After serving several years on the staff of the South Carolina Historical Society, he spent the 1980s and 1990s researching and writing about Southern plantation life, social history, architecture, and exotic local microcultures. Côté studied political science and journalism at Butler University. About the Author:Ī native of Connecticut, Richard N. Neither James nor Dolley Madison could have conceived that the diners that evening would all be British soldiers, who gleefully ate the food, drank the wine, and then burned the White House to the ground. She did not flee until the British were nearly on her doorstep.Įxpecting an American victory, the president had directed his French chef to prepare a sumptuous meal for him and his staff that afternoon.
and on my assurance that I had no fear but for him and the success of our army, he left me, beseeching me to take care of myself, and of the cabinet papers, public and private." In the brief time she had to save the nation’s treasures, Dolley directed that the large wall portrait of George Washington be broken from its frame and evacuated. "My husband.enquired anxiously whether I had courage, or firmness to remain in the President's house until his return. Their orders were clear: destroy the public buildings and secure the submission of the United States.ĭolley dashed off a note to her sister, Lucy. Now they marched directly toward the heart of Washington City. Six miles away, British soldiers had overrun the American defenders. From an upper window in the President’s House, Dolley Madison peered in vain through her telescope, desperate for a glimpse of her returning husband, James, who was on the battlefield with his troops.
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