"SHALL THIS EDIFICE OF YANKEE DEMOCRACY BE SET TO THE TORCH?"

Surprisingly, the 8,000 people of that small country town called Washington were unconcerned when they learned that a British army was approaching. So far, the town had escaped direct involvement in the war of 1812, and the people had been assured that a powerful militia could be raised at once to defend America's new capital. But as the trained, well-equipped British made their assault, they faced a poorly trained, hastily assembled ragtag force further weakened by ineffective leadership. Whole companies bolted and ran. And the British marched into a city whose mood had been transformed from confidence to panic.

From the back of the Weekly Reader edition