Honor Given Where Honor Is Due - 1

"Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

What a rich heritage we have as a nation. The Star Spangled Banner says it all, especially the last line, “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”. We ARE the land of the free and the home of the brave. I started thinking about how we have stayed safe since the inception of our nation.

A young lawyer, named Frances Scott Key lived during the War of 1812. He agreed to broker a peace treaty between the Americans and the British. The British ships were anchored in Baltimore Harbor and Mr. Key was taken aboard the H.M.S. Surprise. The British wouldn’t listen to Mr. Key's terms of peace until after they bombarded Fr. McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland through the night.

Before the battle began, Major George Armistead, whom later became a renowned General in the Civil War, asked for a gigantic flag to be made so that the British couldn’t help but see it from their vessels. By the time it was finished it measured 30 by 42 feet. It must have been an amazing sight.

The stage was set. Many British vessels surrounded Ft. McHenry. Major Amistead and his men bravely waited for the attack to begin. The British carried 220 pound bombshells. The Americans sunk 22 British vessels before the attack, so that the British couldn’t get as close as they wold like. At 1 am on September 14th, 1814 the bombardment began.

Mr. Key watched from the inside of the H.M.S. Surprise. Probably all he could see were the lights from the exploding bombs. The shelling continued until the dawn hours, then suddenly there was silence. Smoke filled the air. Mr. Key didn’t know if the flag was still flying high or not. When he looked out again, the smoke had cleared and the flag was still standing, battered, yet proudly swaying in the wind for all to see. Mr. Key began to write.

Our military had withstood an unbelievable onslaught. The British stopped the attack. They didn’t think Ft. McHenry was worth any more effort. The tide turned because our military withstood all that had happened that night and started the beginning of the end of the War of 1812.

Part 2 Tomorrow