British troops bombarded the Capitol and caused a fire in 1814, destroying many books in the Library of Congress.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by Library of Congress official exhibition, Architect of the Capitol records, and Wikipedia; consistent details across sources including date and volume count destroyed. [cascade flags: wikipedia_dropped_other_sources_exist | tier=bronze indep_score=0.539 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Library of Congress (seed:culture_and_philosophy)
- https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/out-of-the-ashes/online-exhibition.html (corroboration)
- https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/blog/most-magnificent-ruin-burning-capitol-during-war-1812 (corroboration)