Ralph J. Bunche Library to begin a collection of laws of the states, and $25 for the purchase of foreign gazettes and subscriptions to American newspapers that would be sent to American representatives overseas. In that same year, the Library also became, by law, the office of record to receive laws, public documents, and copyrights. During the War of 1812, the invading British burned the Capital, the White House, and other government buildings including that which housed the State Department and its library on August 24, 1814. While Dolley Madison famously saved the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington hanging in the White House,
USS Jones (1814) USS Jones (1814) USS "Jones" was a brig in the United States Navy during the War of 1812. "Jones" was built at Sacketts Harbor, New York, for service in Commodore Isaac Chauncey's fleet on Lake Ontario and was launched on 10 April 1814. Most of the cannon for the new American ships had not reached Sackett's Harbor on 19 May when the British fleet arrived off the American base and established a strict blockade which temporarily bottled up the heavily outgunned American squadron. After the British commander, Sir James Yeo, raised the blockade on 6 June, an epidemic struck the