The War Department Fire and Compensation

The papers of the War Department – along with the other executive departments – relocated to Washington, D.C. from Philadelphia in the summer of 1800. Five months later on November 8, 1800, flames engulfed the new building. You can read one of the immediate reactions here. The devastation felt by Secretary Samuel Dexter in the wake of the fire shines through in the plainly, solemnly stated first sentence in another letter the same day: “On Saturday evening last my office with all the Records, Papers, &c. was consumed by fire.” The fire was an incalculable disaster for the young federal government, destroying valuable Indian, veterans, and military records that had been collected since the Revolutionary War. Dexter quickly wrote his subordinates in order to obtain much-needed copies of documents that had been lost. More than two centuries later the Papers of the War Departments is nearing completion of a digital reconstruction of that lost archive.

There is a lesser known story that surrounds the fire, however. After the move from Philadelphia, Dexter had the War Department records moved into a three-floor house on 2100 Pennsylvania Avenue belonging to Joseph Hodgson – which Dexter leased for eight months until a better location was found. A federal employee who helped relocate the records – William Markward – lived in the basement with his wife, and the two of them helped with maintenance around the house in exchange for living quarters. The fire of November 8 was not only a disaster for the War Department, but for the Markward family as well. $800 worth of personal belongings were destroyed, and William’s salary was only $350 a year. To make things worse the House of Representatives rejected his petition for compensation, arguing that they had no obligation to pay employees whose property was destroyed by accident or fire.

Even Joseph Hodgson, the owner of the house, had an exceptionally difficult time receiving compensation. When the lease ended in April 1801 – five months after the fire – Hodgson filed a lawsuit against Dexter for breaking his contract by not returning the house in good order, as the lease had specified. Two years later the Circuit Court ruled against Hodgson, claiming that a government representative like Dexter could not be held personally liable, and the Supreme Court upheld the ruling. Joseph Hodgson died in May 1805, and between 1806 and 1822 his wife Rebecca filed nine petitions for compensation. In May 1822 Congress finally passed a bill compensating the family $6,000 for the destroyed house.

Source: Elaine C. Everly, “The Local Impact of the War Office Fire of 1800,” Washington History (Spring/Summer 2000), 8-9.