 1787, by David W. Mearns and Verner W. Clapp The newly appointed Archivist of the United During the dedication ceremony, Presi­ (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, States, R.D.W. Connor, believed that Amer­ dent Truman observed: “The Declaration 1950), and Declaration of Independence: The Adven­ ica’s other founding documents, including of Independence, the Constitution, and the ture of a Document (Washington: National Archives and Records Administration, 1976). the Declaration of Independence, Constitu­ Bill of Rights are now assembled in one place tion, and papers of the Confederation Con­ for display and safekeeping. Here, so far as Author gresses, would also be sent to the new National is humanly possible, they will be protected Jessie Kratz is the Historian Archives. In fact, the building’s 75-foot-high from disaster and from the ravages of time.” of the National Archives. rotunda was designed specifically to display During the renovation of the National the Declaration and the Constitution. Archives Building between 2001 and 2003,

44 Prologue Summer 2014