British

As the British marched on Washington during the War of 1812, government clerks scrambled to hide the nation's precious documents. According to legend, the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights ended up in the cellar of Rokeby, a mansion outside of Leesburg, Virginia where they were guarded by a local minister. But is the legend true?

In the U.S., we’re used to seeing recycled British names. It often feels a little anticlimactic to learn that a British colonist simply lifted the name of their hometown—Kensington, Cambridge, Salisbury, Westminster, Essex, Arlington, the list goes on—and slapped it onto whatever colony, town, or road they wanted to claim. However, the state of Maryland may be able to claim a rare distinction: lending its name to a location in Great Britain, not vice versa.

The U.S. Capitol Building has been attacked a small handful of times, but the first and most devastating assault on the seat of American democracy in 1814 by the British army bears a striking resemblance to the events of January 6, 2021.