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Saving the Declaration of Independence State department clerk Stephen Pleasonton assembled a caravan of 22 carts on August 23, 1814 loaded with the young nation's documents, including much of the State Department and Congressional records, treaties, correspondence of George Washington any many of the documents still on display in the National Archives.. Packed in linen bags they were first taken to Edgar Patterson's abandoned grist mill just across the Potomac River and then were moved to the Rokeby Mansion in Leesburg. As mentioned in the movie National Treasure, the Declaration does have writing on the back, but not what is suggested in that movie. On the back is written "Declaration of Independence, original copy" probably put there by Pleasonton himself during the evacuation.
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