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Dolley Madison, National Portrait Gallery

While I wait for my interview, I’m devouring the following, from the wonderful “Streets of Washington” history blog:

Dolley Madison may be best known today for her heroism during the War of 1812, specifically her valiant efforts (as she reported in a letter to Anna Cutts) to save the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington from falling into British hands on August 24, 1814, when the British army captured Washington and burned public buildings, including the White House and the Capitol. She also packed important government papers into trunks for safekeeping. More than 30 years later, in May 1848, Dolley similarly saved her husband’s important papers, which she kept in an upstairs trunk, from immanent destruction. She was then spending her last years in her house on Lafayette Square, and the house caught fire, perhaps from arson. Dolley refused to be rescued from the top floor unless the trunk of papers was safely removed with her.

Nearly as well known as Dolley’s heroism were her personal foibles. She loved to dress well and had a famous predilection for extravagant turbans. When fleeing the White House in 1814, along with the Stuart portrait of Washington, she tellingly saved a set of red velvet drapes from the oval drawing room. Some have argued that her choice of these drapes when so much else had to be abandoned was reasonable given their high cost in those days, but the fact remains that the woman really loved red.