The admiral came and he said 'Your people are insane.' Cochrane dispatched the assessmentto his colleagues ashore: It is impossible for the Ships to render you any assistance the Town [of Baltimore] is so far retired within the Forts. He said 'The thing that sets the American Christian apart from all other people in the world is he will die on his feet before he will live on his knees.'. the British fleet, consisting of ships of the line, heavy frigates, and Initially they worked from Mary's home (now a private museum known as the Flag House), but as their work progressed they needed more room and had to move to Claggett's brewery across the street. When Major George Armistead, the fort's commander, expressed the desire for a very large flag to fly over the fort, General John S. Stricker and Commodore Joshua Barney placed an order for two oversized American flags. Each of its 15 stars measures about two feet across and each of its 15 stripes are about two feet wide. No, Key was a lawyer in Washington, D.C. It was, of course, the huge American flag that flew over Baltimore's Fort McHenry on a hot summer night in 1814. The flag we all know as the star-spangled banner is a massive 30 by 42 feet in size and sewn of wool bunting. Whether or not Francis Scott Key actually visited Fort McHenry that day, he would have not seen a stack of "patriots' bodies" holding the flag pole upright. So the old flag survives, bathed in dim light, floating out of the darkness, just as it did on that uncertain morning at Fort McHenry. He said 'We will still honor our commitment to release these men, but it will be merely academic after tonight, it won't matter.' The two additional stars and stripes, approved by the United States Congress's Flag Act of 1794, represent Vermont and Kentucky's entrance into the Union. With the construction of the conservation lab completed in 1999, conservators began their work. This is made up. See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends) and leave the link in the comments. For the next 27 hours, in driving rain, the warships hammer the fort. inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet. He served as a co-historian for the Smithsonian Institutions Saving the Star-Spangled Banner Project, and for the National Park Services The Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail study. By noon, Brooke had come within two miles east of the American lines, surveying any opportunities for an infantry breakthrough, but found none. By early morning of September 14, it was over. There were about 25 American casualties. He sent sent amessage, via Admiral Cockburn, to Cochrane regarding how the two could act in concert together, one by land, one by sea. He said 'The war is over, these men will be free anyway.'. In Baltimore's preparation for an expected attack on the city, Fort McHenry was made ready to defend the city's harbor. Victoria "Tory" Altman is an Education Specialist in the Office of Education Outreach. You are free.' While ordering his men to drive off the American riflemen, Ross is shot in the chest and dies a few hours later. [40][41], In 1964, the flag was moved across the National Mall to the newly opened Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History). Francis Scott Key went down below and told the men what was about to happen. It's called the 'National Anthem.' It's in most hymnals throughout our churches. One of the soldiers who was in the fort during the 25-hour bombardment wrote, "We were like pigeons tied by the legs to be shot at. It was populated by 1,000 American troops who were armed with dozens of cannons and thousands of pounds of gunpowder. [42], A conservation effort was undertaken in 1982 to protect the flag from damage due to dust and light. In 1814, the United States flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes. "[54], Smithsonian National Museum of American History. He began his military career during the Quasi War with France in 1799 as an Ensign in the Seventh Infantry Regiment, rising quickly to Second and then First Lieutenant by May 1800. Being held by the British on a truce ship in the Patapsco River, Key observed the battle from afar. Those marks tell the flag's story.". Let us know!. The flags were finished on August 19, 1813. He convinced the British to release Beanes. The stars are arranged in vertical rows, with five horizontal rows of stars, offset, each containing three stars. Encouraged by their victory at Bladensburgon August 24, 1814, and the subsequent burning of Washington, D.C., the British turned north, intent on capturing the major port city of Baltimore, Maryland. When markings on the flag were investigated and analyzed, they were found to be from iron corrosion. [53] The framed remnant came with a faded, hand-written note attesting it was "A piece of the Flag which floated over Fort McHenry at the time of the bombardment when Key's (sic) composed the Song of the Star Spangled Banner, presented by Sam Beth Cohen. That morning the American defenders lower their battered storm flag and raise the large, 30 by 42-foot garrison flag that Major Armistead ordered a year earlier from local flag maker Mary Pickersgill. The Smithsonian has created a permanent exhibition to document the flag's history and significance, called "The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem". The restoration was completed in 2008 at a total cost in excess of $21 million. Having worked on historic flags for the United States Naval Academy, Fowler had patented a method of supporting fragile flags with a linen backing that required a honeycomb pattern of stitches. Privacy Statement He said 'You'll be taken out of this boat, out of this filth, out of your chains.'. Constitution Avenue, NW To the best of our knowledge, the British did not specifically target the flag. It will be here within striking distance in a matter of about two-and-a-half hours.' Despite a stalwart initial defense, the Americans begin to give way to the British regulars. Did dead bodies hold up the flag at Fort McHenry? Started in 1996, the Star-Spangled Banner preservation projectwhich includes the flag's conservation and the creation of its new display in the renovated museumwas planned with the help of historians, conservators, curators, engineers and organic scientists. From the harbor below Fort McHenry, these events were witnessed without understanding that they were standard practice by those aboard a Baltimore packet vessel, President, now serving as the U.S. flag-of-truce vessel. It then remained in a safe-deposit vault in New York City until Appleton loaned it to the Smithsonian in 1907. [23], The Armisteads' daughter, Georgiana Armistead Appleton, inherited the flag upon her mother's death in 1861. Although other East Coast ports were used by privateers, Baltimore was an especially busy haven for these sailors, who were paid generously for their work. Only twice in its history has the Star-Spangled Banner been hidden away to keep it safe from war, though America has fought many more wars than that since 1814. The garrison flag is raised every morning at reveille, but on this daySeptember 14, 1814its presence has special significance. From the early morning hours on September 14, Fort McHenry had withstood a sustained attack by the British fleet, commanded by Admiral Cochrane. The attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore's harbor was a pivotal moment in the War of 1812 as it successfully thwarted the Chesapeake Bay campaign the Royal Navy had been waging against the United States. War & Affiliation War of 1812 / American. Now, here are the most obvious ways this video is filled with fake history: Francis Scott Key was a lawyer in Baltimore. He said 'All of the gun power, all of the armament is being called upon to demolish that fort. The Battle of Fort McHenry was fought September 13/14, 1814, during the War of 1812 (1812-1815). This delay gives the American defenders in Baltimore time to bolster their defenses. Between 12th and 14th Streets The failed bombardment of Fort McHenry forced the British to abandon their land assault on the crucial port city of Baltimore. Most of us have memorized it as a child, but we've never really thought about what it means. The Star-Spangled Banner flag is on display at the National Museum of American History. It was Fort McHenry, a star-shaped fort perfectly situated on the Baltimore Harbor. That changed after architects designed the new National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History, with space to allow the flag to hang. Over the next several years, they clipped 1.7 million stitches from the flag to remove a linen backing that had been added in 1914, lifted debris from the flag using dry cosmetic sponges and brushed it with an acetone-water mixture to remove soils embedded in fibers. Key started composing a verse about his experience while still onboard the Tonnant, and once he was safely rowed ashore, he edited the work into four stanzas. The hissing rockets and the fiery shells glittered in the air, threatening destruction as they fell,later recalled a young British sailor, in a description that sounds straight out of a poem, Whilst to add solemnity to this scene of devastation, the rain fell in torrents the thunder broke inmighty peals after each successive flash of lightening, that for a moment illuminated the surrounding darkness.But with no coordinated infantry assaults, Cochrane began to draw down his thrust. It has fifteen horizontal red and white stripes, as well as fifteen white stars in the blue field. Every purchase supports the mission. Each star was stitched into place on one side of the flag and the cloth on the reverse side was then cut away to reveal it. Directives from London were clear that once troops went ashore, combat decisions belonged with the army rather than the navy, but such guidance had not anticipated that those soldiers might be under the command of a mere colonel. In 1834, Key spoke at a public gathering in Frederick, Maryland where he was born and now rests in peace offering his only personal remarks about those three days in September 1814. [45] An opaque curtain was installed in front of it, allowing visitors to view the flag only for one minute, twice an hour, when the curtain was lowered. Remember, there were no colonies, only states, in 1814. It is likely that they kept the flag hidden in their home in Baltimore for the duration of the war, but Margaret Appleton Baker, Georgiana's daughter, told theNew York Heraldin 1895 that the flag had actually been sent to England. The Star-Spangled Banner, or the Great Garrison Flag, was the garrison flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the naval portion of the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key stood aboard the deck of an American truce ship on September 14, 1814 and watched the raising of Fort McHenry's large garrison flag over the ramparts. The colonies were engaged in vicious conflict with the mother country, Britain. As the sloop tossed in violent waves, Key could only see the red glare of the enemys rockets and the sound of bombs bursting in air. He thought it unlikely that the Americans could hold out against such a volley of gunfire. Verified signatory of the IFCN Code of Principles, Facebook Third-Party Fact-Checking Partner. Send Students on School Field Trips to Battlefields Your Gift Tripled! The flag's design was last approved by Congress in 1794, providing for 15 stripes and 15 stars. The Americans withdraw to Baltimore and Brooke halts for the rest of the day to consolidate his forces. The ship carried Colonel John S. Skinner, U.S. State Department prisoner exchange agent, and 35-year-old Georgetown attorney Francis Scott Key. Francis Scott Key said what held that flag at that unusual angle were patriots' bodies. : Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Published: September 9, 2020. [9][10] Armistead specified "a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance". Click here to see it. Initially the British fleet exchanges fire with the forts cannon, but soon withdraw out of range. Two days later, having reembarked the land forces, the fleet sailed down the Chesapeake, soon to receive new Admiralty orders to attack the port of New Orleans, an engagement that took place before word could arrive that peace had been secured through a conference in Ghent, Belgium. The poem would be put to the music of a common tune, retitled "The Star-Spangled Banner", and a portion of it would later be adopted as the national anthem of the United States. During the night, Cochrane orders a landing party to slip past the fort and attempt to draw troops from the force opposing Brooke, but other than diverting some fire from the fort, this proves unsuccessful. But by 9:30 a.m., Admiral Cochrane knew his fleet would be mired for the foreseeable future those shore batteries, coupled with a chain-mast boom, sunken vessels, U.S. gun boats and the Lazaretto Battery, presented a formidable harbor defensive line and any infantry assault would lack naval support. To preserve this American icon, experts at the National Museum of American History recently completed an eight-year conservation treatment with funds from Polo Ralph Lauren, The Pew Charitable Trusts and the U.S. Congress. Corbis On a rainy September 13, 1814, British warships sent a downpour of shells and rockets onto Fort McHenry in. In February 1815, the storm flag was lost to history after being replaced by a new one from the Schuylkill Arsenal in Philadelphia. Bodies of the dead were not used to hold up the flag pole- a 42 by 30 foot flag has to be on a well-anchored pole, not held up by a few dead bodies stacked around it. The museum removed 1.7 million stitches (a previous preservation attempt) from the Star-Spangled Banner. Lead Stories is a U.S. based fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or It is on exhibit at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. "It's exciting to realize that you're looking at the very same flag that Francis Scott Key saw on that September morning in 1814. The commander in chief had no way of knowing that in response to his latest note, Brooke had, in fact, ordered the infantry retreat from Baltimore to begin by dawn. [25][26] He then put the flag on display at the headquarters of the New England Historic Genealogical Society for several weeks. There were about 28 American casualties. Francis Scott Key went aboard and immediately went into Fort Henry to see what had happened. [2], With fifteen stripes, the Star-Spangled Banner remains the only official American flag to bear more than thirteen stripes.[3]. You can also view this Smithsonian Channel video on YouTube. Lead Stories is a U.S. based fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or Tensions were high in the British command infrastructure. Join us online July 24-26! Join us online July 24-26! These words were written by Key and set to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven" by John Stafford Smith, a popular song at the time. We're launching interpretation of African American history at 7 key battlefields, located in 5 states, spanning 3 wars.
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