the fort. the part that has been restored here is the northwest corn cher is right here. and you'll see that. the rest of the fort is not as distinct when you walk through it. but the northwest section is. this is a model of the fort as it might have looked. notice around it is the outside of the ditch. and then the fort itself and this is the northwest bastian here. and the fort, itself, and this is the northwest bastion here. this is the gate, or sally port, to ft. ward. it was on the rear wall of the fort. it's been redone a number of times. the army down at ft. belvoir, especially when the engineers were there, helped redo this gate a number of times. but this is your entrance to ft. ward. i want to point out, if we look around, there were buildings here. they are based on plans and photographs of buildings that were actually in the defenses of washington. but there were other gates like this at some of the other forts, too. they may not have been as nice, but some of them were, you know, w

the fort. they started building it very early and kept working on it and changing it to the place where it was eventually the fifth largest. you had basically during the war green guns and black guns with bronze and the iron. usually the bronze was smooth ore and the black guns were rifled guns. and the rifled guns, of course, had a better range and actually fired better. but a gun like this was a good anti-personnel weapon. there were various types of ammunition you could use in this, plus even at times you could put chains and everything else in here and fire it at an enemy. and, of course, the chain, or whatever, would -- could mow town a number of men. so this became a very -- this type of gun became a good anti-personnel weapon. with this platforms, you can get up and take a look at the fort without actually walking on the walls. as we get up here, you can see the ditch and the embracers as they come out of the fort which is what the gun would have fired out. on the inside, that's called t

and fort washington. here is fort stanton. some of the earth works. this is the view in p2003 when started getting involved in the park servie i services on some . this is not part of the fort circle parts or civil war defenses of washington but nobody can go up to fort stanton and not drop by and see the douglas national park. fort ricketts. behind in the trees are defenses there. here is fort davis. this is the only part of the fort drive that was ever constructed. it was done during the ccc area in 1935. here is a picture of it being built. you can still go there and see what the defenses like like. here is fort dupont which is the second largest park in d.c. it has problems with exotic vegetation so our hope is -- i'm not the kind of person what can tell you what to do about exotic vegetation so something should be done. here in the hills all over in the area east, these beautiful plants, native plants, endangered species that are up there. the ranger told me people drive all the way up there to see the mountain loral in the spring and you can wal

the fort. the part that has been restored here is the northwest corn cher is right here. and you'll see that. the rest of the fort is not as distinct when you walk through it. but the northwest section is. this is a model of the fort as it might have looked. notice around it is the outside of the ditch. and then the fort itself and this is the northwest bastian here. and the fort, itself, and this is the northwest bastion here. this is the gate, or sally port, to ft. ward. it was on the rear wall of the fort. it's been redone a number of times. the army down at ft. belvoir, especially when the engineers were there, helped redo this gate a number of times. but this is your entrance to ft. ward. i want to point out, if we look around, there were buildings here. they are based on plans and photographs of buildings that were actually in the defenses of washington. but there were other gates like this at some of the other forts, too. they may not have been as nice, but some of them were, you know, w

of the forts. you also had trenches that connected the forts all the way around the city. you can see up here where in between you had the covered ways going all the way from one fort to the next to the next battery and on. so troops could move back and forth without being seen. besides the forts, they also built other types of defenses such as block houses and certain places along railroads, channel attacks. and they had other things that they actually built for protection within the whole system of the defenses of washington. so it was actually a system of fortifications and if you attacked one, like if you attacked here, you would catch fire from the forts on both sides of that fort. so they were mutually supported. and it was -- it would have been very hard to actually take one fort because of all the fire that you would receive coming from the various forts. so it's not important necessarily about how many forts there were, it's the system and the mutual defense that was there that would reall

the fort. the part that has been restored here is the northwest corn cher is right here. and you'll see that. the rest of the fort is not as distinct when you walk through it. but the northwest section is. this is a model of the fort as it might have looked. notice around it is the outside of the ditch. and then the fort itself and this is the northwest bastian here. and the fort, itself, and this is the northwest bastion here. this is the gate, or sally port, to ft. ward. it was on the rear wall of the fort. it's been redone a number of times. the army down at ft. belvoir, especially when the engineers were there, helped redo this gate a number of times. but this is your entrance to ft. ward. i want to point out, if we look around, there were buildings here. they are based on plans and photographs of buildings that were actually in the defenses of washington. but there were other gates like this at some of the other forts, too. they may not have been as nice, but some of them were, you know, w

and fort washington. here is fort stanton. some of the earth works. this is the view in p2003 when started getting involved in the park servie i services on some . this is not part of the fort circle parts or civil war defenses of washington but nobody can go up to fort stanton and not drop by and see the douglas national park. fort ricketts. behind in the trees are defenses there. here is fort davis. this is the only part of the fort drive that was ever constructed. it was done during the ccc area in 1935. here is a picture of it being built. you can still go there and see what the defenses like like. here is fort dupont which is the second largest park in d.c. it has problems with exotic vegetation so our hope is -- i'm not the kind of person what can tell you what to do about exotic vegetation so something should be done. here in the hills all over in the area east, these beautiful plants, native plants, endangered species that are up there. the ranger told me people drive all the way up there to see the mountain loral in the spring and you can wal

those forts, only one of those forts exists today and that's fort ward in alexandria, virginia.were designed to be manned by about 35,000 troops, but now we're in the summer of 1864, just about every able-bodied union troop is down outside richmond in petersburg in the eastern theater. we don't know the exact number, but we think only about 10,000 troops were on the barricades at washington, d.c. who were these 10,000 troops? well, they were members of what was called the veteran reserve corps. the veteran reserve corps had just changed its name before that. before that it was known as the invalid corps. they changed the name for obvious reasons. who wants to be named the invalid? most people, i think, know there were so many causalities that washington, d.c. was basically one giant hospital during the last years of the war. as troops got better but couldn't go back to the field, they were given these pale blue uniforms and did rear echelon duty. so that's who was defending washington, d.c. when jubal early came here to monacacy on july 9th and the battle started. this was not a

now those forts, only one of those forts exists today and that's fort ward in virginia. fort stevens where we're going later has been built. but these forts were very well built. connected by berms. they were designed to be manned by about 30,000 troops. but now we're in the summer of 864. just about every able bodied troop is down there. we tonight know the exact number but we think about 10,000 troops were on the barricades at waurk washington, d.c. they were members of what was called the veteran reserve corps. the veteran reserve corps had just changed their name. before that it was known as the invalid corps. they changed the name for obvious reasons. most people i think know there were so many casualties that washington, d.c. was one giant hospital during the last years of the war. as troops got better but couldn't go back to the field, they were given these pale blue yawn forms and became members of the veteran's affair corps. that's who was defending washington, d.c. when jubal early came here on july 9th and the battle started. this was not a good example of uni

or more like fort mchenry or like fort washington. fort stevens was an expanded earthen fort with a stockaded back side to it called a stockaded gorge. that saved labor and all of that stuff. had 19 guns. was manned by this time not by a veteran ar till ler lists but 150 day men out of ohio who had come to enable the ar till ler lists to be shipped to grant as cannon fire for the battles in virginia. now interestingly enough, these 150 day men that manned fort stevens were the equal to those heavy ar till lerists because the remaining garrisons had trained these 150 day people. let me just tell you one moment in time before i kind of wrap this thing up and let loretta and kim have at it here. it's early afternoon july 11th, monday afternoon. the moment when the two forces will meet at fort steechs. there's early's men coming in from frederick and there's reinforcement coming up by the petersburg line by boat that are down at the docks at 6th street at this very moment. at this very moment jubel early rides down what we know as georgia

you can imagine him on that day as the president goes out and visits fort stevens and other forts. line, moving into occupying ground now embraced by walter reid. and the president is going to be shot at, but this isn't the important one. the important one he gets shot at is going to be on the next day, as he circulates. he makes a stop down at -- there is no haines point at that time. where haines point is now, he watches the boats and ships arrive with the members of the 6th corps, two divisions of them under wright and detachments of the 19th corps that have come all the way from louisiana to hampton road and have joined the troops up. and some of the troops could remember this tall man, seven foot tall when he has his top hat on, now if we knew we were going to have two 6'4" presidents, we would have had a better measurement of them. we have two 6'4" presidents, one is abraham lincoln, the other is lyndon baines johnson. you do not know which is the taller, because they don't go to have any such things as that. and they see the president nibbling on a piece of hard taft. they t

fort stevens. we live here, fort stevens. fort derussy was in play, very much so. fort reno. fort reno was huge. you'll see a picture of that in a moment. i also have down here fort bared and battery kimball. you'll see pictures of others. fort bunker hill quickly it's a square block and high. the park service is now repairing the trails that lead up there. it should be a great recreation spot that doesn't have any defenses left. leaving from there coming into where fort totten is is this stretch of land. it's along gallatin street. that's part of the land bought for fort circle drive. there is a drive along it here, but i spoke of it. they didn't. this is leading into it. this is part of the fort circle drive land. here is fort totten, some historical photographs. you'll notice that i have every one of these i've tried to get the real person's name. the more i study this and the more i get to learn, i love the land, love the parks, love all that. these are real people. i'm trying to bring the human element into the story as well. here are the real people who manned them. for

at forts franklin, alexander and riply, at fort gaines and pennsylvania, massachusetts and slocum, 30ts and securing the gair sons that helped to fortify the city. in fact, this very same request would ultimately not go filled because the other authorities were reluctant to give up their contrabands to work on forts north of the potomac. there was much. greater use of contraband later made on the outside of the potomac. these men, these self-emancipated black folk who would decide they wouldn't necessarily wait for a federal executive decree and proclamation, but they took it upon themselves to risk life and limb in order to answer the clarion call that beats in the hearts of all of us. the desire to be free. to be self-determining, to be independent. and in fact, when these laborers came to many of the forts surround i surrounding the district, many of the soldiers were happy to see them. a member of the 50th regimen reported that a detail was sent in every morning to work on the forti fortificatio fortifications, but from north carolina was sent to take our places in the ditches and

the fort. the part that has been restored here is the northwest corner right here. and you'll see that. the rest of the fort is not as distinct when you walk through it. but the northwest section is. this is a model of the fort as it might have looked. notice around it is the outside of the ditch. and then the fort itself and this is the northwest bastian here. and the fort, itself, and this is the northwest bastion here. this is the gate, or sally port, to ft. ward. it was on the rear wall of the fort. it's been redone a number of times. the army down at ft. belvoir, especially when the engineers were there, helped redo this gate a number of times. but this is your entrance to ft. ward. i want to point out, if we look around, there were buildings here. they are based on plans and photographs of buildings that were actually in the defenses of washington. but there were other gates like this at some of the other forts, too. they may not have been as nice, but some of them were, you know, with th

c-span visited fort mims to hear from an author about the 1813 fort mims massacre. went on tocks massacre settlers in the area. park.are at fort mims it is a little park in alabama and this is the location of a major battle between americans and indians in 1813. the fort was full of all kinds of folks taking shelter from an impending attack here at including indians that were allied with the americans, local from the militias mississippi territory and a lot of slaves. about 500 people inside of this fort. and on august 30, a faction of was upset and attacked the -- ford there was a long battle in the end almost 300 people inside the fort were killed. i first learned about it when i read about the massacre but there is more to the story. like most american indians had to find the way to deal with the expanding american in settlements. in this area, the creeks were successful as the cherokee to assimilate to american life style. quite a few wealthy indians owned slaves with a big plantation and raise domestic livestock and largely gave their way of life to the america

this fort becomes as large as fort laramie. what happens is in 1867, the army determined they built it in the wrong place. so in the fall of 1867 they issue orders that they take all salvageable materials and they haul it 45 miles east of here and use that to put up fort fetterman. >> fort caspar when they closed it there was nothing left here. even the early pioneers knew there used to be a fort here, which is how we end up with the town of casper named after fort caspar. >> find out where the local content vehicles are going next. you are watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend.

fort slocum is in manor park. it's a neighbor of ours. here's ft. stevens. fort derussi is in here. you'll see more of that in a moment. i also have down here ft.bayard. ft bunker hill was quickly a square block and is high. and the park is now repairing the trails that lead up there. it should be a great recreation spot, even though it doesn't have any of the defenses that are left. this is part of the land that was bought for the ft. circle drive. there is a drive along it here. but i suppose they would have put it in the middle. i'm glad they didn't. this was leading in to ft. todd. the high hills of the actual fort are up here. i tried to get the real person's name ffr it. the more i studied, this i loved the land, i love the parks and i love all of that. when i first started taking pictures about 15 years ago, this gate was open when they've had some trouble. there's erosion from dirt biker who is love to come. this is a real defense. it needs programs and what the park service does besz. run parks. ft.slocum, it's in manor park. you can see around it, this is all farmland. at

fort caspar. it lasted only two more years. they added a lot of buildings. there is a massive construction program in 1866 and agencies to seven. -- and 18 six to seven. this becomes as large as fort laramie and there are almost 500 soldiers stationed here by 1867. in 1857, the army really determined they built in the wrong place. in the fall of 1867, they issued orders that they are to take all salvageable materials and hall at 45 miles east of here and use that to pull up -- to put up fort federman. >> when they closed in 18 six to 7, 4 caspar had nothing left. the community started in 1888 and incorporated in 1889. it was near the location of the old historic fort. even those early pioneers that formed the community, they knew there used to be a fourth-year which is how we end up -- a fort we end up withow the town of casper named after fort caspar. >> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring casper, wyoming. our local content vehicle team traveled there to learn about its rich

those forts, only one of those forts exists today and that's fort ward in alexandria, virginia. fort stevens, where we're going to go later, has been partially rebuilt and that's where the end of my story happens, outside of fort stevens. but these forts were very well built. they were all connected by fortifications and berms, and they were designed to be manned by about 35,000 troops, but now we're in the summer of 1864, just about every able-bodied union troop is down outside richmond in petersburg in the eastern theater. we don't know the exact number, but we think only about 10,000 troops were on the barricades at washington, d.c. who were these 10,000 troops? well, they were members of what was called the veteran reserve corps. the veteran reserve corps had just changed its name before that. before that it was known as the invalid corps. they changed the name for obvious reasons. who wants to be named the invalid? most people, i think, know there were so many causalities that washington, d.c. was basically one giant hospital during the last years of the war. as troops got

in 1865, they change the name of the fort to fort caspar. this is in the fall of 1865 and it lasted only two more years. they added a lot of buildings. there is a massive construction program in 1866 and 1867. and they add a lot of buildings, a massive construction program 1867.66 and so this fort becomes as large as ft. laramie. are 500 soldiers here stationed by 1867. 1867, the ned is, in army really determined they built it in the wrong place. 1867, they all of issued orders that they are oing to take all salvageable materials and they haul it 45 basically of here and use that to put up ft. fedderman. >> ft. casper when they closed 1867 was basically nothing left here. the

the fort. there's an account by a soldier at the fort who says they were like pigeons tied at the ankles just waiting to be shot, there was nothing they could do. the british ships were outside the range of their guns. they just had to wait until the shelling was other. >> we have a piece of shrapnel that we're allowing our visitors to touch so you can see the thickness of the metal that would have exploded when that piece would have hit into the fortification itself. >> francis scott key was actually being held by the british. he had gone to negotiate the release of a dr. beans who was mayor of the local town. and the british troops had come into the town when they were passing up towards baltimore from washington. as usually happens there was a few stragglers that stayed behind after the main troop left. and they were a little rowdy and they got arrested and because beans had promised neutrality to the british, they were offended that these soldiers were arrested. and they seized beans for vi

he saw this fort and it was connected to several other forts around here. it looks impregnable and he saw troops here. early did not know these were 100 days men and the call went out for civilians to come out and help man the barricades, so you had clerks from the state department, men from the quarter master corps, people who have never fired a weapon in their life. the word motley comes up more than once, but early did not know this. his men were strung out way along back on the georgetown pike. sorry, not the georgetown pike, the 7th street pike, they cut off the georgetown pike in what is now wheaton, maryland, and cut out to the 7th street pike, georgia avenue, so early, uncharacteristically for him decided not to invade, but there was fighting that went on with artillery and skirmishing that day, july 11th, and that night. this is all, we are now in the city of washington, d.c. it's not urban washington, d.c., but it's definitely city, and -- but back then, this was all farms out here. this is hardly considered part of washington, d.c., because washi

the fort was very badly built. the gun loopholes which should have been five or six feet above the ground so the defenders could fire down on attackers were at three-foot level so they were on level with the attacking force, who ran up and took possession of the loopholes and began to fire into the fort. the battle went on for quite a long time. there were maybe 750 or so redsticks in the attacking force, and about several hundred actively fighting inside, amongst the many civilians and other people inside the fort. and by sometime around the afternoon, 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon, the battle kind of stalemated. so the redsticks withdrew, decided whether to renew the attack and they did. at that point they set fire to a good portion of the southern part of the fort. that fire spread throughout the entire fort, and at that point defense was impossible so the few remaining defenders tried to escape and quite a few were killed or captured but 25 made it out of the fort. the battle immediately made all the papers in

or 500 so people within about an acre sized fort.so very cramped conditions and had to go out and forage every day for food. so people dispersed and went intended to cattle, a kandahar for scraps from nearby fields. so that went on throughout the morning. the various sightings of red state warriors in the area. molted by african slaves and they reported this to the owners but were not only for some reason the one of the slaves was whipped at the time of the attack for having spread false rumors. the attack was quite a surprise, probably should have been at the garrison was not a formal military unit. they were all militia, and local ones and territorial militia units. and so very badly led to the fort itself was very badly built. begun loopholes, which had been about five or six feet above the ground so that defenders could stare down on attackers to read three-foot level say they were century on the level of the attacking force event and took possession and began firing in the fort. about what on for quite a long time. there may be

only one of those forts exist today, that's fort ward in virginia.mond troop is down in petersburg. we don't know the exact number, but we think only 10,000 troops were on the barricades. who were they? well, they were members of what was called the veteran reserve corps. now, the veteran reserve corps had just changed its name before that. before that it was known as the invalid corps. they changed the name for obvious reasons. who made up the corps? most people know there were so many casualties, washington, d.c., was one giant hospital. as troops got better but couldn't go back to the field, they were given these pale blue uniforms and did rear echelon duty. that's who was defending washington, d.c., when early came here to monocacy on july 9th and the battle started. this was not a good example of union high leadership. first of all, union intelligence was abysmal throughout the war, it was not good here, the union did not know that robert e. lee had taken an entire corps of troops outside richmond. they didn't know until july 5th when they cross

here's fort stanton. to enter it you have to come through this -- our lady of perpetual health catholic chu h church's driveway. some of the earth works did get destroyed to build that. this is the view i took in 2003 when i started getting involved in the park service on these things, and last fall here is the same view and it was all covered and i complained to kim elder, the program manager you'll meet in a moment about it, and she fought and fought and fought, and she said she wanted it by the 4th of july to have it cut and sure enough i went and took this picture. it's even better than it was before so thank you, kim. this is not part of the forts there but nobody can go up to fort stanton and not drop by and see the frederick douglas national historic site. he was to important, former slave, abolitionists, speaker, statesman. the house is fabulous.

ut it was near the location of the old historic fort. and even those early pioneers who formed the community, they used to be a fort here which is how we ended up in the town of casper named after ft. casper. >> find out where c-span's local next t vehicles are going on-line at c-span.o are, g/localcontent. watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >> 200 years ago on august we fourth, 1814, british forces entered washington dc, and burned the capitol building, the presidents house, and most of the federal buildings. next, steve vogel, author of "through the perilous fight -- six weeks that saved the nation," texas on a river truer of washington. this program is about 90 minutes. >> i had a boat on the potomac for about 30 years. it is a great way to see the city. it is a different city. i think of the potomac is an obstacle on the way you have to cross on your way to d.c. is the reason the city is where it is. it's one of the most remarkable urban rivers in the country. we are in the middle of the potomac riv

he has decided to abandon the fort without a shot being fired. he would be court-martialed for that decision. with the destruction of fort washington, the british now have an open path to alexandria, as well as to washington. right off of alexandria, virginia, about where captain gordon positioned his royal navy squadron on august 29, 1814. fort washington is destroyed. everyone in alexandria knew there was no way to defend the city. they had been left completely defenseless by the federal government. alexandria's militia has been taken and pretty much squandered. they were up near fort washington for a while and now that washington had and burned, they had been marched away. the city fathers essentially had no defenses. all the weapons in town, most of the canon save for a couple had been taken away as well. the mayor and others had gone to madison the previous year and said, we do not have any defenses. if the british make it past the kettle bottoms, we are pretty much defenseless. madison said they could not defend every turn up at. they quick

he loved palm trees. .e have 100 variety of palms he brought the royal palm to fort myers.he reason why this land was so important was that it cost the u.s. government to come forward with what was called the patent law. if you invented something with plants and it was a process that was worthy of patenting, it was issued. until that time, the process in this country had been for mechanical devices, machinery , and it was not until the that the whole new emerged.ant scientists the process was very critical in america. was veryindustry interesting because it was the beginning of the machine age. henry ford worked for thomas edison. he worked for the edison company in detroit. he was younger than edison, 15 years younger than edison. their friendship was based on a love of invention, interested in how to take things from the process of creating it through .ommercialization i-19 no four, henry ford had 1904, henry ford created the ford motor company. henry ford visited many times and by 1915, he bought the and the ideaoor would be that the two men with vacation together, work,

c-span visited fort mims to hear from an author about the 1813 fort mims massacre.ent on tocks massacre settlers in the area. park.are at fort mims it is a little park in alabama and this is the location of a major battle between americans and indians in 1813. the fort was full of all kinds of folks taking shelter from an impending attack here at including indians that were allied with the americans, local settlers,

it is in 1865 that they change the name of the fort to fort casper. becomes fort casper in the fall of 1865 really only two more years. they add a lot of buildings. is a massive construction 1867.m in 1866 and this fort becomes as large as lairmy. what happens is in 1867, the army determined they built it in the wrong place. of 1867 theyl issue orders that they take all salvageable materials and they haul it 45 miles east of here use that to put up fort fetterman. casper when they closed here.re was nothing left even the early pioneers knew there used to be a fort here, is how we end up with the named after fort casper. >> all weekend long, we're wyoming. casper, it is named after fort casper, a military post built on the river. together with our charter cable c-span cities tour staff visited to explore the history. learn about casper all weekend tv. on american history wyoming producer jeffrey is documentary about the life and career of former vice dick cheney who grew up in casper, wyoming. formerdown with colleagues and journalists who covered his

they were about three miles from the sport. -- this fort. fort washington. it was commanded by a young man. he held a conference with some of his people. they said, i think we had better surrender. leave the fort. shotthe other -- without a team fired, they retreated from the fort. they left it to the british. the british could not believe their good luck. they could not understand this. they thought it was a trick. they destroy the fort. when the flag should have been -- he was convicted and kicked out of the military. they didn't want anybody of that caliber. he said, what's the point of flying the flag if we are going to be overtaken anyway? the british took the fort. there was nothing between them and alexandria. they sailed upstream. they laid siege to alexandria. just about everybody from alexandria had been called up and onto britain's berg -- bradensburg. they were old and infirm. they were in no position to defend the city. a delegation from owns andrea -- out andrea went to see the british. ndriadelegation from alexa went to see the british. he spo

the idea of individual forts mutually supporting forts was something that had been around since the days of the french military theoretician. going to use this in a different way. regards is in the weeks leading up to this battle, hood had his of five smallain forts called readouts, five of them. they were numbered readout one -readout five. that was not very creative, it was pretty straightforward. five wasne -- redoubt a very end. the flank of the flank, way out there with the confederate line -- where the confederate line did and about a mile south of the mainline of woods army. ts were to beredoub small and build to the could be defended by a small force. and use the maximum advantage out of earthworks, the maximum advantage out of the entrenchments that you built so you don't have to depend on manpower. was one of these redoubts equipped with anything from 2-4 pieces of artillery, then in addition to that, it would be supported by maybe 100 or 200 infantry. that was how that flank was going to be held. in theory, or it could bring up maybe a division of infantry and back them up, pr

fort. never before had he looked with such reverence upon the symbol of his country. never before had the flag had such a sheen to its glory. in his ecstasy, there's no other word, in his ecstasy, he took a letter out of his pocket. on the back of it, jotted down words, phrases, anything that tumbled through his mind while the intensity of the moment lasted. three days later, the british withdrew. they could not take it. the americans fired a parting shot as a cheeky rebuke from the improbable survivors. key was allowed to land. with minor revisions, his poem was published and set to the tune of a popular song in those days. five days later, congress met in the undamaged patent office in washington. they put the congressmen's chairs and desks up to the window sills but could not accommodate everybody. but there was one advantage. they did not have to shout like they had to do in the previous assembly where the acoustics were so bad. they debated the motion that would move the capital to phi

at the fort. dr. emerson purchased her and allowed the scotts to marry, legally, which is unusual at the time. dred and harriet scott return to st. louis, they had two children, both daughters. after a time, dr. emerson passed away. mrs. emerson was asked by the scotts whether they might be able to purchase their freedom from her. it was something, especially in urban slavery that wasn't that unusual. she refused. she was not interested in selling the scott family. so they decided based on the fact that they were still being held as slaves and held in bondage to sue for their freedom. they entered this courthouse in 1846. each one had their own petition. it wasn't just dred, it was dred and harriet. the case came to trial here in this building in 1847. there was hearsay evidence introduced. it was a mistrial. they lost the first trial and they asked for another trial, which the judge granted. they were able to present the evidence successfully and the jury of all white male, 12 white males, probab

he sends hall a letter before attacking the fort. he warns william hall that [indiscernible] him, andraves are with he says, quite cleverly, i am not sure i can control them. william hall reads this letter, and we have testimony by officers who were there -- hall begin sweating, he begins drooling, he begins sobbing. he's not able to deal with the situation at all, and he will surrender the fort without a shot. this will hit americans like a lightning bolt. they did not expect anything like this. them of anybuse false notions about how this war will proceed, and what will be the resistance in canada. moment, it will change all of this or it will erase all of this optimism, this kind of war fever that occurs in america in june and july of 1812. >> one of our goals in choosing portraits for this show was to get pieces that were done from .ife that isn't always possible. a great example of that is tecumseh. this piece is a great example of how tecumseh came to be seen by the american public. .ecumseh was not on our side he did not fight

the other thing is "the defense of fort mchenry" only has sales within sight of fort mchenry. [laughter] it is a local, regional thing. if you want to sell a lot of copies, you wanted to go to the nation. he takes away the local flavor and gives it a universal character. this is an important move. marrying the flag and song is one of the reasons why this ballad survives and thrives today. what you will be hearing today is probably for the first time. we were making these recordings because no one had ever heard them because they had forgotten about them. >> the handwritten peace we often see with the handwritten title crossing out words? >> there is no title. >> that was done at some later time? rewrote thee key lyrics as presentation copies later in his life. he died in 1843. we had one earlier from 1840. copies they handwritten -- they handwritten copies do not have titles. mchenry"efense of fort disappears on the first sheet music publication. anacreon inhere, heaven remained. the new title is there. we talked about it being done in a hurry which is obvious from the first t

situation at fort lee, virginia, appears to be over. there had been reports we were telling you about an active shooter at military base. it is the home of 34,000 servicemen and women and as protocol the base was put on immediate lockdown. it is supplier for the u.s. army. the combined support command located located in central virginia. authorities saying the situation is resolved. we do not have any word on any potential suspect, motive or any injuries. we'll bring you the very latest developments what potentially transpired there this morning as we get them. martha: new developments in the ongoing discussions over whether the isis militants actually pose a direct threat to us here at home. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey saying that he does not recommend airstrikes on isis in syria at this time because there is no sign that the islamic state is engaged in, quote, active plotting against the homeland. so it is different he says than that which we see in yemen from acap. he refers to there. i'm joined

fort lee fell to a british force. these were some of the worst disasters of the war suffered by americans. at this point, lee confidence in washington as commander-in-chief. he recommended no reinforcements be sent to fort washington. washington was not yet the mythical figure he is today. lee appears to have made the decision he deserved to replace washington as commander-in-chief of the british army. after the fall of fort lee, general cornwallis began to chase the remnants of washington's army out of new jersey. outnumbered, washington differently needed help. -- desperately needed help. he left lee commanding 7000 troops in white plains, new york, to protect new england. he asked but did not order lee to join him. during what was probably the most dangerous time for washington's army, lee delayed. while he was too smart to leave a paper trail, it appears he wanted to maintain an independent command as long as possible. that is the way to glory, to have an independent command. if washington's army was crushed by co

i want to thank fort lee for coming us.ople don't realize that people e petersberg used to be a part of fort lee. we were actually cut out of fort lee to be created as a battlefield created by one union and one confederate soldier. i'd like to thank the postal service for coming here. thank you for the city of st. petersburg for being with us. go and find yourself in history. >> thursday night a look at the civil war's atlanta campaign. in may of 1864, william sherman marched into georgia with the goal of capturing atlanta. after a series of battles throughout the summer and the see siege of the city, atlanta fell in 1864. we will join with sherman's march and a look at confederate weapons manufacturing in central georgia after the fall of atlanta. that's all coming up thursday night here on cspan 3. >> 200 years ago on august 24th, 1814, british soldiers routed american troops at the battle of bladeensberg just outside of washington d.c. it left the capitol wide open to british forces who marched into the city and burned d

the title was "the defense of fort mchenry." we do not know why, but a few days later, it appeared on sheet music. the name was changed to the "star-spangled banner," and it said, "to be sung to the tune of anacreon in heaven," which was a well-known song in the early republic, and it was not uncommon in those days -- in fact, it was common for words of songs to be put on well-known melodies. it was so popular there were 30, 40, 50 different songs that people knew. and did not have frank's name on it, although did have a little introduction to it, in which it talked about how it came to be written. then it appeared in newspapers around the country, and then his name became on it. and, of course, it became a popular patriotic song. not the most popular, but it was one of the patriotic songs laid at patriotic occasions. fourth of july, picnics, other gatherings -- one of the patriotic songs played at patriotic occasions. it was not until the late 1800s that is sort of became the de facto national anthem, but it did not become the