Like most Hill residents, I swing through Eastern Market every weekend to see what’s for sale. You never know when you might find just the right piece of furniture, article of clothing, or item to hang on your wall there. A few weeks ago, I came across something in the last category. It’s currently being framed such that it can find an appropriate place in my house.
The Daily National Intelligencer was the dominant newspaper in Washington DC from 1813 until 1870. Started as the National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser in 1800, it was here that the daily doings of Congress were captured, and was thus an important source when the Annals of Congress were compiled for the early years of the United States.
The March 7, 1814, edition of the DNI is a good representative of its type. The interior pages are filled with the doings of Congress, plus news of the current war against England. There is even a book about the “War of 1812” but that refers to Napoleon’s attack on Russia, not the current on-going fracas, which is apparently still un-named at the time.
The most interesting page, though, and the one I am currently having framed, is the front page. The mores of the times are clearly visible in the advertisements that fill it, with numerous notices of runaway slaves, an ad that stated “wanted to purchase: A Female of Colour.” There is also an reminder that the drawing for the Washington Monument lottery will be held “Monday next,” an intriguing reminder that the attempt to build a monument to the father of our country well before his hundredth birthday, which generated not only the famous Monument in the middle of the Mall, but also the somewhat less successful statue by Greenough that now has been relegated to the Smithsonian Institution.
However, the ad that most intrigued me was a small one that was titled “5 Dollars Reward.” It’s terse text states: “A superfine black SURTOUT COAT was taken by mistake from a committee room in the Capitol; the person who has it in possession, shall receive the above reward on leaving it at the bar of Tomlinson’s tavern, near the Capitol.”
The Ad as it ran in the Daily National Intelligencer (Collection of the author)
Sadly, there is no indication as to who the bereft individual was. A member of Congress? An aide of some sort? Certainly the address given seems to indicate someone working in the Capitol. The house originally built by Daniel Carroll at 1st and Delaware Avenue NE had been used as a hotel from earliest days, and was a favorite among congressmen. It had been run by one B. H. Tomlinson since 1810.
As to the article lost, a Surtout coat was an overcoat much preferred by cavalry officers. That it was an object of great value could be seen in that a prisoner was sentenced to six months in jail for having stolen one a few years later.
Sadly, without any further information to go on, it is impossible to say what happened to the coat or its owner. The only thing that is clear is that both Tomlinson’s, as well as the Capitol itself, were burned not six months later by the British.