The next morning, we met Vicky and company and took one of Kevin Plank's water taxis to a place that he doesn't yet own - Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. I learned that during the1812 war, the English came pretty close to recapturing this country. They had burnt Washington D.C, and were advancing by land and sea to Baltimore. Fort McHenry was the very last line of defense before the English ships could sail into Baltimore harbor. The fort and ships bombed one another for 25 hours through storms and rain - mostly firing wildly due to inaccurate weaponry. The ships ran out of ammo and left. USA remained a viable country.
To make matters historically more exciting, Francis Scott Key, a Maryland lawyer, was on board one of the English ships negotiating the release of an American prisoner during the battle. In the morning, when the rain stopped and the fog cleared, he saw the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry, and that was what informed him that the fort had prevailed and withstood the previous day's attack, and so had his country. Thus inspired, he wrote a poem the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", which was later put to music and became the Star Spangled Banner.
This was all explained by a documentary that played on the screen of an ordinary looking auditorium in the park. Then the film ended, and the screen lifted, and through the enormous glass windows, there was the spot right before our eyes where an older version of the same flag had flown, almost exactly 203 years ago (though it was the War of 1812, it was 1814 by now). The Star Spangled Banner played, we rose and stood with our hands over our hearts, and most of us were moved by the sight.
To make matters historically more exciting, Francis Scott Key, a Maryland lawyer, was on board one of the English ships negotiating the release of an American prisoner during the battle. In the morning, when the rain stopped and the fog cleared, he saw the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry, and that was what informed him that the fort had prevailed and withstood the previous day's attack, and so had his country. Thus inspired, he wrote a poem the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", which was later put to music and became the Star Spangled Banner.
This was all explained by a documentary that played on the screen of an ordinary looking auditorium in the park. Then the film ended, and the screen lifted, and through the enormous glass windows, there was the spot right before our eyes where an older version of the same flag had flown, almost exactly 203 years ago (though it was the War of 1812, it was 1814 by now). The Star Spangled Banner played, we rose and stood with our hands over our hearts, and most of us were moved by the sight.
Vivian, Evan, Lily, Anna, and Caroline played under oak trees. We had a great picnic. And then we walked back, boarded another of Kevin Plank's water taxis, and hopped off for a great dinner of crabs and cold beer at Captain James Landing, the reservation having been secured for us by the concierge at Kevin's hotel.
Today, a couple of months later, those delicious crabs seem like a distant memory. Three record sized hurricanes have ravaged the Gulf of Mexico in a month. Two nuclear armed crackpots are pissing on each other. And one of them is losing his shit over players kneeling during the singing of the same beloved Star Spangled Banner. So I was surprised to learn that history has a couple of interesting twists. The first is that the English strategy during the 1812 War was to try to liberate American slaves and turn them into allies against their white owners. So take a look at these lines in the national anthem:
No refuge could save the hireling and slaveMr. Key was quite literally saying "Now that the the star-spangled banner waves, the slaves are screwed". Which does make one wince. The second twist is that poor Mr. Key's grandson, along with others like the mayor of Baltimore, were arrested and held in Fort McHenry during the American Civil War for being suspected Confederate sympathizers.
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.
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