1814: White House, Congress, Supreme Court TORCHED

On August 24th, 1814, in the course of the war that later became known as The War of 1812 (sic), the British Navy landed in Washington, DC.  Retaliating against the US Army's complete destruction of the Canadian city of York (later called Toronto), troops led by General Robert Ross set fire to a number of prominent US government buildings.  It was a great day for the construction industry.