Artifacts takes viewers to Historic Sites around the country. Next we visit baltimore to learn about the berth of the starspangled banner. 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the British Naval bombardment of the fort during the war of 1812. The raising of the garrison flag over the fort on the morning after the barrage inspired Francis Scott key to write the word that later became our National Anthem. Welcome to ft. Mchenry. During the day, we fly the 15star, 15stripe flag. The same style as the one that inspired Francis Scott key to write the National Anthem. Key saw that flag at a unique time in american history. A time when american moral was really, really low. A turning point in the war of 1812. And a lot of americans dont know much about the war of 1812. So lets explore the war of 1812 and why it was important for to see that flag and how it inspired him to write those words that became our National Anthem. This would have been the main line of defense against the british ships. What was this war of 1812, and why did the british come to baltimore . Well, what a lot of people find surprising is really the war of 1812 was one of americas most unpopular wars. I think thats because the causes were so complex. And on one side, you can say the United States had a totally good reason to go to war. The british were seizing american ships, dictating who we should trade with, could not trade with, stealing american sailors and forcing them into the british navy. And it was deeper than just making up manpower shortage in the british navy. It was deeper than a manpower shortage in the british navy. There was a whole question of citizenship that went with that. In the United States, we believed that you could come from a foreign country, say Great Britain and come here, live for five years and then you become a naturalized citizen. However, over in Great Britain, they believed once a subject always a subject. A lot of our statesmen at the time, theyre saying the british are trying to define what a american citizen is, and if we allow them to do that, were no better than when we were a colony. A lot of americans at that time thought they had something to live up to. They saw that previous generation like the revolutionary war generation, the Founding Fathers generation, the spirit of 76 is something to live up to. And so a lot of americans say, well this war of 1812 is our second war of independence. Certainly those who were prowar or the war hawks as they were called use that language to invoke that spirit of the revolution. They saw the native american issues on the frontier as a powerful reason. Saying, hey, the british are inciting the native americans or as they call them the savages on the frontier to shoot american settlers. For issues about national honor, freedom of trade, rights for sailors or free trade and sailors rights as they said as well as protection from our own frontier, we have to go to war with Great Britain. We tried the embargoes, kind of like economic sanctions, it didnt work, they tried sending statesmen over to negotiate. They said the only thing left is the declare war on june 18th, 1812, the United States declared war against the british. Let me give you the british side really quick, that is, one, the british were involved, and the way the british saw themselves, they were liberators, they were the ones trying to free europe from the rule of napoleon, and they needed every sailor they could get to man that royal navy. The british were dominant at sea. The french were dominant on land. For the british to win the wars, they had to maintain those sea lanes. And there were thousands of sailors jumping ship and trying to melt into that american melting pot. And in some cases, they were only getting their own people back. And as far as the native american issues on the frontier, well, the United States didnt always live up to the agreements they made with some of the native american nations out there. And so they the native americans were already angry at the United States. There were some hot headed american statesman who wanted an excuse to take over british canada. And so for some, all these other reasons were just a red herring, just an excuse to go and try to suck up and invade canada and maybe acquire some land to the north there. Even Francis Scott key himself said i will not harm the poor unoffending canadians. And really epitomized the americans. I dont like what the british are doing, but invading canada is wrong. And so really to this day, the war of 1812 was the most narrowly declared of any american war in which our congress sat to vote to declare that war. So here the United States goes into the war of 1812 divided at the home front, unprepared militarily. A lot of our generals were aging holdovers from the revolution, the supplies really werent worked out. There was a hope that taking canada would be easy, even the former president Thomas Jefferson said a mere matter of marching, and that was totally wrong. It didnt work out. The first battles of 1812 were all american defeats. And at the end of the year, 1812, yeah, there were American Army soldiers in canada. They were all prisoners. And so its not long before the war of 1812 moves into 1813. And behind me is the river, and that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The british were able to use their large navy to blockade a lot of the east coast of the United States, turned the Chesapeake Bay into a british lake. The Chesapeake Bay was important for a lot of reasons. One, pennsylvania, maryland, delaware and virginia were the bread basket of the United States. You bottle up the Chesapeake Bay, a lot of the goods, the wheat that was exported, that doesnt get to sea. In addition, you have the important sea ports and cities of annapolis, baltimore, the new capital washington, d. C. , alexandria, virginia, all of those become the british are blockading the bay hoping that we would pull our troops out of canada and use them to guard targets closer to home. And also, recognizing that the war being unpopular amongst our own people, if they could get the americans angry at their own government, you know, because the economy isnt doing so well, then that might help end this war of 1812. For the british, the war of 1812 is a distraction. The big wars in europe, all this is but a side show. So they want to bring the war of 1812 to a conclusion as quickly as they can. The war of 1812 here in the Chesapeake Bay really seized the royal navy against towns living in the bay. Any town that surrendered without a fight would be spared. However, even a small resistance that would be burned. To the north of here, a town called vavre degrace. The militia put up a quick resistance. But when the Royal Marines landed, the militia ran away except for one guy. And the british captured him and went into the town and burned those buildings. On the Eastern Shore of maryland, two little towns, one called fredericktown, one called georgetown. Not one near washington, d. C. Those towns were burned by the british. Also on the Eastern Shore, the town of st. Michaels defended itself pretty well, actually, and drove the british you have. But the British Shelled that town and bombarded st. Michaels during the war of 1812. So there are a lot of battles, skirmishes and engagements all up and down the Chesapeake Bay at this time. But in addition to the british and these bombardments and the and all that, there was a lot of fear. And the greatest fear was the fear of a slave uprising. Only recently are historians really talking about the impact of slavery during the war of 1812. And here in maryland, you really had a divided state. The state was divided into support or not to support the war amongst the africanamerican population. And Baltimore City, you had the highest percentage of free africanamericans. And a lot of them are supporting the war effort. However, in Southern Maryland and on the Eastern Shore of maryland on those tobacco and wheat plantations, you had enslaved africanamericans. And the british were offering freedom to any enslaved africanamerican who would come over to their side. And especially a year later, in 1814, thousands of africanamericans are now coming over to the british and the british are giving them their freedom. Most of them were younger guys who could escape. And they had the option of belonging to what they call the colonial core. And these were like Royal Marines. They were trained as Royal Marines, and 200 of them, some say 400 of them would become part of this colonial corps. This prompted fear that this might prompt a massive slave uprising in this area prompted by the british. It never happened, but there was a fear it could happen. There was a fear that there would be this uprising, a fear that the british could show up any day and bombard your hamlet or small town. And this is the context. Its not surprising that someone like Francis Scott key who initially opposed the war takes a more active role in the war. Key was a slave holder himself. A highpowered lawyer out of georgetown, outside of the district of columbia. Francis scott key had respect for the british. He respected british law and british culture. However, he was also angered at the they were doing in the chesapeake region. Any marylander between 18 and 45 years of age, he had to belong to the maryland militia. And if called up, he had to go. And so he was part of the georgetown militia. I have a cannon right here, a field gun. This is the type of Field Artillery that Francis Scott key would have been familiar with as part of a georgetown artillery. This is a field cannon as opposed to some of the red guns behind us here who are naval guns. A field gun like this is meant to be highly mobile. Francis scott key would see a little bit of combat during the war of 1812 and talk about that combat. Im going to walk around here to the other side. So coming around to the front of the water battery, just kind of coming into the shade here, i want to talk a little bit about Francis Scott keys brief military career and the events that really led up to the bombardment of ft. Mchenry and the use of this water battery. Part of the georgetown artillery, militia unit, citizen soldiers. He wouldve had a uniform, and during the summer of 1814, they would have drilled and trained periodically. Keys big combat experience comes on august 24th at the battle of bladensburg. A small town, only a few miles outside of washington, d. C. In august of 1814, the british sent reinforcements against the United States to really turn the heat up a little bit. At that time, there were negotiators for both the british and the americans meeting both trying to find Common Ground to end the war of 1812. On the United States side, we really wanted to get out of the war with our honor intact. By this time, the treasury was running out of money, the invasions into canada, all appeared to be failures. We lost a lot of men. And it was really unlikely that we were going to take over canada. However, we didnt want to retreat from our demands about the british laying off our sailors and confiscating our merchant ships. We couldnt back off on that one. The british were also intimating they wanted us to give up the indiana and illinois territories. We werent going to let that happen. By the same token, the british by the way of turning up the heat realizing by 1814, napoleon had been defeated in europe were able to send some reinforcements from europe to shore up the defenses of canada and also turn up the heat in the Chesapeake Bay. So thousands of british soldiers landed in Southern Maryland in late august. They march toward washington, d. C. Or Washington City as they called it at the time, figuring if they could capture our capital, that could bolster their position at the negotiation table. The americans, though, werent entirely caught off guard, the americans called up the militia from around washington, including georgetown. So Francis Scott key were there. A few thousand soldiers marched south and hundreds of virginiians came up as well as units from the army, United States marine corps and the United States navy. And americans were able to put around 5,000 men on the field at bladensburg. A few thousand soldiers marched south and hundreds of virginiians came up as well as units from the army, United States marine corps and the United States navy. And americans were able to put around 5,000 men on the field at bladensburg. On the 24th of august, though, a confused battle erupts. The british attack with about 2,000 men and the americans are almost instantly thrown into disarray. The president of the United States himself James Madison gallops away from the battlefield. Some of the american positions are quickly overrun and whole american units break and run away. American militia units receive some training, but not as much training as professional soldiers and certainly not nearly as much training as Battle TestedBritish Regular army soldiers. And so they didnt really hold up too well. Francis scott key. Some say he relied some misorders to some of the american high command. Others say he just packed up with the artillery unit and retreated in great haste along with everyone else. Who could blame them . So many people were running. One africanamerican said, quote, the american militia ran like sheep chased by dogs. It was perhaps one of the most disgraceful battles in American Military history. The british really won it in a matter of a couple of hours. They did sustain some casualties, but at the close of the day, they were entirely in possession of the field. And in a way, you can say that kind of ends Francis Scott keys brief military experience. But in a way, Francis Scott keys journey really begins at that point. The british did sustain about over 300 men killed and wounded in the battle. Later that night, the british march into washington, d. C. , where they take possession of the government buildings. The white house would be burned by the british, house of representatives, senate, burned by the british, the treasury building, burned by the british. But interesting enough, the individual homes of the common folk would be spared. The british also spared the Patent Office since it was dedicated to science. But standing where i that direction is south. Residents from Baltimore City and soldiers on the fort could see, no competing light at that point. You could really see that, and everyone knew that it was the capital that had been taken by the british and only a matter of time before the british would come to baltimore. The british didnt stay in washington, but more the next day and they soon marched out on the 25th of august to rejoin their fleet. They got what they came from. Interesting enough, documents that you can almost consider sacred to our history, the declaration of independence, the constitution. Who got those documents out only a day or two before the british take possession of the capitol. Even the declaration may have been burned had it been left there. The british, though, marched back to their ships and sailed away. They have to leave their wounded behind. This begins an interesting human story. A local resident, he lived in a town called upper marlboro, which isnt too far away from washington, d. C. As the british were moving through his town, a few british stragglers decided to raid his hen house and create mischief in town. Perhaps they were only supplementing their rations with local poultry. However, dr. William beans, a feisty man in his 70s took a few of them prisoner. One of them managed to escape and reported this to the british high command. Only days prior as the British Advance through upper marlboro, he put on a phenomenal act pretending he was probritish, saying he was educated in Great Britain, which he may have been. Certainly given the illusion that his sentiments tended to lean more with the british and not with the americans, in spite of where he was living. However. This report seemed to indicate he was putting up a front and the british were very actry. They saw him as misrepresenting himself or perhaps even worse, breaking his word as a gentleman. And the british went and took him prisoner and brought him down to the fleet. And this news spread like wildfire. Dr. William beans was a respected citizen. Some say the leading citizen of uppe