River Crossing at Conn's Ferry

After American militia forces were defeated by British regulars at Bladensburg, Maryland, on the afternoon of August 24, 1814, a small British force made up mainly of officers entered the capital of the United States and set fire to many public buildings, including the Capitol, the President's House, and the Treasury. Before the enemy entered the city, President James Madison, Dolley Madison, and Secretary of State James Monroe escaped into the Virginia countryside by separate routes. The following day Monroe crossed the Potomac into Maryland to join the American army under General William Winder, while that evening both Madisons were at Wiley's Tavern just east of Difficult Run on the road from Alexandria to Leesburg. Dolley Madison remained there that night, but the president left around midnight expecting to cross the river at Conn's Ferry and join American forces at Montgomery Courthouse, or Rockville. At the ferry site he found the river too dangerous to cross because of an earlier violent thunderstorm in which a tornado swept through the City of Washington. On the next afternoon, August 26, he crossed the Potomac by way of Conn's Ferry and ended the day in Brookville, Maryland. On August 27 Madison learned it was safe to return to the nation's capital, and with Monroe and Attorney General Richard Rush he arrived back in the still smoldering city around 5:00 p.m. His home, the President's House, had been totally destroyed, with only the outside walls standing like empty shells. That same afternoon General Robert Young crossed the river with his Alexandria brigade, and the baggage and artillery were transported across the following day.

Great Falls, Virginia · United States