Valor Friday

| May 28, 2021

As we head into Memorial Day weekend, I’ll do something different with this week’s piece.

The War of 1812 was a conflict the United States started with the Great British empire. Leading up to the declaration of war, the Royal Navy had been stopping and boarding American ships. They took American prisoners and impressed them into service. By some estimates between the end of the Revolutionary War and 1812 some 15,000 men were so shanghaied.

Fort McHenry was a key military fortification in the Port of Baltimore. The fort was besieged by a British fleet in 1814, more than two years into the war. This was just weeks after Washington, D.C. has been sacked and the White House and Capitol burned. It was during the Burning of Washington and the subsequent Raid on Alexandria that the British would take prisoner a civilian doctor, William Beanes from inside his own house outside Baltimore.

Francis Scott Key, a Baltimore lawyer and amateur poet, sailed out to the British fleet outside Baltimore Harbor to secure the release of Dr. Beanes from the British. Key was accompanied by John Stuart Skinner, also a lawyer by trade. They sailed to the British under a flag of truce and were operating with the approval of President Madison.

Key and Skinner arrived on 7 September, 1814. They dined with British Army Major General Robert Ross and Royal Navy Vice Admiral Alexander Chochran. The British officers initially refused to release the elderly doctor but relented after Key and Skinner showed the men letters written by British prisoners of war speaking to Beanes’ excellent treatment of the prisoners.

Because the two British officers had discussed military strategy and plans for the attack on Baltimore at the dinner, the lawyers were not allowed to return to land. They were held aboard their truce ship until after the battle more than a week later. It was from this vantage point that they watched the British land 5,000 troops at North Point (Baltimore’s last line of defense), from which they were repulsed by the Americans on 12 September.

The next day the British tried to attack at Rodgers Bastion. More than 4,000 British came upon a better entrenched American line of 10,000 men, and were again repulsed. Before attempting to take Baltimore again, the British decided to bombard Fort McHenry.

Fort McHenry had been heavily fortified. To keep the British, who had naval superiority, from accurately firing on the fort, the defenders sunk a line of American merchant vessels to block the approach.

The British fleet, consisting of 19 ships included one rocket ship and five bomb ships, opened fire on the fort on 13 September. Helping the defenders, the British ships had to move out of range of the fort’s cannons, putting their rockets and bombs at their maximum effective range. As twilight last gleamed and rain fell from the sky, Francis Scott Key watched from the harbor “O’er the ramparts” of the American fort as they were so heavily beset by enemy fire. Above the fort was the American flag that was “so gallantly streaming.”

During the night, Key would see the American flag flying above the fort but only when illuminated by the “rocket’s red glare [and] the bombs bursting in air.” The flashes of the enemy munitions “gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

As the battle unfolded in a “perilous fight”, the British launched between 1,500 and 1,800 cannonballs at the fort that evening and overnight. They watched what must have looked like an impossible number of enemy munitions, but the end of the bombardment overnight meant Key couldn’t see the flag. After ceasing their bombings, the British had again attempted a land assault. Would the fort still be in American hands come morning?

As daybreak arrived, Key started to look for the fort’s flag. What had been there at the beginning of the battle was the normal-sized “storm flag”. Come morning reveille, the oversized 30ft x 42ft garrison flag was hoisted to replace the smaller, tattered storm flag. The flag was commissioned by George Armistead, the commander of Fort McHenry, who specified “a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.” It was this flag that, after the long battle, flew proudly over the fort at daybreak.

Despite the onslaught, only four American troops at McHenry were killed and 24 injured, out of the 1,000 men within the walls. The sight of the flag, taunting to the Brits as it was, drew some lone shots from the British before the land troops retreated to their ships.

The majesty of that giant flag, triumphant above Fort McHenry, inspired Key to describe it as the “star-spangled banner.” The visage of that flag announcing an American victory was such a powerful image, Key immediately started to scratch down the poetry of it all on the back of a letter he was carrying. “O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

In the words that Key wrote, you can feel the sense of relief, glory, and pride he felt in those moments. The memory of the American victory in the Revolution was still in living memory. The world’s greatest naval fleet once again was unable to make the Yankees bend a knee.

A few days later, on 16 September, Key and his compatriots were finally released, as the British withdrew from the area defeated. Key stayed in a hotel in Baltimore and worked on his poem. It was published within a week as “Defence of Fort M’Henry”. Set to the tune “The Anacreontic Song”, the first stanza I quote heavily above is immediately recognizable to any American as our national anthem.

In musical form, Key’s poem became known as the “Star-Spangled Banner” and was a popular patriotic song throughout the 19th and into the 20th Century. It was the defacto national anthem until 1931 when it was officially adopted as such.

The Star-Spangled Banner itself, the actual flag hoisted after the battle, is now a national treasure held by the Smithsonian. Before being preserved, it was held in private hands. Small bits of the flag were snipped off as souvenirs, so the flag on display now is a bit smaller than original.

The American Flag at the time of the Battle of Baltimore consisted of 15 stars and 15 stripes. It was after the addition of Vermont and Kentucky to the Union as states that the original 13 stars and stripes of the original colonies were replaced with 15 on the national flag. Despite there being three more states by the time of Key’s observations, the flag itself hadn’t been updated with their admissions. The national flag was updated in 1818 (by which time the country consisted of 20 states) to consist of 20 stars (with an additional star to be added for each subsequent state to join the Union) and 13 stripes (in honor of the original colonies).

That star-spangled banner that inspired revolutions around the world and continues to be a shining symbol of freedom, liberty, and prosperity, carries a lot of meaning for those of us who served under it. As we join with family and friends for Memorial Day, we should reflect on the sacrifices of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country and came home under that flag.

The words of Francis Scott Key are powerful and poignant even more than 200 years later;

The Star-Spangled Banner (The Defence of Fort M’Henry)

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Category: Historical, Holidays, We Remember

12 Comments
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ninja

THANK YOU, Mason, for sharing the story of our National Anthem.

Found this 11 minute video years ago…it ties in what Mason wrote.

Hope you enjoy it as well as we did.

USMC Steve

The only reason that Fort McHenry didn’t fall to the Brits is simple. They had no Marines on their ships with which to make an amphibious assault. If a couple hundred Royal Marines had unassed those ships and gone after it, that place would have fallen. They made that mistake several times during the war.

And in point of fact, there were almost no American casualties at the fort during the bombardment.

gitarcarver

The only reason that Fort McHenry didn’t fall to the Brits is simple. They had no Marines on their ships with which to make an amphibious assault.

WHAT?

The British HAD unloaded Marines, sailors and regulars and were marching toward Fort McHenry from North Point after the Battle of Bladensburg and burning Washington DC.

The British commander, one Major General Robert Ross was killed in a delaying action by militia. The subsequent change of commands to a less aggressive commander allowed more troops and more militia to arrive, strengthen defenses, and prevent the British from getting to the fort via the North Point.

Your supposition is contrary to the actual history of the battles.

USMC Steve

For those with a knowledge of history, this is great motivating propaganda, and with relatively little actual historical fact.

11B-Mailclerk

A -Marine-, scolding about -propaganda-?

Lol.

Only Army Mom

One of the arguments I’ve heard defending some virtue signaling around refusing to stand for the National Anthem revolve around the lines, “No refuge could save the hireling and slave”, and “O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand”. These arguments, like most such on this subject, are based on a combination of revisionist history and ignorance of historical context. The first objectionable line refers to the idea that no safety or peace was to be had, regardless of station in life or innocence in the conflict. Supposedly, when the British soldiers would attack a location, they would only shoot or bayonet combatants – hirelings and slaves who did not take up arms were noncombatants and therefore spared. Rockets and bombs don’t make that distinction, hence the line in the third stanza. The second objectionable line refers to how the American fighters saw themselves – as free men, free from the oppression of Monarchial rule, a condition recently won in the American Revolution and one they were fighting to maintain. Those who say that “hireling and slave”, as well as all future generations, would have been better off under British rule had Britain won the War of 1812 demonstrate their complete lack of understanding of history. Yes, Britain abolished slavery, but not until 1833. Britain also had some other laws on the books, both in 1812 and right on through the 20th Century that were overturned on this continent by the American Revolution. Such as, separation of religion and government, rights to property ownership (and all that entails), free speech (blasphemy law finally enacted in 2008 in the UK), the aristocracy, etc., etc. Those laws and practices were played out in other colonies such as India, and we saw how egalitarian those societies were under British rule. So go ahead, take a knee, refuse to stand, object to the sound of the National Anthem and the sight of the Stars and Stripes. While you do so, remember you have that right because you live in this country under our Constitution with all it’s freedoms and protections from the government.… Read more »

KoB

So very well said OAM. And some wonder why we Love our Most Adorable Deplorable so much. And why we would charge thru the Gates of Hell itself, fight till Hell froze over, then continue to fight on the ice to protect and defend same.

As a dyed in the wool, Unreconstructed Rebel, and Son of the South, I still get an attack of the Dust Bunny Fairies whenever I hear our National Anthem. And I get royally pissed off by the despicable behavior shown by others, or the disrespectful way it is sung. And yeah, the many that served and many that gave their all to give those the right to burn, disrespect, or desecrate our Flag and the anthem would like to have the freedom to “counsel” those that would do that in our presence. I wish a mofo would!

And don’t get me started on the whole revisionist history thing. Another page in the “How to Destroy America” playbook. Marx grins.

The Armistead Family had 5 that fought during the 1812 war for America, including the Father of Lewis (Lo) Armistead. Lo is buried next to his Uncle George, the Commander of the Fort, in Baltimore.

The United States of America, despite of or because of its warts, is STILL the Greatest Country this World has ever seen. America; Love Her, Respect Her, or GTFO!

Thanks Mason…and Thanks to ninja (gabn/rtr/hbtd) for the video addition. And even more Thanks to OAM, and those like her, for who they are, what they do, the Sacrifice they made, and what she means to us all. SALUTE!!

Bill R.

As i read this line, (The flashes of the enemy munitions “gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”) it suddenly got very dusty in the room. I’m proud of my service but I’m getting old now and not much affects me emotionally. i guess I still have a few feelings left inside. I truly fear for our country.

Sparks

I am so proud of our country, our founders, and our defenders through these centuries. God bless and keep the United States of America. And forever may the Star Spangled Banner wave over this free land.

George V

Thanks for the chance, once again, to read all the verses! Yes, I know I can look them up any time but I like it when the whole anthem is shown in an article.

This time I was struck by a line in the 4th verse: “Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!”

I often wonder if as a nation we’ve strayed from believing and following the tenets of that Power in which our founders believed and entrusted their lives. Maybe that’s part of our problem today. I’d like to suggest, if you are so inclined, that we pray for ourselves and our nation that it be preserved.

LET