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Events - May 24, 2010
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Lees burg, 6-7pm
Name of Event
Quisque vehicula volutpat misu...
more -
Lees burg, 6-7pm
Name of Event
Quisque vehicula volutpat misu...
more -
Lees burg, 6-7pm
Name of Event
Quisque vehicula volutpat misu...
more
Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814
Sun, Mar 04, 2012
Description:
With all the immediacy of an eyewitness account, Anthony S. Pitch tells the dramatic story of the British invasion of Washington in the summer of 1814, an episode many call a defining moment in the coming-of-age of the United States. The British torched the Capitol, the White House, and many other public buildings, setting off an inferno that illuminated the countryside for miles and sending President James Madison scurrying out of town while his wife Dolley rescued a life-sized portrait of George Washington from the flames. The author's gripping narrative - hailed by a White House curator, a Senate historian, and the chairman of the National Geographic Society, among others - is filled with vivid details of the attack. Not confining his story to Washington, Pitch also describes the brave, resourceful defense of nearby Fort McHenry and tells how Francis Scott Key, a British hostage on a ship near the Baltimore harbor during the fort's bombardment, wrote a poem that became the national anthem.
Anthony S. Pitch is the author of a number of books ranging from biography to travel guides to anecdotes about Congress. A former journalist in England, Africa, and Israel, Pitch was also Associated Press broadcast editor for Pennsylvania and a senior writer in the books division of U.S. News and World Report in Washington, D.C. In addition to writing, he gives anecdotal history tours for, among others, the Smithsonian Institution Resident Associates, which sponsored a tour based upon the manuscript of The Burning of Washington. Books will be available for purchase.
Event time:
2pm
Admission Fee/Ticket Price:
Free
Location:
Thomas Balch Library
208 West Market St
Leesburg, VA 20176
Phone:
703 737-7195
Website:
