, international treaties and george washington's correspondence into bags that he had made up into book bags that were linen. whilst this is being done, none other than the secretary of war passed by and armstrong rebuked him for being alarmist and thinking the british were on the way to washington. pleasanton was intimidated. that's amazing. imagine. he stood up to the secretary of war and said it's more prudent to try and protect the documents of the revolutionary government so he loaded them on to carts, crossed the potomac river and drove two miles-7ñ upstream of georgetown where he put them in an abandoned mill but then he immediately had second thoughts. he was now opposite fox hole's foundry, the largest manufacturer of munitions in the country and certain to be targeted by the british. a spy or turncoat could leave an enemy to the nearby hiding place. so he went further into virginia. got some wagons, came back and loaded them up. and he drove 35 miles west to leesburg, virginia. put them in an empty house. locked the door. and gave the key to the collector of internal revenue and then

the o rirjales, believe it or not, the declaration of independence, the constitution and george washington correspondence into bags that he had made up into book bags that were lynning. while this was being done, none other than the secretary of war passed by. and armstrong rebuked him for being an alarmist. plez santon was not intimidated. imagine, he stood up to the secretary of war and said it's more prudent to protect the documents of the revolutionary government. so he loaded the carts across the potomac river and put them in an abandoned mill. burr then he immediately had second thoughts. he was now opposite fox hole's foundry. certainly to be star getted by the brit ish. a spy or a turncoat could easily lead the enemy to a hiding place. so he went further into virginia, got some wagons, came back and loaded them up and he drove 35 miles west to leesburg, virginia. put them in an empty house, locked the door and gave the key to the collector of internal revenue and then checked into a hotel. that night, the residents of leesburg went into the streets and they could see the

prince george's county, but don't forget to buy the book and continue the conversation. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> you are watching american history tv, 40 eight hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. follow us on twitter for information about our schedule, upcoming programs, and to keep up with the latest history news. 200 years ago on august 20 4, 1814, british soldiers routed american troops at the battle of bladensburg festival said washington. openictory left the y it to british forces who marched into the city and burned the white house and capitol building. learn more about the burning of washington during the war of 1812 from author and historian anthony pitch at an event hosted by the smithsonian associates. it is about one hour and 15 minutes. >> we are coming up on the 200th anniversary. we wanted to commemorate this anniversary despite the fact it is a less than glorious moment in our nation's history. when we thought about who

for being in bladensburg and prince george's county, but continue the conversation. thank you very much.