History of Washington, D.C. problems, and plans for further construction to reach the Ohio River were abandoned. During the War of 1812, British forces conducted an expedition between August 19 and 29, 1814, that took and burned the capital city. On August 24, the British routed an American militia, which had gathered at Bladensburg, Maryland to protect the capital (see Battle of Bladensburg). The militia then abandoned Washington without a fight. President James Madison and the remainder of the U.S. government fled the capital shortly before the British arrived. The British then entered and burned the capital during the most notably destructive raid of
Morning in the Burned House Morning in the Burned House Morning in the Burned House is a book of poetry by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published by McClelland and Stewart in 1995. "Morning in the Burned House" displays themes, interests and styles characteristic of Atwood’s poetry. These include attention to the landscape of the Canadian Shield, an air of foreboding, and poems addressed to an unspecified "you." However, the collection contains two distinct thematic concerns. The first explores the theme of torture, in particular the torture of women, through the retelling of myths such as those of Cressida, Helen of Troy, and Sekhmet, the Egyptian