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Speaker 1: The Stay in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that paints a portrait of history one day

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Speaker 1: at a time. I'm Gabelusier, and in this episode, we're

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Speaker 1: looking at the unusual rescue mission that kept a beloved

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Speaker 1: national symbol out of the hands of vengeful would be conquerors.

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Speaker 1: The day was August twenty three, eighteen fourteen. First Lady

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Speaker 1: Dolly Madison helped save a portrait of George Washington from

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Speaker 1: being destroyed by British troops during the War of eighteen twelve.

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Speaker 1: Dolly was the wife of James Madison, the fourth U

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Speaker 1: S President, and was the first woman in the White

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Speaker 1: House to be called the First Lady. That title was

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Speaker 1: given in recognition of Dolly's more hands on approach to politics.

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Speaker 1: She organized numerous social events in Washington to help further

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Speaker 1: her husband's policies, and in private, she often acted as

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Speaker 1: a kind of adviser to him. During one of the

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Speaker 1: darker periods of the War of eighteen twelve, Dolly became

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Speaker 1: a symbol of determination when she chose to remain at

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Speaker 1: the White House even as British soldiers began to storm

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Speaker 1: the nation's capital. In the days that followed, the invaders

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Speaker 1: succeeded in capturing the city and famously set fire to

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Speaker 1: many of its most important buildings, including the White House.

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Speaker 1: A great deal of history was lost in that siege,

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Speaker 1: but thanks to Dolly Madison and the men who helped her,

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Speaker 1: a now iconic painting of the nation's first president was spared.

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Speaker 1: The original painting, known as the lands Down Portrait, was

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Speaker 1: completed in seventeen ninety seven, during Washington's final year in office.

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Speaker 1: It was commissioned by a Pennsylvania senator and his wife

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Speaker 1: as a gift for the Marquee of Landsdown, a British

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Speaker 1: nobleman who advocated for American independence. The artist behind the

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Speaker 1: work was a gifted portraitist named Gilbert Stewart. His was

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Speaker 1: hardly the first portrait of George Washington, but unlike artists

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Speaker 1: before him, Stewart chose to depict Washington as a statesman,

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Speaker 1: not a military leader. This shift in focus is reflected

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Speaker 1: in Washington's clothing and in his surroundings. He shone dressed

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Speaker 1: in plain civilian clothes rather than in his former uniform,

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Speaker 1: and beneath the table he stands next to is a

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Speaker 1: book entitled The Constitution and Laws of the United States

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Speaker 1: that said there is a reference to Washington's military service.

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Speaker 1: In Stuart's painting, he shone holding a sword in his

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Speaker 1: left hand. Once it was finished, the lands Down portrait

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Speaker 1: became the definitive representation of George Washington the President, and

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Speaker 1: many copies of the original were made, both by Gilbert

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Speaker 1: Stewart and by other artists of his time. The painting

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Speaker 1: that hung in the White House, the one that Dolly

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Speaker 1: helped rescue, was actually one such copy. It's unknown whether

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Speaker 1: it was done by Stewart himself or by a copycat artist,

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Speaker 1: but whatever the case, it was the very first piece

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Speaker 1: of artwork purchased specifically for display in the White House.

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Speaker 1: It was installed there in November of eighteen hundred and

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Speaker 1: remained on display until that fateful day in eighteen fourteen.

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Speaker 1: One week earlier, on August seventeenth, four thousand British soldiers

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Speaker 1: had landed in Maryland and began to march their way

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Speaker 1: to nearby Washington. The assault was the latest in an

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Speaker 1: ongoing campaign that saw British forces ravaging towns along the

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Speaker 1: eastern coast line all the way from Florida up to

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Speaker 1: Delaware Bay. President Madison caught wind of their stealthy approach

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Speaker 1: to the capital city, but unfortunately every trained American soldier

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Speaker 1: was already engaged elsewhere. With no other options, Madison called

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Speaker 1: out roughly six thousand and local militiamen and hoped they

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Speaker 1: would be enough to hold back the advancing British army.

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Speaker 1: By that time, thousands of Washington residents had already packed

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Speaker 1: up their belongings and hit the road, and there was

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Speaker 1: growing concern that the Madison's might need to do the same.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't a decision to be made lightly, as abandoning

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Speaker 1: the nation's capital would surely embolden America's enemies while also

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Speaker 1: demoralizing its own troops. It was decided then that President

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Speaker 1: Madison should ride to Maryland to bolster the morale of

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Speaker 1: the militiamen who had been called to confront the British. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: his wife Dolly would remain at the White House, a

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Speaker 1: symbol to Americans and British alike that the Madisons were

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Speaker 1: standing their ground. Before setting out for the battlefield on

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Speaker 1: August twenty two, President Madison asked Dolly if she had

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Speaker 1: the quote courage or firmness to stay there until his

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Speaker 1: scheduled returned the next day. Her answer was an unequivocal yes.

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Speaker 1: With the matters rattled, the President stationed one hundred militiamen

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Speaker 1: on the White House lawn and instructed Dolly to gather

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Speaker 1: important state papers just in case she needed to evacuate

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Speaker 1: before his return. As soon as the President had left,

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Speaker 1: Dolly began making arrangements for a dinner party to be

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Speaker 1: held the following day. The event was intended as a

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Speaker 1: show of strength, but once newspapers had reported that British

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Speaker 1: reinforcements were on their way to Washington, not a single

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Speaker 1: guest accepted her invitation. At that point, the mood in

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Speaker 1: the White House began to shift, with Dolly and her

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Speaker 1: attendants making frequent trips to the roof to scan the

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Speaker 1: horizon for signs of an American victory or defeat. By

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Speaker 1: midday on August twenty three, British troops were on the

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Speaker 1: verge of breaching Washington. Up to that point, Dolly had

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Speaker 1: refused her guards please for her to abandon the White House,

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Speaker 1: but with the enemy at the gates, she finally had

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Speaker 1: to concede that it was time to go. She had

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Speaker 1: her carriage packed with every cabinet paper and public documents

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Speaker 1: she could find. She even left behind most of her

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Speaker 1: and her husband's personal belongings in order to accommodate as

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Speaker 1: much government property as possible. She was just about to

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Speaker 1: leave the White House when she caught sight of the

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Speaker 1: eight foot tall portrait of George Washington that hung on

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Speaker 1: the wall of the dining room. Dolly knew that if

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Speaker 1: she left the painting behind, it would be confiscated by

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Speaker 1: British soldiers, and in all likelihood they would either deface

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Speaker 1: or even destroy it. She couldn't bear the thought, so

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Speaker 1: she ordered the full length portrait to be taken down

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Speaker 1: and loaded into her carriage. It was a task much

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Speaker 1: easier said than done, as the massive painting was bolted

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Speaker 1: to the wall and would take a good deal of

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Speaker 1: time to unfasten. Amidst the frenzy of packing, Dolly found

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Speaker 1: time to pennal letter to her sister in which she

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Speaker 1: described the quest to save the painting and the pushback

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Speaker 1: she received for insisting on it. As she explained, quote,

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Speaker 1: our kind friend Mr Carroll has come to hasten my

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Speaker 1: departure her and is in a very bad humor with me,

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Speaker 1: because I insist on waiting until the large picture of

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Speaker 1: General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed

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Speaker 1: from the wall. This process was found to be too

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Speaker 1: tedious for these perilous moments, I have ordered the frame

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Speaker 1: to be broken and the canvas taken out, and the

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Speaker 1: precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of

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Speaker 1: New York for safe keeping. Dolly's firm insistence led to

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Speaker 1: the paintings rescue, but the job wouldn't have been done

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Speaker 1: at all if not for the help of one of

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Speaker 1: her enslaved servants, a teenage footman named Paul Jennings. Along

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Speaker 1: with stewart John Sussat and gardner Thomas McGaw, Jennings hacked

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Speaker 1: away the portraits frame until the canvas itself was finally

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Speaker 1: able to be freed. He then handed it over to

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Speaker 1: the too New Yorker and Robert to Paster. Dolly told

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Speaker 1: the men that if they should be intercepted by the British,

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Speaker 1: they were to destroy the painting rather than to allow

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Speaker 1: it to fall quote into the hands of the enemy,

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Speaker 1: as its capture would enable them to make a great flourish.

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Speaker 1: With the portrait secured, Dolly Madison left the White House

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Speaker 1: to meet her husband at a predetermined meeting place. The

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Speaker 1: following evening on August, British soldiers forced their way into

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Speaker 1: the White House, where they reportedly feasted on a dinner

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Speaker 1: that Dolly had been forced to abandon. Afterward, they looted

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Speaker 1: whatever they could carry and then set fire to the building.

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Speaker 1: The British left Washington just a few days later, at

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Speaker 1: which point the Madison's returned to the city. Unfortunately, the

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Speaker 1: damage would take years to repair, and as a result,

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Speaker 1: the Madisons lived out the remainder of James term in

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Speaker 1: the nearby Octagon House. Three years later, the reconstructed White

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Speaker 1: House was finally completed, just in time for newly elected

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Speaker 1: President James Monroe to move in. As for the Landsdown portrait,

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Speaker 1: the original now hangs in the Smithsonian Institution's nash Old

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Speaker 1: Portrait Gallery in Washington, d C. And the copy that

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Speaker 1: Dolly Madison helped rescue remains in the city as well.

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Speaker 1: In fact, it's still on display in the East Room

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Speaker 1: of the White House, the same place where it was

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Speaker 1: first hung more than two hundred years ago. Many esteemed

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Speaker 1: visitors to that reception room have since viewed the portrait,

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Speaker 1: but in two thousand nine it received some especially notable guests.

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Speaker 1: That year, several descendants of Paul Jennings were welcome to

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Speaker 1: the White House, where they were able to view the

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Speaker 1: same portrait their enslaved ancestor had helped save. It's still

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Speaker 1: unknown whether the portrait rescued by Paul and Dolly was

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Speaker 1: painted by Gilbert Stewart or by an unknown artist, but

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Speaker 1: either way it's easy to tell their copy from other

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Speaker 1: iterations due to a distinctive typo included by the artist.

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Speaker 1: If you take a closer look at that book leaning

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Speaker 1: against the table leg in the painting, you'll notice it's

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Speaker 1: actually titled the Constitution and Laws of the United States.

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Speaker 1: Close enough. I'm Gabe Louisier and hopefully you now know

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Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: If you'd like to keep up with the show, consider

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Speaker 1: following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t D

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Speaker 1: I h Z Show and if you have any comments

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Speaker 1: or suggestions, you can always send them my way at

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Speaker 1: this day at I heart media dot com. Thanks to

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Speaker 1: Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day

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Speaker 1: in history class,