The President's House as it appeared before the 1814 fire, the frontispiece to The Stranger in America by Charles William Jansen, 1807.

After leaving Bladensburg Battlefield, an exhausted James Madison, accompanied by Brigadier General John Mason and Attorney General Richard Rush, returned to the president's house to find Mrs. Madison. He arrived at the executive mansion about 4:00 p.m. to find that she had already left. Despondent and shaken by the ease of the British victory, Madison declined offers of food and had only a glass of wine before beginning his flight to avoid capture.