ed you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on c-span 3. to join the conversation -- like c-spanhistory.at >> each week, american artifacts takes viewers into archive, museum, and historic sites around the country. next, we visit ft. mchenry ational monument and historic shrine in baltimore to learn about the berth of the star spangled banner. 2013 marks the bombardment of the fort in the war of 1812, the garrison flag over the fort in the morning barrage inspired

francis scott key to write the words that later became our anthem. >> welcome. of interpretation here at the birthplace of the star spangled banner. nighttime, you fly a small modern flag. star, day, we fly the 13 15-stripe flag, the same style that inspired francis scott key write the national anthem. key saw that flag at a unique american history when american morale was really, really low. turning point in the war of 1812. know of americans don't about the war of 1812. why it was important for francis to see that flag and how it spine inspired him to write those words that became our national anthem. we're now here in what's called gun deck of ft. mchenry, we call it the water battery. t would be the main line of

defense against the british ships. so what was this war of 1812 and why did the british come to baltimore? well, a lot of people find surprising is really the war of america's most unpopular wars. and i think it's because the complex and on one side you can say the united states had a totally good reason to go to war. the british were seizing american ships, dictating who we we could de with, who not trade with, stealing american sailors and forcing them to the british navy. and it was deeper than just making up a manpower shortage in there's a navy, whole question of citizenship that went with that, you know? and the united states, we that you could come from a foreign country, say great britain, and come here, live for year, then you become a naturalized citizen. owever, over in great britain, they believed once a subject, always a subject. so a lot of our statesmen at the time were saying, you know, the british were trying to define citizen is.ican

and if we allowed them do that, when we better than were say a colony. a lot of americans that the time thought they had something to to.k up they saw the previous generation like the revolutionary war generation, the founding fathers generation, the spirit of '76. something to live up to. a lot of americans say this war 1812 is the second war of independence. those that are pro war or the hawks use that language and invoke the spirit of the revolution. hey saw the native american issues on the frontier as a the ful reason saying british are inciting the native to shoot the american settlers. for issues about national honor, for om of trade, rights sailors or free trade and sailors' rights as they said. protection of our own frontier, we have to go to war with great britain. embargoes, like

economic sanctions, it didn't work. signing statesmen turnover negotiate this. that didn't work. to only thing left is declare war against great britain. on june 18, 1812, the united declared war against the british. let me give you the british side really quick. the british were involve in a bigger war against france.ic they were the ones trying to the rule of rom napoleon bone part. every sailor to command that navy. british dominant on sea, the french on land. or them to win the war, they had to maintain the sea lanes. there were thousands of sailors jumping ship and trying to melt the american melting pot. in some case, they were getting their own people back. native ar as the american issues on the frontier, the united states didn't always that p to the agreements

they made with some of the native american nations out there. and so the native americans, a of them are angry at the united states. there were some hot-headed statesmen who wanted an excuse to take over british canada. of the other reasons were just a red herring, ust an excuse to go and try to suck up and invade canada and cquire some land to the north there. even frances scott key himself said i would not harm the poor canadians. and key epitomized many americans. he said, you know what, i don't the british are doing. but invading canada is wrong. the war to this day, of 1812 was the most narrowly declared of any american war in our congress sat to vote to declare that war. so here the united states goes war of 1812. they're divided at the home front. unprepared militarily. lot of our generals were aging holdovers from the revolution. he supplies really weren't

worked out. there was a hope that taking canada would be easy, even the president, thomas jefferson said, a mere matter of marching. and that was totally wrong. didn't work out. first battles in the war of 1812 were american defeats. the year of 112, here were soldiers in canada, they were all prisoners. 1812 ng until the war of moves to 1813. behind me the is the river that flows to the chesapeake bay. british used the navy to blockade a lot of the east coast of the united states, turned the bay into a british lake. the chesapeake bay was important one, lot of reasons, pennsylvania, maryland, delaware, and virginia were the of the united states. you bottle up the chesapeake goods, the oh the ed.at that was export ed

the sea ports and baltimore, nnapolis, the new capital, washington, d.c., alexandria, virginia. up whene become bottled you blockade the chesapeake bay. the british are blockading the our oping they would pull troops out of canada and use them to guard targets closer to home. recognizing the war being unpopular amongst our own people. americans ld get the angry at their own government because the economy isn't doing might help n that end this war of 1812. 1812the british, the war of is a distraction. the big wars in europe, all of this is but a side show. to bring the war of 812 to a conclusion as quickly as they can. he war of 1812 in the chesapeake based the royal navy towns and small

anyone living around the bay. surrendered without a fight, they would be spared. resistance, the town would be burned. o north, harve degrace was burned by the british in 112. the militia set up a resistance, militia ran away. one guy and the british captured him, went into the town and buildings.se on the eastern shore of maryland, two little towns, one called fredericktown, one called georgetown, not the one near washington, d.c. this was another georgetown, the towns were burned by british. also on the eastern shore, the michaels, defended itself pretty well, actually, and drove the british off. british shelled that town, bombarded st. michaels in 1812.r of of battles up and down the chesapeake bay at this time. n addition to the british and

these bombardments and all that, there was a lot of fear. nd the greatest fear was the fear of a slave uprising. only recently our historians impact alking about the of slavery during the war of 1812. here in america, you had a state. support or not support the war. in baltimore city, you had the of free afelitage can americans. and a lot of them are supporting the war effort. in southern maryland and on the eastern shore of maryland, on tobacco and wheat plantations, you had enslaved the an-americans and british were offering freedom to any enslaved african-american who'd come over to their side. a year later in 1814, thousands of african-americans are now over to the british. and the british are giving them their freedom. younger guys re

who could escape and they had what tion of belonging they call the colonial corps. marines, like royal trained as royal marines. 00 of them, 400 of them would be part of the colonial corps. this prompted fears in slave and northernryland virginia that it might prompt a assive slave uprising in this area prompted by the british. it never happened but it was a fear it could happen. a fear there would be an uprising, a fear that the up every day show and bombard your hamlet or small town. this is the context. surprising that someone like frances scott key, who takeslly opposed the war, a more active role in the war. key was a slave holder himself. high-powered lawyer out of georgetown, just outside of columbia.ct of frances scott key had respect or the british, he respected

british law and british culture. at ver, he was also angered the degradations that the in the were doing chesapeake bay region. like any marylander, between 18 he had to s of age, go to the maryland militia and if called up, he had to go. georgetown of a militia. i have cannon here, a field gun. his is the type of field artillery that frances scott key would have been familiar with as part of the georgetown artillery. a field cannon as opposed to some of the red guns ehind us here who are naval guns. a field gun like this is meant mobile.ighly frances scott key would see a little bit of combat in the war of 1812. and to talk about that combat, to going to walk around here the outer side of that.

coming around to the front of coming to theery, shade here, i want to talk a ittle bit about frances scott key's brief military career and the events that led up to the chenry and of ft. m the use of this water battery. frances scott key was part of artillery, wn militia unit, citizen soldiers. he would have had a uniform. summer of 1814, they ould have drove and trained period periodically. is big combat experience comes in august 24 in blade upsburg. miles outside few of washington, d.c. in august of 1814, the british reenforcements against the united states to really turn the heat up a little bit. were t time, they negotiators for both the british and the americans meeting both trying to

find common ground to end the war of 1812. side, we ted states really wanted to get out of the war with our honor intact. but by this time, treasury was unning out of money, the canada.s sent to confiscating ere our merchant ships. we couldn't back off of that one. the british were intimating they wanted us to give up the territories indiana and we weren't going to let that happen. the british in the way of realized the heat that by 1814, napoleon had been defeated in europe, were able to reenforcements from europe to shore up the defenses of canada and also turn up the chesapeake bay. so thousands of british soldiers maryland and hern

late august they march over land to washington, d.c. or city as they called it at the time. figuring if they could capture the capital, that could bolster position. the americans weren't entirely caught offguard. they called up the militia from including ington georgetown. frances scott key was there. a few thousand soldiers from marched south to help defend and hundreds of virginians came up, as well as army, f the regular united states marine corps, united states navy. able to mericans were put around 5,000 men on the field at bladensburg. th of august, though, a confused battle erupts. he british attack with about 2,000 men and the americans are almost instantly thrown into disarray. the president of the united states himself, james madison, gallups away from the battlefield. some of the american positions are quickly overrun. and whole american units break run away.

american militia units receive some training but not as much professional soldiers and certainly not nearly as much training as british regular army soldiers. and so they didn't hold up too well. key, some say that he relaid some misorders to some american high command. others say he packed one the artillery unit and retreat in along with everyone else. who could blame them? so many people were running. and an can-american american sailor named charles all said, quote, the american militia ran like sheep chased by dogs. perhaps one of the most disgraceful battles in american military history. the british won it in a matter of a couple of hours. they did sustain some casualties the close of the day, they of the the possession field. it ends frances scott key's brief military experience. but in a way his journey to ft.

mchenry really begins that the point. british did sustain over 300 men killed and wound in the battle. the british ght, march into washington, d.c. where they take possession of buildings.ent the white house would be burned british. house of representatives, senate, burned by the british. building burned by the british. but interestingly enough, the ndividual homes of the common folk would be spared. the british also spare the atent office since it was dedicated to science. but standing where i am now, if you look over my shoulder, you a tree line in the distance and that direction is south. know the night of the 24th of from baltimorets duty at thediers on fort could see a dim glow in the buildings are

burned. no light at that point. that.an see everybody knew it was the capital taken by the british and only a matter of time that the to baltimore.come the british didn't stay in washington but more than the day. and they soon marched out on the 25th of august to rejoin their fleet. they got what they came for. interestingly enough, documents almost consider sacred to our history, the independence, the constitution, now really saved by some american government outks who got the documents only a day or two before the british took possession of the capitol. declaration may have left urned had it been there. the british marched back to their ships and sailed away. had to leave the wounded behind. this begins a human story. resident, man named dr. william beans. e live in a town called upper

marlboro, which isn't too far away from washington, d.c. british were moving through his town, a few british raid his decided to hen house and create mischief in to , perhaps they wanted dessert from the british or perhaps they were supplementing heir rations with some local poultry. however, dr. william beans, a a few man in his 70s took of them prisoner. but one of them managed to scape and reported this to the british high command. nly days prior as the british add vaned to upper marlboro, dr. illiam beans put on a phenomenal act saying he was educated in great britain, which he may have been. given the illusion that his sentiments tend to lean more with the british and not the americans in spite of where he was living. to ver, this report seemed indicate dr. beans was putting up a front. the british were angry. misrepresenting

himself or perhaps even worse, reaking his word as a gentleman. and the british went and took him risoner and brought down to the fleet. this news spread like wild fire. somes a respected citizen, say the leading citizen of upper marlboro. r. william beans was also a civilian. and while it was considered normal for both sides to sailors and soldiers as prisoners, taking civilians prisoner was seen as not war was rt of what the about. seen as something out of the ordinary. so the federal government sends skinner, the prison of war exchange agent to try to of dr. e the release william beans. friend, beans also had a in the manner of frances scott key. rances scott key received word of dr. beans being apprehended by the british and he volunteers o go help negotiate the

release. i have a lot of respect for key for this. first he volunteered to do it. when he volunteered, who knows how long this negotiation process would take? and if the british took onesie cerulean prisoner, who's to say e might not be the next prisoner. key left behind a wife and six children. law practice d a that was not doing very well. nd in 1814, key was also considering going into the inistry, perhaps being an episcopalian minister. he considered perhaps becoming a newspaper editor. so even key was still deciding what he wanted to do with the life.f his a lot of soul searching for key at that time. of soul searching for the nation at that time. he does one of the greatest things to get dr. beans released. he meets some of the british wounded who were taken at the battle of bladensburg and recovered at bladensburg and by other doctors. american doctors in good

faith, nurse, wounded on both sides. letters, he was able to go back to negotiate with the that, hey, maybe this doctor misrepresented himself, but other american here, s certainly helped guys. in early september, key and skinner sail right. look at the bottle of water behind me, this is the patasco river the of flows into the harbor baltimore city. if you were standing here, you ship, a packetall ship bearing key and skinner going down the river to british.s with the a few years later, they endezvous with a huge british armada with 50 ships coming up he bay under a flag of truce, the british negotiate what the british high command. allowed in ner are the admiral's cabin. there's an negotiation, no over some fine meal and

some port wine for dessert. n the course of negotiation, perhaps the british gave key and skinner a hard time. but they ultimately relented and beans go free. however, on one condition -- hat they had to witness the bombardment of ft. mchenry and the attack on baltimore. because as these negotiations taking place, the british high command figured that key and skinner had seen too much of their preparations to attack baltimore. to make sure they didn't go back and tell all they knew. and so now the stage is set for eyewitness to the bombardment of ft. mchenry and the british attack on baltimore. this is 2 1/2 weeks after the government of the buildings in washington, d.c., a time in our nation when there battlefield defeats in canada. a time when the war had not been was well, the treasury bankrupt. and many people thought that baltimore would be just another defeats. long string of

and who knows? perhaps we would have to concede other concessions to the british get out of the war of 1812. let's go up to the water battery look out over that water battery and i'll show you exactly where the british ships they were spied on september 11, 1814. up on the water battery, the main gun decks of the defense system of 1814. the are the guns that won battle. these are the guns that are going to fend off the british chenry's finest hour. on september 11, if you look looking down ere, the river, the bridge -- the bridge, the frances scott key bridge, about where that bridge is, just beyond it, is an armada.ee like a forest of masts, white

sails, all on the horizon. 50 british ships right here flows into the chesapeake bay. is one smallarmada package ship bearing frances skinner, and dr. william beans. the attack on baltimore is going to begin. river.g down the to the left a small land mass. that's north point. hours on rly morning the 12th of september, 5,000 british soldiers dropped off at north point. is to march overland to take the city by land. so really it starts off like washington, a land assault. they run into an american guard of about 2,600 militiamen, about five miles as flies.w this is called the battle of north point. and it's a pretty good battle. americans fire, fall back, fire. it's about a two-hour-long battle.

about 310 men e killed. the americans lose over 200 and the americans pull back. but the americans give as good as they got. now they killed one of the major general s, robert ross. they withdrew -- the americans closer to defenses the city. ohhen the outskirts of the city of baltimore, americans dug mile worth of entrenchments. you would have seen free some of the cans, richest gentlemen of the city, digging s, entrenchments, women bringing refresh ater down to everybody, some of the enslaved. really a herculean effort to get in time.ses ready militia came in from all over the state, northern virginia and southern pennsylvania. so when the british closed in to of the city, they could see 15,000 american defenders waiting for them. defenders were dug in, backed up by artillery similar next cannon i'm standing

to now. the british realized very quick that taking the city by land may prove suicidal. so they chose to plan b. take the city by sea, then the british close in chenry.ard ft. m you can see the large tanker of cargo ships. where the bombardment squadron is coming up on. like this, a naval gun like you would seton ship at the time. this is the type of cannon ball would shoot. this is an 18-pound solid shot. this cannon would fire this ball weighing about 18 pounds and hurdle it over a mile. travels 1900 mile-per-hours, solid, solid shot.

they called it at the time, shot. slammed into the brick wall of the fort or cut a person in cannon balls can smash into things. brick ovens behind the guns, hot furnaces they could heat the cannon balls up until they ran down a bagt, of gun powder, wet rags, a block mud, flip in the hot cannon ball, pack it down. boom, if you touch the gun off cannon ball or shot can embed itself to the hull of set the ship on fire. early morning hours from 6:00 in the morning to 7:00, 8:00, the british, the guns here in the fort are trading shot for shot. hey had cannons similar to this. if you see just beyond the tug oats where the british bombardment squad would have been. and one man said it sounded like cannons hen the fort's

fired. one militiaman, a private douglas said i could see a of the shots, probably looking at the spy glass, shots friggots in many instances. geisers of water might be ships up around the where there were misses. the british getting the worst of it. defenses here were strong and sent the message that it would be very unlikely that hey could support the land forces. be uh that didn't stop the british from trying. they changed their tactics. backed off beyond the range of the fort's guns. long range bombardment. little story about james armistead, the commander for ft. chenry, his frustration. come back around here to the back of the cannon. i'll show you. come around here, you can see the wedges,unhere, you can see the wedges, they're called coins. his is how you elevate and depress the cannon barrel. as the british ships are pulling way from the fort, armistead,

the commander of this fort, gave the order the wedges were to be gun so the the barrels were hiked up as high as they could go. and for twice the amount of gun into the be rammed barrels to try to eke out some more range of the shot that would fire. after a couple of the guns flip dangerous rds, this practice is done with, basically the british were simply too far away. the guns that didn't flip over they can see the cannon balls harmlessly water.ng down in the so reluctantly, the order is passed down to cease-fire. armistead did something, though, that was also very important to our story today. ordered a year prior a huge american flag. and easuring 30 feet high 42 feet long. big flags were really popular in th century.9 and ft. mchenry is no exception. a smaller flag, 17 by 25 feet. the flags were made in

city of baltimore by mary young pickersville. today, a museum. her 13-year-old daughter african-american endentured servant in the help nieces of caroline's were laboring on the huge flag, stitching it in the hot summer of 1813. those flags were delivered here. of the two larger flags we will call the star spangled banner. began, the big flag was on the pole on the mast of the fort. it was overcast. started to rain. taken out. were they got out of the way. the order was passed to inse-fire, it starts to rain earnest. armistead also orders the flag to be changed. 32-foot flag was taken down and the smaller 17 by in its flag is hoisted place. and even those flags made out of

well, the smaller of the two flags are going to hang hour soaked alf an up with rainwater. and this is where we come to the hype point of the bombardment. there had to be an abject feeling of hellessness amongst defenders because with the special mortars, the british ould throw the 200-pound bombs to the fort and have them explode over the fort whereas the fort's guns could not even them. so by the way, i wanted to show you at the water battery is the main line of defense. this is the largest type and that's here. down by an 18-pounder before. this barrel is original to the war of 1812. the casting date of 1809. liage guns were cast in over in europe. and they were used -- a lot of used in the french navy. and prior to the war of 1812, guns were in the french consulate's warehouse in the city of baltimore.

battle, ong before the they were brought here and installed at ft. mchenry. this massive will fire a 36-pound iron ball. little over a mile. o no wonder the british never wanted to get very close. see ook down here, you can the difference between the 1-pounder shot that the fort ired and false 36 pounder shot they fired as well. again, if i was the royal navy, wouldn't want to get close to that, neither did they. had to he battle, they conduct a long range bombardment. you think the 36-pound shot is i show you the british bombs that burst in air. fort. going to the one more thing about before we strong the fort is how the defenses were and why the british chose a long-range of trying tonstead take the fort straight on. if you look behind me here, you'll see a small lighthouse,

not there at the time. you also see a cement factory. that narrow neck of the channel, the americans strung up a chain link boom. chained elephone poles together, laying long ways. that's blocking the channel. had d that, the americans gun boats, like a big row boat with a cannon in the bow. nd behind that, the americans sunk ships for the british to in the battle, and get their vessels into the port of baltimore to destroy the city, have had to have knocked out the thick iron through it, fight off he gun boats, raise the sunken ships, knock out the cannons of ft. mchenry. downriver.imed it was tough to do. so the british decided on a long bombardment, maybe scare the americans off.

everyone knew the cannons are mile.or one if they anchor halfway to the bridge, they can throw the shells to the fort. along, the it british had one rocket ship. if you watch on the fourth of july people will shoot off the rockets, a british rocket looks like that. but they're as big as we are. it's pretty large. and they look like fiery fingers in the night sky or during the ay, look like a little jet plane going across the sky. and you get that [ whistling ] ba-boom, explode in around the fort. they're not that accurate. but if you've never seen one defender d you're a here, it's your first battle, it's like the shock and awe of 1814. take a look at that shell.

>> a bomb that did not burst in air. this is a shell thrown into the 200 years ago in the night of the british battle, of the bombardment. that's cool. this is a witness. so basically if you look at it, it weighs 200 pounds. heavy, it's so filled with 13 pounds of high explosive black powder. get it in to y like the mortar barrel to shoot. well, there was a crane. come down and they would have hooks and you can see where they were like little rings that you could hook into here. this one is broken off here. and wench it up like a wrecking down into ther it chamber. boom! in the ld shoot it off millisecond as it flew out the barrel. in here.would go flame would lick around and ignite the fuse. so as it's going across the sky, the fuse is burning down, if ing down, burning down,

you time it right, the fuse is inside, it hits the gun powder, boom, the whole thing cracks apart. apart like an ks eggshell, shells, and the fragment rains down, nothing cannons, killing men. that's how it's supposed to work. if the fuse is cut too short, it ill burst in air over the water. nothing really happens. it splashes down. if the fuse pops out, goes out, night of the battle. that could have been what happened to this shell, it all.'t go off at keep in mind, though, even if it's a dud, if it lands on you, bug.ill crush you like a see, it's 200 pounds of something with the reaction. the u hit the side of building, you can take a whole wall down hitting it just right. british bombs. they say you could feel the ground shake when the bomb would fort.de over the and there were some direct hits on this fort. the wall of t hit this building and struck it with

a glancing blow. this is before the ammunition magazine, 300 barrels of gun in er were in this building the battle. the shell crashed and probably hit like on the side of the building. didn't go off. and it probably didn't do much more than knock a few bricks out. panicked everyone. if that went over and went inside and exploded, it would atomic bomb going off in the fort, it could have changed the outcome of the battle in one lucky shot. during the night of the battle, guys were running in to the magazine taking barrels of powder and spreading them out around the wall so one lucky everybody 't take out. so there were some direct hits. and i think these direct hits defenders who of are really here. there's one direct hit that anded on the point or the bastion of the fort. and there was a guy, his name claggett. prominentieutenant, a businessman. and private douglas wrote i saw

the man urst behind next to me sending a piece of iron through his neck, came out stomach and buried itself two feet to the ground. he had a full blown military funeral. special is on a monument in downtown baltimore known as the battle monument. long time, people still remember that guy. away, also further here at ft. mchenry behind the soldiers, infantry the guys are with muskets in case they landed. the soldiers, the born name is frederick hall. he was born enslaved. he escapes off of the plantation. he changes his name, because you want to get caught, right? joins the american army. is set to e regiment ft. mchenry as a reenforcement. a shell like this one explodes him and probably a piece of the shell like tears into his right leg.

he lingers for two weeks and then he dies, loss of blood and that stuff. no one remembers that guy. we found out recently through research. guys in the chest city and another guy who is probably dirt poor, enslaved. the guy by the country isn't even regarded as a for the nd he's dying star spangled banner too. it shows the diversity of the defender. the guy who came together to defend the flag. famous and not so famous. most of the shells are overshooting and undershooting the fort. those choosing to stay away are care if hey, we don't most of the shells don't hit the do.get if a few lucky ones the lucky ones weren't lucky enough. o really hour after hour, they're wasting their ammunition. in the afternoon of the battle, in closerh ships come

and the fort's cannons wait. the american ships come within open up again. one of the ships is hit five times in the bow. ship has to be towed out of range. so there was a time where they had probed in, be uh they some damage and they pulled back. long range tinued a bombardment into the night. british dnight, the tried a sneak attack in the fort, a diversion, so to speak. like football. on thecan't win by going blitz. maybe try an end run, right? especially if the defense has the clock. you -- we're how going to go up on the rampart or the wall. tried to make the end run play. how it was defeated and what scott key saw by dawn's early light. we'll go up to the ramparts, and the ramparts we watch.

ramparts we watched. ramparts is the fancy word for wall. standing on the rampart. let's put ourselves in the mindset of what it's like to be bastion.oint or the diamond-like points are the the last bastions of defense. standing over the rampart. the night of the 13th, early morning hours of the september. these would have been planked. like a death on the back of a house. cannons would have been mounted up here. the defenders here pouring down rain. a diversion.ried and what the diversion is, they're going to send a squadron to get in behind the fort. they're going to try to bring

guys, 000, maybe 1200 maybe land them behind the fort. diversion.rimarily a maybe they get lucky. they can get to the city and create some mayhem or do something. mainly a diversion. idea is to go down the banks of the river. they hug that bank over there. british barges get lost. some go that direction. it and go down the next direction here. if you look at that way, you can 95. interstate that's near a cove where you can see a factory to the left and that's a cove right there. british actually sail those gun boats into that cove. what they did not know is that was guarded by three little forts. there was a battle back

there. the gun boats are sunk. the screams of the oyal marines as the cannon balls go to the barges blowing splinters out the other side. americans are behind a thick earth and embankment. us.a lot of damage done to two americans panic. one goes to baltimore. lost.reams out, all is all of the forts surrendered. cooler heads prevailed. off as the driving forts open up and inflicked more amage and the bombardment is inflicted by early hours. he dawn's early light, the bombard me bombardment tapers off. 6:00, 7:00 in the morning, it's quiet. if you look in that direction you can see the high-rise buildings of the city of baltimore. old baltimore is pretty much that.d all you know? but you would have had the trees. but you could see the fort from

town and some people were on the fort. they can see the british, the fort. whose flag is going to be seen on the pole. you couldn't see the flag by early light. a small flag, raining all night. totally limp ng against that pole. at 9:00 in the morning, armistead, major george the commander of this orders to change the flag. it's hauled down. f you can look at this here, this is the size of the canton of a huge flag. 42 foot flag is

hoisted in its place with the ankee doodle playing like in your face to the british. the british knew they weren't going to win any time soon. failed.ge attack the channel was too well guarded. they didn't want to take on that. they didn't want to waste their in the bombardment. the only thing left to do was go away. and they became a diversion. they scared the baltimoreans. that.id but didn't get what they came for. the huge flag went up when the away.h flag was sailing one british eyewitness, a mid shipmen, name robert barrett tanding on the stern of the british friggot wrote by 9:00, he americans hoisted a most superb and splendid ensign on their battery. he impressed one of the british. more importantly, frances scott key. he's, again, where the bridge is

river you look down the right now, and you can see the bridge, look under the bridge and you'll see like a cargo ship. white on theind of top. that's where the truce ship likely was. the training through bypass. it was a huge flag. but at five miles away, it's pretty small. but the point is, he saw the flag was still there. he realized that an important morale victory had been won. gets that rush of an emotion. a romantic period. eel write a four-verse poem describing his feelings about experienced leading up to this moment. he'll express his anger at the british. withdrawing and saying their foul -- their blood

foul shed out their footsteps, pollution. key will express his anxiety at ot seeing the flag because he'll pose a question, o say can you see? does that star spangled the r flag yet wave oer land of the free and the home of the brave? in l answer that question the second verse where he can dimly the second shore, een through the deep and in full glory it shines on the spangled s the star banner that does yet wave in the land of the free and the home of the brave. puts into words what everyone really felt in their hearts, a private douglas described that september morning about the flag going up. another private, isaac monroe said yankee doodle played as the as the star ipes, spangled banner hoisted over the fort, as the garrison cheered

ramparts. a mutual feeling that an important morale victory had been won. mean?id it all well, when word got out to the against otiators belgium that the americans held here in washington, that really the defeat lled out at having lost our capitol 2 1/2 weeks beforehand. defeat, a errible great victory to balance it out. a few months later, february, 16, 1815, the war of 1812 officially ends. the treaty is signed on the christmas eve in 1814. signed off on the 16th and the war officially ends. the way the war ends is a tie. took over canada. so the canadians and the brits won the war of 1812. but not entirely. because they had hoped they had

illinois and the indiana territories and they have not gained that. they cannot say we held our own. the united states really in a what it hoped to gain, a sense of honor, a sense nations.t from other we didn't win the british hands down. brought them to a tie. it disunited us in a sense but the last few minutes united everyone suddenly in the perception of victory. t's that confidence, the two great symbols that we got, the national anthem, and the american flag, came from the war 1812. it came from the events that happened right here at ft. 1814.ry in the way we see the flag today ramparts in hese september, 1814 through the frances scott key. every american should visit ft. chenry. you'll feel different when you sing "the star spangled banner."

>> watch this and other american programs any time by visiting our website. >> next, a trip to ft. mchenry for a ceremony commemorating the 200th anniversary of the star spangled banner. powell and the flag raising at the same time 200 years ago that francis scott key hoisted a flag above the