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THE CAPITOL DOME his feet is a measure of the man (fig. 7). e Capitol, as it turned out, was not so easily torched, with the British struggling to set it ablaze. 43 ey used improvised combustible materials. In the south wing, after parts of the building were set alight the heat was so fierce that the British were forced to withdraw, leaving some rooms undamaged. e north wing was more extensively damaged because there was more wooden material, as well as the books and furniture of the Library of Congress. 44 On learning that the books of the Library of Congress had been destroyed, Ross expressed his regret to Dr. Ewell, remarking that he did not "make war . . . against letters." 45 Elated by his unexpected success in capturing Washington, Ross was tempted to capitalize on his victory by marching overland to attack Baltimore from the landward, poorly defended, side. With the American government and military at sixes and sevens and morale at a low ebb after the debacle at Bladensburg, Baltimore's fate hung by a thread. Rightly suspecting that Vice Admiral Cochrane's support for such a venture may not have been forthcoming, the British general Retreated to the Royal Navy fleet based in the Patuxent River instead. Still believing that Baltimore could be taken and that a knockout blow could be delivered to his American adversaries, Ross attempted to persuade Cochrane to support an attack. Initially reluctant, the Vice Admiral eventually acceded to his request. By that stage, Francis Scott Key had arrived on board Cochrane's flagship on a mission to try to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, an American prisoner. And of course Key subsequently witnessed the dramatic, if ineffective, British naval attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore with "the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air." e lyrics of his Star Spangled Banner also reveal the stakes he believed the Brit - ish were playing for: "A home and a country should leave us no more!" In the end, Key was a mightily relieved man that Baltimore survived the naval and landward attack of the British. at outcome was due in no small measure to the death of General Ross, who was killed at the head of his forces in a brief skirmish as the British army advanced toward Baltimore (fig. 8). He lived and died by the mantra of being "on the spot," leading and inspiring his troops. Little wonder that this strik - ingly handsome, blue-eyed officer was idolized by his men for his exploits fighting the French. Ross's death was a cause of considerable national celebra- tion, even jubilation, in the United States, prompted in no small measure by a sense of relief and deliverance. For his involve- ment in the burning of the Capitol and other public buildings in Washington, the British general drew some heavy criticism in America. He was branded at the time as a "conflagrator" and "incendiary, or legalized firebrand." 46 Hezekiah Niles, a Baltimore based newspaper editor, was prepared to admit that Ross was a courageous soldier, even a "dashing" commander as his conduct at Bladensburg had demonstrated. But "here his merits, if these things are merits, appear to have an end, for his after-conduct was barbarous." 47 Similarly, while not question- ing Ross's bravery, another American newspaper commented that the destruction he was responsible for in Washington war- ranted him being described as a "savage." 48 Reports even circu- lated after the war that Ross's native Rostrevor was targeted for a revenge attack by an American privateer for what occurred at Washington, though hostilities ended before an attempt could be made. 49 at Ross was also widely admired in the United States at the time as a chivalrous soldier, even a merciful and magnani- mous enemy, is not so well known. Indeed his reputation became a "hot" political issue in the presidential election of 1828. As a story published in a Washington, D.C. newspaper at the time remarked, it was to Ross's "forbearance and gener- osity we owe it, that a single house was suffered to remain in the City of Washington." 50 In the upshot, while Ross and many fellow countrymen in his ranks were responsible for destroy- ing the public buildings of the American capital city, the Irish also were prominent in repairing and rebuilding them. Not only was James Hoban, an Irish architect, involved in renovat- ing the White House, but almost half of the population of the District at the time were Irishmen, most of whom could only speak their native Gaelic language. Since many of them were laborers, chances are they were to the fore in repairing the pub- lic buildings burnt by British forces. 51 DR. JOHN MCCAV ITT, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, is co-authoring a biography of General Ross with Chris George from Baltimore. He maintains websites at: www.theflightoftheearls.net and www.themanwhocapturedwashington.com. Notes 1. www.theflightoftheearls.net. 2. Robert Ames Alden, e Flight of the Madisons (Fair- fax, Va.: Fairfax County Council of the Arts, 1974). 3. Steve Vogel, rough the Perilous Fight: Six Weeks at Saved the Nation (New York: Random House, 2013), p. 68. 4. Troy Bickham, Weight of Vengeance: e United States, the British Empire, and the War of 1812 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 135, 163-65. 10