>> caller: yes, good morning. regarding the unpopularity of the war, is it true that majority of the new england states did not even furnish troops for the cause? >> that's a half truth. in truth, the new england states bitterly opposed the war. their militia was called out, and their militia did stand, too, but it is also true that that militia did not -- the new england militia, with some exceptions, such as the vermont militia that fought up around there, around lake champlain, but by and large, you're right, a lot of the new england militia did not participate very actively in the war of 1812. there was a convention, the hartford convention in which some of them flirted with the idea of leaving the union. it never really got anywhere, but it was really a manifestation of the discontent of the new england states with the war, and you can't blame them. new england was hit hard economically by the war.

new england had little to gain by the war, and -- and so you can see why they opposed the war of 1812 up there. >> want to remind our viewers we'll open the phone lines again in half an hour at noon eastern for your calls on the war of 1812. we want to thank our guest vince vaise, chief of interpretation at ft. mchenry. thank you for joining us this morning, sir. we're next going to go to boston where the "uss constitution" is docked, a veteran of the war of 1812. we're going to take a tour of the "uss constitution" museum. we're taking a look at the war of 1812 that fastered a new

sense of patriotism and gave us our national anthem. we continue no with american artifacts. >> each week, american artifacts takes viewers into archives, museums and historic sites around the country. "uss constitution" was launched in boston in 1797 and named by president george washington for the constitution of the united states. the ship gained fame during the war of 1812 defeating british warships in three sea battles and earning the nickname "old ironsides." american history tv visited the "uss constitution" museum in boston located at the same pier where the ship is docked today. the museum's president, ann grimes rand, gave us a tour of some of the museum's exhibits and artifacts which trace the history of the ship from its construction to its role in the war of 1812 to the present day.

>> welcome to the "uss constitution" museum. my name is ann grimes rand. i'm the president of the museum, and i'm pleased to be able to share some of the stories of "constitution's" fascinating career with you. we're here on the first floor of the museum, and the exhibit behind me is about "old ironsides" in war & peace. for over 200 years "uss constitution" has been a part of our navy, and if you start here we have a beautiful portrait painted in the 1800s by marshall johnson showing "constitution" with the wind pulling at her sails. she's charging through the water there. a beautiful iconic image of this ship which has become such a wonderful symbol of our country. congress authorized the construction of six ships in 1794 with the naval armament act and "constitution" was one of those first six ships built for our united states navy, and she's still with us today. in this exhibit we actually back up in time to talk about the construction of "constitution" and why did we build the first six ships of our united states navy?

so we have to think about boston in an earlier time, and boston was much smaller buildings. think about people carrying all of their provisions on carts drawn by horses. remember, this is the biggest ship that's ever been built in boston. when the construction is happening in the 1790s. so we can meet a few of the people who provided the supplies for "constitution." we have the skillins brothers who carved the figurehead of "constitution." when she was first launched, you can see in a close-up of a painting from 1803, we have the oldest known image of "constitution" painted in 1803. can you see hercules standing on the firm rock of independence holding the document, the constitution in his hand because the ship is named for the document that governs our country as she defends our country. so the skillins brothers carved the figurehead. this is a wonderful representation of today of what that figurehead probably looked

like. it actually was damaged when "constitution" was sailing in the mediterranean in the early 1800s so we don't have the original figurehead, but this gives you a sense of the prominence and the importance of the document for which the ship is named. we'll take a look at another merchant who is well known. paul revere. most people think of him riding at midnight, a silversmith in boston who is busy during the american revolution warning of the british march, but in this time we're in the 1790s, so he is still here in boston. he's a merchant. he's working with his sons, and they have a bell and cannon foundry, so they are providing things like this brass howitzer. we're not sure if he provided this one, but he provided guns to the specification, and he also provided, if you look at the long piece down here, we have a bolt which is one of the fasteners that would hold the ship together, and when we think of a bolt today, most people think of something only a few

inches long, but you've got big pieces of wood that "constitution" is made, and they all have to be held together by a copper fastener like this. we believe this one was probably provided by paul revere base the on the location and where we found it in constitution, so you have many different merchants across the city helping to provide the supplies that they needed for constitution, and if you weren't working on "constitution," certainly someone you knew in the area would have been working on this project because it's the biggest ship that's been built in boston at the time. just across the dock from where she's sitting now we have the coast guard base which is where "constitution" was being built at the time. you can see over here, we can give you a sense what have she looked like once they launched "constitution," and they have got the ship fully built and outfitted. this is called a rigor's model, and it's named that because it focusing on the rigging.

all the sales. when you see "constitution" tied up at the pier, she doesn't have her sails up. this gives you a sense of how she can carry up to an acre of canvas. you can see that the black is called standard rigging which supports the mast sections, the white is the running rigging, the lines to control the sails. most of us are familiar with the phrase "learnings opens." if you're a sailor that's very important because if you're in the middle of the ocean in the middle of the night and you're going to climb up and step on the foot yard to up if you recall it, you need to know exactly where you're going, and the crew mate will be down on the deck, and they need to release the right line at the right time so that you're working together, so it's really important as a sailor on "constitution" to learn the ropes. now when "constitution" was constructed in the north end of

boston, her hull grew taller and taller, and when it came time to launch the ship in september of 1797, they put out warnings and warned everyone that when the ship came into boston it would be difficult to estimate how big the waves would be so cautioned people to stand back from the shore line. the first time they launched "constitution" the ship started to slide down the waves but didn't make it all the way into the water. she got stuck so in the shipyard they used enormous blocks like the one right up here to try and tug and haul and force "constitution" into the water, but she wasn't ready to go. they had to come back and tried again the next day. that didn't work either. it took another month until they could flatten out the ship ways so that "constitution" could launch into the ocean. in september 1797 she launched into boston harbor. from the beginning people were worried she might be an unlucky ship. here you can see a bit about "constitution's" construction. she's made all of wood, with frames made out of live oak

which is an incredibly dense wood. you can see it grows in the southeastern coastal states, and it has big long branches. you often see spanish moss growing on them, but it's called live oak because it doesn't drop its leaves throughout the year. it's very durable, wonderful wood. they sent new england ship builders down there to cut the timber for the ship, and so many of them died they ended up getting the local slaves on the plantations to help cut the wood that they needed for the ship, so you have frames sort of like the rip cage of a person made of live oak and then planking on either side of white oak which grows in this part of the country, a very strong, durable wood. you end up with about 25 inches thick of wood at the ship's water line so that is the real strength in "constitution." it's the wood. it's the live oak. she is not made of iron. she's made all of wood. "uss constitution" earned her first laurels during the barbary wars. she was patrolling off the mediterranean.

most know this from the theme song "from the halls of montezuma to the shores of tripoli," that's the moment when this was head of the mediterranean squadron and the "uss constitution" is the big flagship and the whole squadron was attacking on tripoli because american merchant ships sailing into the mediterranean were stopped and some of our sailors were in prison on the north african coast. used to be common to pay tribute to the north african leaders. most governments did, that britain and france and we can d did that at first. we spent up to one-sixth of our national budget on tribute to the north african coast. finally we decided we didn't want to do that anymore so in

1803 "constitution" is the there as the flagship of the squadron and we were able to negotiate a peace with tripoli and the release of our sailors who were held captive. "uss constitution" earned her greatest laurels during the war of 1812. now, war was declared june 18th, 1812, and "constitution" was in the chesapeake bay. when word came of war against great britain, she went out to see. and she had the good fortune to be the first american frigate to meet a british warship at sea. "constitution" had an exciting escape from the british july of 1812, and this painting shows that. "constitution" was sailing up to the new york coast, up to new york from chesapeake bay, and she saw five ships on the horizon, and she thought it was the american squadron that she was supposed to meet. it was sunset so she sailed up towards them, and would you have private signals of the day to signal an american ship. at night you would use a series of lights so "constitution" made the light signals but didn't get the proper signals back from the

other ships so instead of sailing directly towards them she sailed off the coast and in the morning it became apparent that it was a british squadron who was sailing to new york to meet the americans instead of the americans "constitution" wanted to meet so now "constitution" was facing five british ships. she tried to outsail them, but it was a very light air day. you can see that in addition to her normal sails in the painting here, off to the side are additional sails called stencils so you can add even extra canvas to try to escape from the british. so the british did the same. they sat on their canvas. they tried to launch the row boats rowing away from "constitution" and in fact they constituted their row boats on the ships closest to "constitution." colonel morris suggested hedging. they were off the coast of new jersey which was a shallow coast. they were able to send a small boat out ahead of "constitution" and drop the anchor and the men at the capstan would haul the

"constitution" up to the anchor while other men rode it forward. so they can move the ship when there was no wind to try and state ahead of the british when there was no wind. a light chase of air and a puff now and then and when the breeze filled it reached "constitution" first. so she scooted away in the storm before she reached the british. so war was declared against great britain on june 18th in 1812. in july of 1812 "constitution" had the great escape from the british so august 1812 she was still afloat, and she was the first to meet one of those five ships pursuing her. "the guerrier" was heading to halifax for repairs. "constitution" met "guerrier" on august 12, 1812 and we've put together a diagram from captain hull to help you understand how the battle went.

"constitution" met "guerrier" at 3:45. "constitution" is here and clearing for action. you can see that they're getting ready for battle. they shorten the sails. the men go to their guns. they get the shot in the powder all ready. they are preparing. at 4:45 "guerrier" is sailing back and forth waiting for constitution to approach and it isn't until the two ships get very close together that captain hull begins to fire. "guerrier" sent shots to test the range, but right here by 6:20 when the two ships came alongside, firing broadside to broadside, all the guns come out the side of the ship and are firing at each other. and hull reports in less than 15 minutes from the time we got alongside, his mast went by the board. that's the last mast of "guerrier."

you can see it falling into water here so "guerrier" has lost one of its three masts and now it's dragging in the water sort of like a sea anchor so we thought captain hull thought he could cross the "t" meaning all of her guns would bear on "guerrier" while none of hers would be pointing at "constitution." at 6:30 they try to cross. as the two ships cross they actually collide and here's a portrait that captain hull commissioned of the bat. -- battle. this is the moment when the two ships are together that the boarders tried to cross. the first lieutenant of the marines, william bushed, claimed on and asked the captain shall i board her, sir. at that moment he actually is shot by a sharpshooter. in the rigging of the british ships, they would have marines firing at the enemy deck, so he fell to the deck. he's the first marine officer to die this combat in the war of 1812. our first lieutenant, charles morris, then goes to lead the boarding party. he's also shot and wounded and finally the two ships pull apart. as the two ships pull apart, the rigging is tangled and "guerrier" loses her last two

masts. so when you look at the final image here, she's left a perfect wreck in the water. she has no more ability to maneuver with no masts and sails. she has to surrender by firing a gun away from "constitution," the signal that the battle is over. so "constitution" has just beaten a british frigate. britain has been queen of the seas for as long as anybody remembers. britain always wins sea battles, but here uss confusion fought the battle and saw cannonballs bounce off of her side and a sailor cried her sides are made of iron, a joke because she's a fully wooden ship but she earned the nickname "old ironsides." when "constitution" returned to boston after the victory over the british in the war of 1812 the city exploded. it was such a surprise that an american frigate beach a british frigate and captain isaac hull who you see in this portrait by gilbert stewart was welcomed as a hero. by the time he set foot on shore, there was a parade ready to lead him up state street and

the crew was greeted with ceremonial dinners, a trip to the theater. it was an explosion in the city. it was such a wonderful surprise. isaac hull came home to the hero's welcome and then he stayed ashore because of a death in the family. he had personal matters to care for so william bainbridge was serving as the commandant here in the charlestown navy yard, so he and hull switched commands. bainbridge took "constitution" in and went back to sea, and then he was the one who was captain when "constitution" earned her next laurels over "hms java." in this area we take a look at the battle against "java" way was much longer, a much more difficult battle than the "guerrier" battle, and as you walk down you can see william bainbridge is in command. we're off the coast of south america now, and during this battle the enemy shot actually hits "constitution's" wheel so you can see the wheel is shattered.

at about the same time captain bainbridge himself is injured, but he stays in command, and to steer "constitution," they formed a human chain to relay the orders from the quarter deck where the captain and the shattered wheel was down below to men pulling on the ropes to adjust the ship's tiller, so it was amazing that they were able to continue to steer constitution that way, but they did. and if you take a close look, we have a wonderful battle diagram here. we keep it behind doors so that the light doesn't fade it because it's 200 years old, but this was from a sailor who served on "constitution," and he was injured in the battle but this wonderful diagram was found in his attic in marblehead. so you can follow "java" is in red and "constitution" is in blue, and it follows the track as the ships are firing broadside to broadside, broadside to broadside, and then in the third position you see "java" there, the red ship crossing "constitution's" stern, when the wheels was firing away.

then the two ships come together again, split apart, and in this meeting "java" loses her foremast, so now she is hampered. they come together again, and in the end of this battle "java," again has lost most of her mast, just a stump remains, so "constitution" becomes the victor and goes off for repairs and then "java" surrenders. "constitution" has gotten two victories during the first six months. -- months of the war of 1812, along with another u.s. frigate. so the queen of the seas, britain, has lost to the americans. it was a real surprise in great britain. remember, they are focused on the napoleonic wars and fighting france. there's a world war that's really the focus of their attention but here on this shore our american navy is now proud. we've stood up for ourselves.

the british focused a little more attention. they say you can't engage one of these american ships. they realize we build bigger, stronger ships than a typical frigate so they said you can't take on an american ship unless you have superior force, two-on-one, and there was a blockade on the atlantic coast. so much of the action of the war of 1812 moves inland to the lakes. that's not "constitution's" she's here on the coast, but eventually towards the end of the war, she does escape the blockade and meets the british one more time. this is a wonderful portrait of william bainbridge actually painted by sarah peele, one of the first female professional artists in our country, the daughter of charles wilson peele and there's a wonderful story with this portrait because it was owned by a family in maryland. they took a floral painting from the wall into the conservator to be cleaned, and the conservator called back and said which painting do you want cleaned? they thought they brought in only one painting, but this portrait was sealed behind another canvas. our best guess might be during the civil war when they weren't sure which way maryland would

go, if a portrait of a northern officer might not be appreciated, so we think it was hidden for over 100 years. no dirt, no -- no trauma, so when they pulled it out, you have a beautiful portrait. you can see the ruddy cheeks of the captain and often in sea portraits you'll notice they have a pale forehead. a very ruddy complexion here but a pale forehead that's been hidden by a hat. "constitution's" final battle in the war of 1812 was against two smaller ships. it was a very light air battle. we have an image here that shows you, this is one of those wonderful artifacts, it was painted on a wooden panel, but it was a light air battle. so little air at times they would stop the fighting to wait for the smoke to clear. in command was captain charles stewart, who you see in an image just above, and we also have

portrait of a coin he received. the captain would receive a gold coin after the victory and there would be silver copies for the officers and bronze for the crew. but the way he got that victory during this battle, one of the smaller british ships thought they could come astern of "constitution" and you can snee this model here, if they could come astern of "constitution" all their guns could fire on "constitution." captain stewart realized with the wind coming across the beam of the ship or the side of the ship, he could actually back down, that's very unusual in sailing, but we let our visitors try that on our model here. if you adjust the yards which hold the sails a little bit to the back, the ship moves backwards. so instead of coming astern the british shape turned right up into "constitution's" broadside here. so through this great feat of maneuvering and throughout the battle "constitution" was able to capture two smaller british ships. two at once. remember the british said you

can't take on an american ship unless you have superior force and while the gun power between the combined british ships was about comparable to "constitution's" she was able to split them and capture both during this final battle in the war of 1812. we also have a wonderful portrait here of the sailing master samuel aames who might be onboard and would advise the captain on the sailing, the maneuvering and the trim of the ship and that's just one of those wonderful portraits from the war of 1812 era where you can see him there dressed as a sea captain, with his telescope under his arm with the stormy sea behind him. "constitution" earned her laurels during the war of 1812 and not only the ship's captains but also the ship herself became a symbol. by the war of 1812 a newspaper said let us keep old ironsides at home. she has become a symbol of our nation and all we stand for.

so already the idea that the ship was more than just a fighting ship but also a national symbol appears in the press. "constitution" herself as well as her captains are represented on things like liverpool pitchers. this style of pitcher was popular at the time and actually made in england. england was willing to capitalize on their own losses if there was a profit to be made by selling images to the american market. you can see isaac hull here was the captain during the first victorious battle. up top is "constitution" fighting the cyan and levant. this beautiful jug features "constitution" herself. "uss constitution" had three victories during the war of 1812. she was undefeated but she was only a single ship among the mighty british navy. the real significance of the victories was the feeling throughout the nation that we could stand up for ourselves. this was an unpopular war when declared.

but when "uss constitution" the ship built here in boston got those victories and emerged undefeated, it really helped to rally the country behind the war effort, and when we survived the war, we were not a part of britain again. people really felt that we had accomplished something, we were more of a nation and "constitution" had defended the document for which she was named. following the war of 1812 the "constitution" had many different assignments. she served in the mediterranean squadron, served as flagship in the 1820s, but in 1930, the ship was under repair and there were fears that "constitution" might not be properly repaired. there was a notice in the newspaper that "constitution" would be scrapped because it would cost too much money to repair her. that wasn't really true. the government had asked how much it would cost to repair "constitution" but when that notice hit the press a student here in boston, oliver wendell holmes wrote a poem about

"constitution." it's called "old ironsides." it starts out i tear her tattered ensign down, long has it waved on high. it goes on to tell the story of "constitution" saying this wonderful ship shouldn't be scrapped. if you're going to get rid of it at least give it a proper burial at sea. that was not to be the story. the poem was reproduced in newspapers up and down the country. so there was a rallying for "constitution." people said she must be saved and the navy, in fact, did allocate the funds to save "constitution." you can see this image of "constitution" as the poem described her that if she were to be scrapped instead of scrapping her, the poem says set every threadbare sail and give her to the god of storms, the lightning and the gale. throughout the 1800s "constitution" continued to serve actively in the united states navy. you would have expected this ship to have lasted 15 to 20 years. so launched in 1797. she had her victories during the

war of 1812, but she continued in service. the oldest known image of her under sail is here in 1881. this is off the capes of virginia and she is serving as a training vessel for new recruits to the navy. they would learn their naval history and heritage while serving on this famous frigate, even though our navy is making the transition to steam, sailors would still learn to climb aloft and set sail. shortly after this photo was taken, the naval board looked and decided that she was really getting too old and too weak, and they shouldn't be sailing her anymore. so they lowered the ship's masts. you can see her with the mast is in sections and they've taken all but the lower sections down there when she is in the new york navy yard. by the time she celebrated her 100th birthday, you can see in this model, she's actually been roofed over. people are shocked when they see this, instead of destroying an old ship i like to think of

it as adaptive reuse. they built a barn roof over the deck, that helps preserve the ship. you can see the paned windows. she was being used as a receiving ship so if you were between assignments you might be stationed on "constitution" for a period but that's not how the nation wanted to see her when it was time to celebrate her 100th birthday. her 100th birthday, they brought her back to boston and the governor had a ball aboard underneath the barn roof there, they had patriotic rallies, they had parades, all to raise attention for the need to repair "constitution." subsequently they were able to do that. you can see here how "constitution" in 1907, the ship's masts, the barn is removed and the masts are raised again. you can see that on this august 1907 issue of the use companion. that was the start of the restoration and then she really needed more work so there was a national fund-raising campaign.

schoolchildren learned about "constitution" in the 1920s and contributed their pennies so this was part of the fund-raising campaign to restore "constitution." and that brought her into the dry dock just in front of the museum. our building which is now the museum building was actually the office for the reconstruction of the u.s. frigate "constitution" and when they removed wood from the ship, they made souvenirs and sold those to help pay for the restoration of "constitution." after this tremendous restoration to say thank you to the american people who had contributed to "constitution's" repairs the ship was towed around the country from 1931 to 1934 in the midst of the great depression, old ironsides, the famed symbol of our nation's strength, was towed from boston up the coast to maine. she was towed all along the east coast, down along the gulf coast and even through the panama