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Today in History, August 24th

On August 24, 1814, British troops burned the White House in the War of 1812. Plus Vesuvius, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and Pluto.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published August 24, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

August 24 is best known for 1814, when British troops captured Washington, D.C., and set fire to the White House during the War of 1812. The date is also the traditional day of Mount Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 CE, and in 2006 astronomers demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet.

The big story: The British burn the White House (1814)

Two years into the War of 1812, the war came to the nation’s front door. On August 24, 1814, British troops marched into Washington, D.C., and set the capital’s public buildings ablaze, including the Capitol and the president’s house. The British framed it as payback for the American attack on York, in what is now Ontario, in 1813. President James Madison had left two days earlier to meet with his generals. Dolley Madison stayed behind, and before she fled she made sure a full-length portrait of George Washington was taken down from the wall so it would not be destroyed. By the time the British arrived, the Madisons were in Maryland. Soldiers reportedly sat down to a meal from the White House pantry, using the president’s own dishes and silver, before looting the mansion and torching it. The Madisons came back three days later but never lived there again. James Monroe moved into the rebuilt house in 1817.

More events on August 24

Year	What happened
79	Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum. August 24 is the traditional date, though some evidence points to October.
410	Alaric, chief of the Visigoths, led his army into Rome, a symbolic blow in the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
1572	The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of French Protestants (Huguenots) began in Paris and spread across France. Accounts tie it to King Charles IX’s court, and who bore the most blame is still debated.
1821	Spain’s viceroy signed the Treaty of Córdoba, accepting Mexico’s independence.
1873	Photographer William Henry Jackson became the first to photograph Colorado’s Mount of the Holy Cross, famed for the snow-filled cross on its face.
1949	The North Atlantic Treaty took effect, formally creating NATO.
1954	President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act at the height of the Red Scare.
1989	Baseball announced that Pete Rose had accepted a lifetime ban over betting on games, making him ineligible for the Hall of Fame.
2006	Meeting in Prague, the International Astronomical Union voted to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet.
2011	Steve Jobs resigned as Apple’s CEO. He died less than two months later.

Born on August 24

1947: Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author of The Alchemist, born in Rio de Janeiro.
1960: Cal Ripken Jr., Baltimore Orioles shortstop who broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-games record, born in Havre de Grace, Maryland.
1965: Marlee Matlin, actress and the first deaf performer to win an Oscar, born in Morton Grove, Illinois.