INTERPRETATION OF THE BURNING OF WASHINGTON, DC

After reading my primary source my interpretation is that the primary source gives us information from a British perspective of the burning of Washington, DC.  It tells us a little about how the British were feeling during this event, and what buildings they burned. The most important historical information given to us is the information about the capitol building, and the surrounding buildings related to government, being burned. Moreover, I believe that my primary source is creditable because of the information similar information found in my secondary source.

My thesis agrees with the secondary source, because the information found in it backs up the information found in my primary source. They both state that the same buildings were burned. The British burned the capitol building and several other surrounding buildings relating to government. Furthermore, the secondary source proves that I was right about the creditability of the primary source. One of my secondary sources, a book titled, “The Dawn’s Early Light” by Walter Lord, mentions that the British soldiers offered parley to the Americans but no one answered, and shortly afterward they were ambushed from a house. Therefore, they fired at the house and burned it. Also, my primary source is a journal entry from a British soldier, thus I find it hard to believe that he would writing in his journal. Plus, he was not writing his account for anyone else but himself.

Evidence that I found in my secondary source was that the information was similar to my primary source. Both sources talk about how the attack occurred in the evening on August 24, 1814. It was mentioned that the city was pretty much deserted and that most of the people including the president’s wife had fled before troops arrived.  Both sources describe how they found food spread out on the table at the president’s house and that the soldiers ate the meal before burning the house. They also set fire to the Capitol, the Senate House, the Treasury building, the War Department building, Navy building, and other buildings. Additionally, I believe that my thesis is correct, because both sources mainly talk about how the British burned the capitol building and other surrounding government buildings.

Source:

          Lord, Walter. The Dawn's Early Light. New York: Norton, 1972. Print.

          Greenblatt, Miriam. The War of 1812. New York, NY: Facts on File, 2003. Print.