The Burning of Washington City This engraving celebrates Britain’s attack on Washington, D.C., in 1814. Disciplined troops control the street in front of the burning White House; the dome of the blazing Capitol is on the right. Some soldiers sought trophies of war that night. Below is James Madison’s medicine chest, plundered by a British soldier. In 1939, his descendant returned the souvenir to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Engraving: Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library; medicine chest: FDR Library.