A US congressman has shown off a little history and caused a little concern on the Internet, after filming a hidden passageway in the United States Capitol building.
Republican congressman Tim Moore shared a video of the secret passageway hidden beneath the carpet of the Lincoln Room.
“This is one of the neat things about the US Capitol. Construction started in the 1700s and there are all sorts of little hidden passageways,” Moore explained in the video.
“Suffice to say I’ve been able to live and tell about it. It goes all the way down, it’s an old staircase, and I’m told, I can’t verify this, that this staircase, which opens formally to the outside, was one of the staircases that British soldiers used during the war of 1814 when they attacked Washington.”
The post caused a number of confused reactions, with various people believing Moore had revealed a security risk.
“What’s the point of showing this?” businessman Patrick Bet-David asked. “This is a form of loose lips. We know there are tunnels. But don’t show it. The enemy is watching everything! Both foreign and domestic.”
Moore responded to this and others, after the original video reached the conspiracy-minded area of X.
“So many misconceptions about this old staircase since I posted the video,” he wrote. “To clear things up: while it’s now beneath a newer floor, this is not a tunnel. It’s a sealed-off exit that once led directly from the Capitol’s second floor to the outside. It’s been closed off for decades and is public information.”
“I always enjoy sharing pieces of history with folks back home, and it’s great to see so many people interested in it,” he added.
And the history of the US, short though it is, is pretty interesting. The Burning of Washington, which Moore referred to, took place in 1814, when Major-General Robert Ross led an army of British soldiers to Washington D.C., setting fire to the White House (then known as the Presidential Mansion), the Library of Congress, and the Capitol. The attack, retaliation for an attack on York, Ontario, was cut short after severe weather caused more damage as well as putting out fires, with some eyewitness reports suggesting a hurricane or tornado in play.
As stated by Moore, however, it is unverified that British troops used the staircase at all during their attack on Washington buildings.
Though the room is called the Lincoln room, it isn’t exactly his room either, but was renamed for him in 2019.
“It’s especially fitting that we should rename this particular room for President Lincoln as the room was formerly the House post office during Lincoln’s time in Congress,” Representative Krishnamoorthi said during the renaming, “a crucial gathering place where President Lincoln built some of the friendships with which he helped guide our country through its darkest years.”
Source Link: US Congressman Films Old Secret Passageway Beneath The Lincoln Room Of The Capitol Building
