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Published: February 22nd 2015
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Fort McHenry
The Star Spangled Banner flying over Fort McHenry I recently enjoyed a work trip up to Baltimore (Maryland), and found myself with a morning to kill due to a cancelled meeting on the final day. My work colleague, Sean, who also doubled as my tourist guide suggested a trip to Fort McHenry, battle site during the English/American War of 1812, and known as the birthplace of the Star Spangled Banner.
Now I always had pictures in my head of the American forces stoutly defending the fort against the better trained and equipped redcoats, teaching them a lesson in tenacity they would not soon remember (not unlike the way we beat the Poms in the Cricket world cup, but I digress.....). However, the story doesn't quite go like that.....
After giving US forces in DC a bit of a 'pantsing', the Brits headed for Baltimore in an attempted to close out the war which had been cracking along for a bit over a year (don't quote me on that. In order to do that, it was vital that they take Fort McHenry to allow the ground troops to get in burn, pillage, steal and generally act like a bunch of asses. So, on September
Inside the Fort
Would have been cold! 13 British warships pounded the fort for 25 hours.
Courtesy of the Smithsonian website, the story continues........A week earlier, Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old American lawyer, had boarded the flagship of the British fleet on the Chesapeake Bay in hopes of persuading the British to release a friend who had recently been arrested. Key's tactics were successful, but because he and his companions had gained knowledge of the impending attack on Baltimore, the British did not let them go. They allowed the Americans to return to their own vessel but continued guarding them. Under their scrutiny, Key watched on September 13 as the barrage of Fort McHenry began eight miles away.
"It seemed as though mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone," Key wrote later. But when darkness arrived, Key saw only red erupting in the night sky. Given the scale of the attack, he was certain the British would win. The hours passed slowly, but in the clearing smoke of "the dawn's early light" on September 14, he saw the
American flag—not the British Union Jack—flying over the fort, announcing an American victory.
Key put his thoughts on paper while still on board the ship, setting his words to the tune of a popular English song. His brother-in-law, commander of a militia at Fort McHenry, read Key's work and had it distributed under the name "Defence of Fort M'Henry." The
Baltimore Patriot newspaper soon printed it, and within weeks, Key's poem, now called "The Star-Spangled Banner," appeared in print across the country, immortalizing his words—and forever naming the flag it celebrated. Whilst it was not adopted as the national anthem until 1931, it became a significant part of the American psyche.
So, with my images of hand to hand combat and glorious victory dashed, I was further disappointed to find that although they were bombarded for 25 hours, most of the British bombs and rockets missed the fort. The British naval cannons (range 2 miles) outgunned the fort's weaponry (1.5 miles), so the wimpy Brits sat off at maximum range taking pot shots whilst sipping tea (obviously). Not too hard to beat that really.....kind of like the English cricket team now.....
The museum located at the Fort was an absolute cracker - it provided the details of the story above, but
Prison Cells
Imagine living here for six months.... also focussed on the War of 1812, which seems mostly lost to history, and it certainly filled in the huge gaps in my knowledge (which extended to an understanding that there was a war in 1812, but that's about it). Interestingly, the museum provided multiple perspectives on the National Anthem, quoting African Americans during the segregation years who refused to sing it, as they believe there was nothing free about the 'land of the free'. Regardless of your perspective, it was great to see the museum present multiple perspectives on the issue.
Anyway, the day we visited it was about minus one-billion degrees celsius with a wind-chill taboo, so we kept the visit to the Fort a pretty quick one, but there were some great sights to see. One of the more interesting was a cell that housed prisoners for months on end which was about 8 feet long and six feet high. It contained nothing more than a mattress, and a wooden barrel which was both toilet facilities and doubled as a chair when not full of poo-biscuits. The tunnel which fed light into the cell was 's-shaped' so the prisoner had no view at all. It must
Steele Spangled Banner?
See what I did there? Anyone? Anyone? have been a terrible existence during winter!! Overall, it was a great place to visit, and a privilege to visit such an influential part of American history.
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