Baltimore to see the exhibit mars in the war of 1812. On display is a manuscript of Francis Scott keys star spangled banner. The war of 1812 is a very important subject for the Maryland Historical society. When it was created in 1844 the defenders of baltimore as they called themselves, the old defenders were very interested in remembering what had happened and letting the country know that this was probably an important event that they felt actually saved the union in 1814. We were very rich in resources to tell that story from 1812 to 1815. The gallery has hundreds of objects and documents and what we basically tell is a story of baltimore as sort of the epicenter of this story for the state of maryland, a growing, bustling port of 50,000 people and a lot of immigrants who didnt like the british very much and then it goes on to the reasons why the war happened and the command central area of everything in those days where the taverns and the newspapers were being developed and this was a big newspaper town, too, and then it goes on to the actual war itself and the maritime experiences and the attack of the british in 1814 when they actually burned the capital and the white house and goes on to the story of baltimore saving the nation and their feeling and then there is a section about the veterans, as well and all of the things that they did as representatives of war heroes from early america. Im alexandra deutsch. Is im the chief curator of the Maryland Historical society. This exhibit started much smaller than it ended up being and one of the things that we realized is that the federal period when baltimore was just beginning to flourish as a city is not a time period that a lot of people are familiar with. So we added a whole section of the exhibit just to orient people to first of all, what did baltimore look like around 1812, and what was the history just before that and why was it so important . So baltimore in the 1750s was just a village. It was just a cluster of houses and taverns and more taverns almost than houses, but it was not a booming city. The time period that were talking about in this exhibit baltimore had grown to be the third most populated city in the United States. As a result of that, the landscape of baltimore was changing rapidly and in the paintings of francis guy, we begin to see these wonderful grand houses that are being built both in town and outside of town by merchants who are making tremendous fortunes in trade and this it really brings us to one of the core issues of the war of 1812 which was the conflict about trade with britain and the perpetual disrespect the americans felt by the british at sea. And so its very important to see the homes and this environment that in large part was a reflection of the wealth that was growing in baltimore and the surrounding areas. So now well step into the other part of the story thats very important to us as sort of a preamble to this history of the war of 1812 will and that is that baltimore had a thriving maritime industry. We were one of the centers and probably one of the most important centers from the early 18th century into the 19th century for building remarkable ships that are often called baltimore clippers that can achieve incredible speed. We are very fortunate to have these artifacts that were used and many of them, the shape of them hasnt really each changed today, things like the tools used for making sails, for caulking the sides of a ship. All these things have stayed remarkably the same and because of this thriving economic environment that was growing in the early 19th century in baltimore, you had immigrants coming here because there were opportunities in baltimore that they couldnt find in more established cities like new york and boston where the structure of the families who were dominating the economic world of those cities were more fixed and baltimore was a place of opportunity. Here we have a painting of the dispoe family, mr. Dispoe and his son. They had come to baltimore via Santo Domingo and they had brought with them their knowledge of shipbuilding and they went on to establish one of the most important Shipbuilding Companies in baltimore that endured for three generations and these are the kind of immigrants that are coming in to this city at this time and they have a tremendous economic stake in trade and Everything Associated with trade and so when the conflict arises and were presented with going back to war with england it becomes much more understandable why after such a short time of having just been at war and just achieved nationhood, we would then take the risk to go back to war with england. Well just look at one other immigrant story this is William Paterson, the father of the famous Elizabeth Paterson who married napoleons younger brother. Her father was an immigrant. He made his way to the colonies with nothing. He began smuggling black powder in the caribbean during the American Revolution and made whats estimated by him to have been about 100,000 and he began to think where can someone with no family connections and a lot of money and a knowledge of the sea and of trade make a fortune . Make a fortune . And he comes to baltimore. The painting is of him as a young man in the very beginning of his tremendous success and when he dies in 1835 hes one of the wealthiest men in the United States, but baltimore gave him that opportunity. So for someone like William Paterson whose wealth and future wealth was entirely dependent on him being able to trade freely and successfully on the seas he certainly had a vested interest in us going to war. So now were walking into a section of the exhibit where we look at those early days of the war and on this side of the exhibit we look at everyday life. So one of the things that is very different in some ways about this war as compared to the American Revolution is that people are receiving their news even more briskly through more newspapers and people have a choice of what newspapers they can read, and were very, very lucky to have images of two of the men who for people in maryland were guiding them about what they learned about the war in the papers and the first man is Ezekiel Niles and he started a newspaper called the niles register and here he is. He reported both sides of the story and this was something very innovative and very new for readers to be given balanced reports and this was not the highest priority in earlier newspapers and this was something that niles register was known for and you as a local citizen particularly in baltimore would have had some awareness of the violations that were being committed by the british against american ships and american sailors. The other publisher is william peacham and the american commercial Daily Advertiser was his newspaper. He published things strongly in opposition to the british. This was a paper that if he picked it up he was getting very harsh commentary on the abuses, particularly at sea and just the general abuse at the hands of the british and their lack of acknowledgement for us as a new nation. So you as someone living in baltimore during this time period you had a choice of where you got your news and maybe you got it both places and even if you werent literate there were other places where you could get your news and certainly there would be someone in the taverns at all times, probably, talking and debating politics. The tavern was the epicenter of information about all kinds of things and not just whats going on in your city, but whats going on the National Scale and so if you werent literate there were other ways to get your information and often you might hear about what was coming in with the news of the ships that were coming into the harbor of baltimore. So you can be very well informed during this period about the issues. So well step over here. Were going cross an area with a map of the world because baltimore really was a city with a long arm to the world because through trade baltimore reached out in every direction at sea. So we cross that map and now we get to this period where things begin to truly heat up and the necessity of going to war becomes greater and greater with each passing month, and one of the major issues for america was the impressment of american sailors at sea and what this meant is you would be on an american vessel and you would have your papers documenting you as a citizen of the United States and you would be boarded by a british vessel and they would disregard your papers entirely, say they were not valid and impress you into service in the british navy, which is a fate that very few people would have embraced. There are certain artifacts in the exhibit that i think are so compelling and one of them is this desk set that belonged to William Pinkney of annapolis who served in the Madison White house. This descendant and his family was used to sign the declaration of war in 1812. Its a beautiful artifact, and its a simple artifact but to see it married with his portrait and to realize how symbolic this is as a gesture that we as a nation were willing to make to be willing to confront england yet again. I think theres so much power in this artifact to tell a story of that bold step we made in 1812. And baltimore, with this economic climate we talked about, so many people with so much at stake in trade in the economy of this period felt we absolutely should go to war and other people certainly felt we shouldnt and it resulted in an enormous amount of tension. So the first riot in baltimore that gets National Attention and earns us the name mobtown is actually a riot that is provoked by the war of 1812. Incredible violence ensues, and one of the men who is killed during the riot was a man named james ringlan, a father of the American Revolution. Here is a patriot, a man who has served this nation in the revolution and the mob cuts him down, and so his death receives National Attention and his funeral draws over 3,000 people in washington, d. C. , there are poems written about him in commemorations in the newspaper and so the world looks upon us and this riot with outrage and that is actually how we came to be called mobtown and most people assume its a name given to the city because of much later events, but in fact it goes all the way back to the war of 1812. So we just learned what was going on on land in baltimore and the tensions surrounding the beginning of the war and now we go to sea and what is going on the seas at the beginning of the war in 18 the 12. Europe is still very much in the throes of events that napoleon brought to fruition and the british have had their attention elsewhere. But as we come to the end of 1812 and the beginning of 1813, the british can now turn their attention to the problem spots in america. And so they head to maryland and they begin making sporadic raids along marylands coastline and one of those was in grace, maryland, and this was where the british came in and they blindsided the residents and this was a propaganda about the brutality of the british but in this raid one man came to be celebrated and he was a resident of hsvard grace and we were lucky enough to have the sword presented to him. John oneal was a resident of havard grace and he was being captured by the british trying to defend his city and his daughter matilda came and was pleading for the british officers for the safe release of her father and its the two of them who to this day are immortalized in havard grace during that raid by the british which was quite brutal and this was a british tactic. It was to erode the residents of maryland, to make them feel insecure, to make them feel vulnerable and so it was more an attack on them psychologically than it was on them physically because no one was killed, but what the british knew is that if they created a sense of vulnerability in the americans that was half the battle of them succeeding in the war. And now if we just step over to hear a little bit about one of the heroes of the war of 1812. That is a man named Joshua Barney. Joshua barney was a veteran of the American Revolution. He spent his life at sea and after the American Revolution he felt he had not gotten the recognition that he should have gotten for his contribution to the war effort and so he went over to france and he served in the french navy to great esteem and was given gifts by napoleon but when tensions began to grow in america, he decided to come back. Now america at this time has what could at best be described as a fledgling navy. We had very little means to defend ourselves at sea against the british. But Joshua Barney came up with a wonderful idea. If you created what he called his mosquito fleet of little barges they would essentially become pests to the british. These flotillas could be assembled. They could be used to block inlets and they would be a nuisance to the british. He is, in fact, very successful in his efforts with the flotilla and we have relics of Joshua Barney at the museum. Not only do we have his portrait which was commissioned by baltimore after the war, but we also have a piece of his flotilla brought up from sea. We have his belt. We have a box given to him by napoleon and in addition to the artifacts the family has been able to share with us diaries and documents that show every promise of in many ways broadening the story and in fact, even rewriting some aspects of Joshua Barneys story because of these incredible letters and records he kept during the war of 1812. So we are very excited to have that come into the exhibit. And now were going to step into a section of the exhibit where we go back to land, and it is during that summer of 1814 that the british begin to aggressively attack American Forces and American Forces in many ways are not prepared for what theyre going to be greeted with and the battle we often hear about is the battle at badensburg. It came to be known as the bladensburg race because when the local militias met up with the british, many men just ran. They simply were not prepared for what they were going to face and this was a great defeat and a great embarrassment, but it also served to be the catalyst that would make us never suffer that humiliation again on land. So it was a very important, really Pivotal Moment in particularly for baltimore looking at how we needed to be prepared in case the british came our way. The other event that certainly, in terms of psychological warfare was the most devastating to americans was the burning of the white house. The white house had just been redone, the interiors had just been furnished and here a symbol of our nation is burned. One thing that i like to do in exhibits is always bring costume into exhibits because i think it humanizes the story and here we have the kind of gown that Dolly Madison would have worn in the white house and it is with the burning of the white house that we realize the seriousness, the gravity of the conflict and particularly in baltimore. You had people leaving the city in absolute panic and looking for other places to escape to. Many people went as far as philadelphia or if they had family, anywhere else just to get away from baltimore because they knew that bad things were going to come and it wasnt just the big battles, but it was knowing that the white house had burned, knowing that the british had landed in havard grace and knowing what happened and people became truly terrified of what lay ahead. One of the gentlemen who we consider a defender of baltimore is a man named John Stricker, and general stricker took charge of preparing the city for the battles that were going to occur. We like to say that we are the home of the rock stars of the war of 1812 and Joshua Barden being one of them, John Stricker being another and well have a few more before the end of the exhibit. These were seasoned soldiers. These men knew how to organize people, organize troops, galvanize a war effort. Another one of our rock stars is samuel smith. He, like stricker, played a crucial role in understanding and surmising what the british might do and how important it was going to be for them, if possible, to seize baltimore. The portraits and weve been looking at the portrait of barney and stricker were all commissioned immediately after the victory at fort mchenry in 1814. They were commissioned by the city because even then they were considered to be the rock stars of baltimore. So were lucky to be the home to those rock stars. And now were going to step into the section where the big event happens and the bombardment at fort mchenry which is the epic story and the story of the starspangled banner we all sing commemorates and the centerpiece of all of this, of course, the Francis Scott key manuscript which we are fortunate enough to be the home of. This is Francis Scott keys original draft of the starspangled banner. It is truly a treasure. This is pat anderson. And ive been here at the Historical Center in one capacity or another for 25 years. Its open for ten minutes at the top of the hour, 11 00 to 3 00. So its less than an hours worth of light a day. Its suspended in argon, and argon being an inert gas, theres less chance of oxidation and that is recommended best practices these days for taking care of these documents. What key did when he witnessed the battle for baltimore and he witnessed the flag, by the dawns early light and the sun started to come up and he was so inspired and grateful that baltimore held the fort and he started to make notes on a piece of paper and when he was able to get off the ship we think it was the Indian Queen Hotel and drafted this song, and he had no idea when he wrote it that it would become such an Important National symbol. There are four total verses. The first verse of the document, of course, is the one that we all know. It is very important, but if you look at the first verse very carefully there are question marks at the ends of those lines in the first verse. So key is standing there on the deck of that ship and he is looking and is it still there . Thats the question. Is it still there . But when we sing it today, we dont sing it like its a question, we sing it like its a done deal where in the second verse, clearly he sees it and there it is and then that to me is the more important verse than the first one. You know, that one, i think, because thats the one like the title of this exhibit in full glory reflected, that line is in the second verse. We try to explain that when we are talking about the document with people who do come in to take a look at it. There is a commitment that comes with this and what we understand very clearly is that this doesnt belong to us. It belongs to the American People and our job is to make sure it gets from one generation to the next generation and then also to interpret these objects and these documents and these stories so that other people will come in and become engaged and excited and just perpetuate the care of all this history. The victory of fort mchenry filled us as a nation with such tremendous triumph. To us its perceived as the ultimate victory against the british. Certainly its a victory that many people never thought would come to fruition and so as we move through to the end of the exhibit we look at all of the commemorations. Our city and citizens were gathering funds to create a monument to the war of 1812. We are also the home for Lady Baltimore who once sat atop that monument and it took more than two decades to have that monument completed and now Lady Baltimore who once presided over the city is at the Historical Society in perpetuity for safekeeping for so many decades. That was the center of baltimore and every baltimorean knew of the victory because it was commemorated by that monument. We at the Historical Society, have long been the repository for the treasures of some of the prominent families in marylands history. We are standing in front of a case of artifacts associated with mendes cohen. He was a member of one of the most prominent, wealthy, philanthropic jewish families in baltimore. He fought in the war of 1812. He went on to commemorate the war of 1812 throughout his life and also lived a very, very rich life after the war and what this section looks at is life after the war and how much this event and the defense of fort mchenry shaped the psyche of baltimore for decades after the victory. And as we move to the back and to the end of the exhibit we look at how important the commemoration of the war of 1812 has been in marylands history and here were standing in front of a collection of ephemera of the 20th century and on the anniversary of the war of 1812, on the centennial, the celebrations just rang out there this city in a way i think theyre hoping to match if not outdo this coming fall. Enormous amount of commemorative material was collected and we are very lucky to be able to display a portion of that here. So walking through this exhibit youve taken a journey of 200 years all of the way from 1812 up to 2012 and now in 2014 were about to embark on a whole new round of celebration for this incredible moment that really brought us to our nationhood. All of us kind of struggle with the fact that our ancestors are way back there and theyre not real people. I want everybody to realize that these were real people with real issues. So these are all personal stories and big stories that are very relevant today. You know, the whole idea of federalism and whether state and what kind of power states have versus the Central Government and how strong a military we have to have, all of these kinds of things are relevant today and they also show you that people who lived several generations ago are just like us, just in a different place, in a different time. For more information about the war of 1812 and the Maryland Historical society, visit their website mdhs. Org. You can watch American History tvs american artifacts online any time. Go to cspan. Org history. This is American History tv all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Author Allen Huffman shares a tale of two misses as we visit Prospect Hill in jackson. Prospect hill was founded by isaac ross. And when he realized that he was going to die and the slaves would end up being sold or would just become common slaves he wrote in his will that at the time of his daughters death that the plantation would be sold and the money used to pay the way for those slaves to emigrate to liberia where a freed slave colony has been established by the american colonization society. They call it repatriation and talk about them going back to africa but its you is to understand, these people, most of them were americans. They had been here for three, four, five generations. It wasnt like they were just going home. They were going back to the continent that their ancestors originally inhabited but they it was quite the the risk and so they took their culture, what they knew here there. Of course some of them took the bad aspects too, the slavery. But that was all they had ever known. And they built houses like this one because after all, theyre the ones who built this house. There were a lot of basically greek rerival houses that the freed slaves built in mississippi in africa and across the river was louisiana in liberia which was settled by freed sleeves from louisiana. There was a georgia, there was a virginia, kentucky, and maryland county. And all of those people came from those states in the u. S. Explore the history and literary life of jackson saturday on cspan 2s book tv. Now you can keep in touch with current event from the nation ecapital with cspan radio on audio now. And every weekday listen to a recap of the days events on washington today. You hear audio of the networks Public Affairs programs. Call 2026268888. Long distance or phone charges may apply. Multiple events to mark the 70th anniversary of the dday invasion of nazi occupied france. Coming up next, Timothy Reeves talks about the night that eisenhower decided to invade the coast of normandy. What did he say . Who was there . What time was it . Mr. Reeves argue these questions are very hard to answer. Is
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