Tourists Flock To The Grave Of British General Who Burned Down The White House

During the War of 1812, Major-General Robert Ross led the attack that resulted in the Burning of Washington, including the White House and the Capitol building.
Tourists Flock To The Grave Of British General Who Burned Down The White House
Credit: Wikipedia/Twitter
By Ed Scarce — September 9, 2026

I suppose it's inevitable, given the current political climate, that parallels with history are being used in what has been, until now, a relatively peaceful and mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries of Canada and the United States. At least it was before Trump came along.

Source: National Post

The Halifax, N.S., gravesite of the British general who burned down the White House 211 years ago this week was a busy place on Monday.

Larry and Connie Tremain, of Arizona, had just disembarked from their cruise ship when they visited the city’s Old Burying Ground, at the corner of Spring Garden Road and Barrington Street. The national historic site is the final resting place of British Major General Robert Ross, who led his troops to burn the White House and other public buildings in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 24, 1814, during the War of 1812, in retaliation for the American attack on Fort York, now known as Toronto.

“We’ve been looking for him,” deadpanned Larry Tremain, a retired special agent with the U.S. Treasury Department.

While he hadn’t been sure until Monday where Ross was buried, Tremain knew the particulars of when the Brits torched the residence of then U.S. President James Madison

“I’m certainly familiar with the Madisons fleeing the White House and the British general burned it down and actually ate the Madisons’ last meal in the White House,” he said.

“But I did not know the general was from Canada.”

He wasn't actually from Canada, and why he was buried in Halifax is an interesting story in itself. He died just several weeks after the burning, perhaps in retaliation, from a sniper's bullet.

Of course, Canada didn’t exist at the time and Ross was never stationed in Halifax. But he was buried in the Nova Scotia capital after being killed at the Battle of North Point by an American sniper on Sept. 12, 1814, near Baltimore, Maryland. His body was preserved in rum aboard the HMS Royal Oak, to be returned to his native Ireland. But the British warship was diverted to Halifax to prepare for the Battle of New Orleans, and Ross was interred here with full military honours.

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