holiday festivities start at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span with the lighting of the national christmas tree followed by the white house christmas decorations with first lady michelle obama and the lighting of the capital christmas tree. and just after 12:30 p.m., celebrity activists talk about their causes. then at 8:00, supreme court justice samuel alito and jeb bush on the bill of rights and the founding fathers. at 10:00 a.m. eastern, venture into the art of good writing with steve pinker. and see the feminist side of a super hero as searches the secret history of wonder woman. at 7:00 p.m., pamela paul and others talk about their reading habits. and on "american history tv" on c-span 3, the fall of the berlin wall with c-span footage of president george bush and bob dole. with speeches from presidents john kennedy and ronald reagan. at noon, fashion experts on first ladies' fashion choices and how they represented the

styles of the times in which they lived. and then at 10:00, tom brokaw on his more than 50 years of reporting on world events. that's this christmas day on the c-span networks. for a complete schedule, go to c-span.org. >> each week, american artifacts takes viewers around the country. baltimore's ft. mchenry is celebrated as the birthplace of the star-spangled banner. and turned the tide of the war of 1812. but the fort continued to make history for years to come playing an important role in the civil war, world war i and beyond. next, american history tv explores the history of ft. mchenry after the star-spangled banner. >> my name is vince vase, chief of interpretation at ft. mchenry national monument and historic

shrine. one of the most asked questions we get are large cannons like the one i'm standing behind, the ones that are used to fight off the british back during the war of 1812 and, of course, the answer is no. these guns were manufactured during the american civil war. a little bit more than 50 years after the war of 1812. just shows the great layeredness of history that ft. mchenry has. the history actually begins with the words of francis scott key. but the fort has made really direct contributions to practically every american war since the war of 1812 right up until our own present time. and in the very unique way that americans bond with the national anthem, bond with the american flag. so let's explore how ft. mchenry's history has evolved since the war of 1812.

we'll see how different dp garrisons and people at this fort saw the same stars and stripes but derived very different meanings. we're going to go inside the fort. we'll uncover the hidden history of ft. mchenry. ft. mchenry has a layered history, and you can literally see that behind me. for example, during the bombardment in 1814, all of these buildings were single story. the second story and the porches were added in 1829 around 1830. during the american civil war years, ft. mchenry was garrisoned by union forces. however, baltimore had loyalties on both sides. many for the north, but many for the south, the first bloodshed in the american civil war was actually in the streets of baltimore. first as pennsylvania troops were moving through the city on the 18th of april, and then even

worse on the 19th of april as massachusetts troops were marching through the city. a large pro confederate mob descended on them. gun shots fired on both sides. and when the smoke cleared, four soldiers were killed, and approximately nine baltimore civilians killed and many wounded on both sides. and that was the first deaths of the american civil war. the most costly conflict in american history. it was a lot of fear erupted. would baltimore be pro-southern? would it take the entire state of maryland out of the union? not long thereafter, union forces under benjamin butler occupied federal hill, a large hill near the inner harbor of baltimore aimed their cannons at the city. and the big cannons of this fort were swivelled on to the city itself. and if there was another proconfederate riot, ft. mchenry could bombard baltimore back into the union. the second step, though, was

anyone accused of aiding and supporting the southern cause would be arrested. and many of those arrested would be brought to this very room in which i'm now standing. president abraham lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corp corpus. that meant people could be arrested and brought here and detained and held here for no specific crime, and not even given a trial in front of their peers or a judge. many people saw this as an abuse of rights. and some in baltimore said lincoln has set himself as king and ft. mchenry is his baltimore bastile. one man who was actually brought here to ft. mchenry was john merryman. an officer and pro-confederate horse unit called the baltimore county horse guards. and even though the unit had been disbanded, they had a

reputation of being pro-southern. he was arrested under the pretext of training pro confederates on his property. so this cavalry, evidently drilled some on his property. merryman was brought here and held in one of these rooms perhaps for a period of time this very room. word got out, and the chief justice of the supreme court at that time, who happened to be in baltimoredemned the decision. he did it as more of a local judge in chambers. but he actually issued a stern condemnation on president abraham lincoln saying lincoln did not have the power to suspend the writ of habeas corp corpus. and not only he himself had that power, but delegated that power to other union officers in the area. and in clear violation of the constitution of the united

states. not long thereafter, a federal marshal taking his orders came to ft. mchenry to demand the release of this john merryman. and he was turned away at the fort's gates by union soldiers under the orders of the commanding officer of ft. mchenry saying he took his orders from the president and the president ordered that merryman stay detained. so really here at ft. mchenry in those early days of the civil war was a constitutional crisis. a time where at least one representative of the judicial branch and the executive branch came at one another. these were swift, decisive measures that the union, the lincoln administration took to secure baltimore for the union cause. by securing baltimore for the union cause, it helped keep the state of maryland from seceding from the union. and that resulted in maryland staying to the union cause, as well. ft. mchenry was an important

union. very few visitors go where we can also see where lincoln violated the constitution again. and ironically, to help a confederate soldier. the cells we're about to walk past, this was solitary confinement during the american civil war, suspected spies were kept here. in a way, you could almost look at this like the death row area of ft. mchenry. there were three known executions here during the american civil war years. but i want to talk to you about an execution that almost happened and it almost happened to the man who actually stayed in this specific cell. mid way through the american civil war, an officer for the

confederates henry hall bragden was arrested. and he was arrested and put here at ft. mchenry in this very cell and accused of being a confederate spy. of course, that had the death penalty attached to it. and he fully expected it. he would be executed by being hung after a few weeks or perhaps a couple months. so you can imagine the mental anguish he went through in this cell. in addition to the physical anguish, he said he was never given anything to write, his bathroom was a bucket in the corner. the only thing he had to sleep on was a strong straw mattress in the cell. cell was a lot drier than it was. came down these walls. and after a while, his skin turned white. now, this is a story that really shows that lincoln violated the constitution, but i think it also shows the great compassion

that president abraham lincoln had, even for those who did not like him. when the writ of execution went across lincoln's desk, he had the man tried under an ex post facto law. and it's extremely clear in the constitution. actually says it in the constitution, quote, there shall be no ex post facto law. in other words, you can't have arrest a person and then accuse them of a crime that wasn't stated as being a crime or on the books at the time that the man was arrested. well, that is exactly what lincoln had with henry hall. and lincoln did not want this man to hang. he didn't want him to die. so what he did was he created an ex post facto law, and basically he was tried for entering union lines without sufficient permission and without a pass. which carried a substantially less penalty. this man was later transferred up to a union fort outside of

new york city. he stayed there for a few months, and then he was eventually released. so, yes, lincoln violated the constitution, but by the same tone, he did that to save this man's life. ironically, this man here probably didn't know what lincoln did for him. we know he was proconfederate. he was a confederate soldier. it's very unlikely he would've remotely liked or supported president abraham lincoln. and yet, reflecting abraham lincoln's compassion, he pulled the strings unbeknownst to henry hall bragden so later he would not suffer the death penalty. >> i wanted to take you up here, share a couple more civil war stories with ya. and then also, kind of talk

about how different americans saw the stars and stripes here at ft. mchenry, and in baltimore during those critical years. this sign here, really shows an interesting story of the american civil war in the first year. in july 1861, some of the more prominent wealthy ladies from baltimore city were invited by the union commander to come here to ft. mchenry, major general john dicks for an afternoon luncheon, small tea party. well, after that broke up, he led them up to this point where there was a large cannon aimed squarely at the city of baltimore and had them check the sight lines of the gun where the cannon was aimed at the section of the city where he happened to live. where dicks probably told them, if there's another riot in this city, it'll be incited by your husbands. you go home and tell them that the guns are loaded and ready and your houses will be the first to go if this happened.

recognizing the power that i suppose that women had at the time to influence their men folk but also a different way of conveying the message here in no uncertain terms. certainly these baltimore women, many pro baltimore confederate sympathizers, prisoners of war, all who were here at some point during the american civil war years would've seen the american flag waving over the fort. and for them, it would have meant something radically different than it did to francis scott key. . perhaps most costicly expressed by frank key howard. frank key howard was an editor of a newspaper called the exchange. frank key howard said while he thought that the south should not have seceded from the union, he believed that it was totally legal for them to do it. his thoughts were interpreted as being proconfederate and pro

southern. his newspaper was shut down, and he himself was arrested and locked up in here at ft. mchenry. ironically on the very anniversary day that his grandfather would see the star-spangled banner. and he would say words to the effect that whereas my grandfather saw the stars and stripes waving over the ft. as the symbol of freedom from oppression, to me, it stands for yankee tyranny and despotism. such as this world has never seen. and for many baltimoreans who had loved ones arrested here at ft. mchenry. those arrested on political suspicion of many perceive the flag as the stars and stripes as condoning violations of the constitution. and so really for them, they saw the flag as an abuse of presidential power. and assemble of a tyrannical northern government. very different symbol. however, many white union soldiers from ohio,

pennsylvania, and other such states would have seen the stars and stripes as a symbol of unity. that all the stars representing every state in the united states in that blue field, that blue canton symbolizing the hope that the nation would be reunited. for them, the flag over ft. mchenry was a powerful symbol of unity and the cause they were fighting for. in the city of baltimore, were a number of african-american union soldiers. union regiments. they called them the colored troops back then. and they would have seen the stars and stripes over ft. mchenry. after the emancipation proclamation later. later. when maryland was a state outlawed slavery. the stars and stripes stand as a symbol of freedom. a flag of liberation in the south. so i think it's interesting that at one time ft. mchenry in baltimore, you had three groups of americans. one group sees the stars and stripes as a symbol of tyranny

at a federal government, yankee despotism. another sees it as a symbol of hope for unity. and yet another sees it as a symbol of freedom and a swol of freedom and liberation of every american regardless of skin color. three groups of americans, one star spangled banner, three different meanings. and that meaning's going to change yet again a few generations later as thousands of immigrants pour into this city. and for that, let's look over and look at the cranes over here. where those cranes now stand at one time was the locust point immigration terminal. there was a strong relationship between the city of baltimore and germany. north german lloyd steamship company operating out of bremen and problem herhoffen brought thousands of imbrants to this nation, not only from germany but other countries too, like

italy, poland, other places in europe. some of these ethnic communities are still here in baltimore today, like greektown, polishtown here in baltimore. for those immigrants, they never saw the statue of liberty. that's in new york. they never went through ellis island. but their symbol of a new start in a new station was seeing the stars and stripes waving over this fort at that time. 1902, the locust point immigration terminal was second only to ellis island as far as the number of immigrants. standing on the ramparts, one can almost hear a german father telling his daughter, that's the flag of our new country and your descendants will be americans. and we're going to see though that the flood tide of immigrants dwindles to a trickle here at ft. mchenry in 1914 when world war i breaks out in europe. ft. mchenry is being used as a

city park at that time. the last active garrison left in 1912. it was as much famous for its bathing beach as it was as the home of the star spangled banner. but that changes in 1917 when the united states goes to war. and shortly thereafter, a fleet of trucks and a legion of workmen come and they begin building over 100 hospital buildings on the ground. like spokes on a wheel around this fort. and general hospital number two, one of the largest army hospitals in our nation, is built here at the home of the star spangled banner. let's take a look at that hospital in a special exhibit. general hospital number two, one of the largest army hospitals in the united states during world war i. many historians say that the first world war was the true first modern war. poisonous gas, tanks, airplanes, bombings, submarines, machine guns. all perfected. even though the united states

doesn't get involved until 1917, over 100,000 americans are killed during the first world war. and many more wounded. this general hospital number two specialized in two things. one is some of the very early plastic surgery done in the nation was done here, in conjunction with top surgeons from johns hopkins and the university of maryland. if you look at these jawbones here. these are the types of facial reconstructions that were done here. the reconstructive surgery. men who had their jaw bones shattered, destroyed by exploding shells and machine gun bullets had new jaw bones fabricated and carefully implanted into them. again, a lot of early plastic surgery. a great deal of medical history was made here during world war i. addition to that, some of the first programs to train the disabled american veteran were promoted here. we know a lot of this through

the diary of this woman here. emily reine williams, one of the lead nurses stationed at ft. mchenry during the first world war. and that's another important theme here, the role of women at the time. you know a lot of times women are ignored when it comes to military history. in this time where women were seeking to gain the right to vote, women really proved themselves as nurses during the first world war. and over 300 female nurses were stationed here at ft. mchenry. like i said, some of the first programs to help the disabled american veterans were promoted here. one program, for example, they taught chemistry. so a man who was now wheelchair-bound because he lost a leg was taught chemistry or taught telegraphy. one man who could no longer hear was taught to use a lino typesetting machine. a noisy typesetting machine. a lot of men were trained. there were well over 100 different skills you could learn. it was really a cutting-edge hospital for its period.

so over 100 buildings here as part of general hospital number two. you can see how many buildings there were. some of these are hospital wards. there was a train shed where they could bring in visiting families or wounded from other ports by train. a chapel, officers row, other hospital wards. some of these other buildings were also training centers to help those disabled american veterans be reintegrated into society. you can see the red cross headquarters that was here at one time. this was also during the golden age of baseball. the inside of the fort was converted to a baseball diamond. where the one-armed team sometimes had to play against the one-legged team. so you could see that even though their bodies were broken, their spirits were not. you look at those veterans. really, the american flag waving over this fort was a powerful symbol of hope and healing for those folks during the first world war. that hospital was abandoned in

1923. and most of it was all torn down in 1927. the buildings and the grounds were left derelict for a number of years until the national park service acquired it in the 1930s. when that happened, as part of a national parks project, and also part of it, for some of the programs during the great depression to put people back to work, the works projects administration came to ft. mchenry and built sidewalks, repaired brick walls of the fort. and so i don't think there was any coincidence that during a time of stress and hard times during the great depression, 1931, the star-spangled banner becomes the official national anthem for the united states. and ft. mchenry becomes preserved. this becomes a unit of the national parks service. but there's a clause in the deal that says if the military needs to use the grounds, they can always do so. and that's exactly what happened during world war ii when the united states coast guard used

about 13 acres of this land as a coast guard training base. about 28,000 coast guardsmen and women trained here during the second world war. specializing in shipboard security and firefighting. i've had the pleasure of interviewing a lot of these world war ii vets. i would ask them what they remember most about their experiences. almost all of them to a person, they say, i remember seeing the star-spangled banner waving over the fort. and how we had to change into our class-a uniforms every morning for morning forj#vjz when the colors were hoisted and every evening when the colors were taken down. i think that just shows you the impact of the stars and stripes on the world war ii generation. in a way, the stars and stripes in world war ii stood as a symbol of democracy triumphant. you see that here in a way through the image on "life" magazine from world war ii, that imagery of the flag and the events that happened here during the war of 1812 inspired another

generation of americans many, many years later. so in a way, the visitors are still writing the chapters of ft. mchenry's history. visiting ft. mchenry is actually part of the history of the site. how different generations of americans come here to be inspired by the stories of the star-spangled banner, the american flag. if you look down here, you can see in the late 1940s, early 1950s, visitors coming here to the fort to learn about where key saw the flag, was inspired to write the national anthem. here, people coming here right after world war ii, you know, you can see all the cars and everything. and you know, in the 1960s and early '70s during the vietnam era, a lot of military ceremonies were held here. these are called the tattoo ceremonies and they live on to this day where we invite guest units of the modern military, united states marine corps, army and navy to come here and perform on certain evenings in

summer months. we still have change of command ceremonies for the military here. politicians and statesmen come here to walk the grounds for special programs. so really, ft. mchenry continues to inspire. just to wrap up this tour, i will show you a few places i think are kind of neat, some places that visitors don't always get to. so let's take a look at some behind-the-scenes stuff. taking you to places where no one gets to go. this actually speaks to when the fort was built, one of the oldest features of the fort that also plays into the war of 1812. you come down here, this actually goes to an underground passage. not a secret passage because everyone would have known about it at the time. but this actually goes -- descends to a tunnel that goes outside of the fort's walls. and outside of the fort's walls,

there was a ditch, or a dry moat. think of like a castle moat without water in it. well you have your infantry soldiers out there, guys with muskets. what if they're getting overrun? what if the british landed say like a d-day kind of invasion in overwhelming numbers? those americans could retreat to the inner fort. this would be the narrow passageway that they would retreat into. they would come through this passageway and come up here single file really, really quick. it's so narrow that if the british were on their tail, we could bayonet them as they came out this door and then secure it pretty quick. but this was known as the covered way. and it's a passage from inside the fort to the outside. in addition to the sally fort which is that big tunnel-like entranceway, the main entrance to the fort.

we're going to go into one of the underground bomb proofs that date to the era of the war of 1812. and there's a cool story about this underground bunker. so when the bombs were bursting in air, there really was no underground bombproof. every soldier, every defender was totally exposed to the shrapnel of the british bombs. however, when the british sailed away, all the damage of the fort was quickly repaired. that's why you don't see any damage around ft. mchenry today. there was a fear that the british would come back. so the fort was strengthened. one of the big additions to the fort was this very bombproof right here. this was built weeks after the battle. so that if the british did come back with those bomb ships, the defenders could bunker down and go into these underground

bombproofs. ft. mchenry remained an active military post for almost 100 years after the battle of baltimore. so that in the 1930s, when the army decided to improve ft. mchenry, they expanded the bombproof into this chamber back here. this is one of my favorite rooms. even though there was no battle here. because it is original. this room again was built in the 1830s as a large bombproof so that you could put almost the whole garrison into these. you can see it could accommodate more men. they had large air ducts, so the men could breathe down here. or you have numerous air ducts in case there was severe shelling and some of them became occluded or caved in, the men could still survive down here. again, these date to about -- this room dates to the 1830s, and it really just shows how the army saw ft. mchenry as a

viable, active military fort for a generation or more after the star spangled banner had been written. so what you see through some of the underground chambers and through the history of the fort is that ft. mchenry really has layered history. people ask all the time, what's original? and the answer is, it's all original. some of it dates to the bombardment in 1814 or earlier. some of it to the civil war, some of it to a few weeks ago. but the core of the fort is original and it really represents a timeline of american history. a timeline of star spangled banner. the unique places, the architectural features. it all really speaks to the power of place that really makes that history vibrant, relevant, and come alive. a lot of people say, well, in your title it says ft. mchenry national monument and historic shrine. there are a number of national monuments as part of the national park service.

national monuments are designated as monuments based on their historical and cultural merit, among other things. but ft. mchenry is the only place that has the dual distinction of being a national monument and a historic shrine. that historic shrine part was added in the early 1940s, because after all, this is the only birthplace of the national anthem. we only have one national anthem. and this is the birthplace of it. so national monument for its history. historic shrine as the birthplace of the national anthem. makes ft. mchenry very unique. one of the crown jewels of the national park service. and as a danger, it's a special honor to be the caretakers of this treasure of the american people. >> you can watch this or other "american artifacts" programs at any time by visiting our website. cspan.org/history.

>> you've been watching c-span's "american history tv. we want to hear from you. follow us on twitter @cspanhistory. connect with us on facebook at facebook.com/cspanhistory. or you can leave comments, too. or check out our upcoming programs at our website, cspan.org/history. >> and we'd like to tell you about some of our other american history tv programs. join us every sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern for "reel america." featuring archival films by government, industry and educational institutions. join us as these films take you on a journey through the 20th century. again, that's "reel america," every sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern, here on american history tv. on c-span3. here's a look at some of the programs you'll find christmas day on the c-span networks. holiday festivities start at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span

with the lighting of the national christmas tree followed by the white house christmas decorations with first lady michelle obama. and the lighting of the capitol christmas tree. and just after 12:30 p.m., celebrity activists talk about their causes. then at 8:00, supreme court justice samuel alito and former florida governor jeb bush on the bill of rights, and the founding fathers. on c-span2, at 10:00 a.m. eastern, venture into the art of good writing with steve pinker. and at 12:30 see the feminist side of a superhero, as jill lepore searches the secret history of wonder woman. at 7:00 p.m., author pamela paul and others talk about their reading habits. and on american history tv on c-span3 at 8:00 a.m. eastern, the fall of the berlin wall with c-span footage of president george bush and bob dole. with speeches from presidents john kennedy and ronald reagan. at noon, fashion experts on first ladies' fashion choices, and how they represented the styles of the times in which they lived.