With the coming of dawn on Aug. 25, 1814, the awful truth became apparent to the citizens of Washington, D.C. They had been abandoned by the Army and Navy and their government to the hands of the British forces under the command of Gen. Robert Ross and Adm. George Cockburn. President James Madison and his wife, Dolley, were somewhere in hiding along with most ranking officials; the presidential mansion, U.S. Capitol and Treasury had been put to the torch along with the Navy yard and its ships.