In the autumn of 1814, America laid in tatters. British redcoats had just routed U.S. regulars and militamen in the Battle of Bladensburg and sent them in flight. And then, days later they set Washington on fire. The flames licked the White House and swallowed its roof into charred pieces. The Capitol too was on fire until a freak thunderstorm erupted overhead and doused the conflagration spreading all across that magical new city, Washington D.C. If it weren’t for the cold steely decisions of Madison and his wife, Dolly, our Republic would have been snuffed out and would have become a minor footnote in annals of history.
President Madison, the man named the Father of the Constitution, watched at the side of the Battle of Bladensburg as an observer when the British smashed our first wave of troops and sent the rest scurring in panic. Madison was stood on a rise watching the trails of smoke ascend from his home, the White House, and watched as the flames lit up the night sky as though it was daytime. Political expediency in holding together a fragmented nation drew him and America to that fateful moment. Both General Winders and Secretary of War Armstrong were inept commanders, but they held political value. Winders was a Baltimore lawyer before he was a general and Armstrong helped to hold New England together as part of the United States. Clearly, neither one of them had military experience until the War of 1812 broke out.
For those unfamiliar with the War of 1812, there was overt treason and sedition from the New England states. They sold goods to the British navy and kept them afloat and there were also overt talk of secession. Even as late as 1813 after one stunning defeat after another, the rank and file American didn’t behave as though a war existed at all. (Doesn’t all this sound familiar? It should.)
But the burning of Washington coalesced us together into one implacable resolution, one implacable unyielding will. The British aimed to strike at the heart and soul of America. And to their chagrin, they succeeded… magnificently.
Fresh from their victory at Washington, British ships massed alongside Fort McHenry and unleashed their version of shock and awe. It was the heaviest bombardment in history up to that point, and I understand it was superceded only by the Normandy invasion. They were using newfangled technology: exploding rockets and explosive cannonballs. The British launched an estimated 1,500 to 1,800 cannonballs; some were ill-timed and exploded in mid-air, others were deadly accurate.
While the bombardment raged, Francis Scott Key stood to the side on a British navy ship negotiating the release of U.S. prisoners captured during the British raid in Washington. The sight of the bombardment was as spectacular as it was frightening. Francis Key, the other negotiators, and the prisoners knew that as long as the bombardment lasted, Fort McHenry still fought. When dawn arose, our flag was still there snapping in the wind. Major George Armistead, the commander at Fort McHenry wanted a flag so big “the British would have no trouble seeing it from a distance”.
Well, they didn’t, and neither did Francis Scott Key. On the back of a letter in his pocket he penned part of a poem called, “Defense of Fort McHenry”. We would later call it “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
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, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
I find the last stanza particularly stirring. It is the very heart of every honorable soldier who have served in our military that they “shall stand/ Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation.” We have been very blessed indeed because we have known war’s desolation only once during the Civil War and haven’t felt it again. Other nations and other parts of the world know this desolation as daily life.
The now mostly forgotten War of 1812 and our current war has many parallels and I hope to see historians resurrect it to prominence again some day. But then as now, the question remains:
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
It was written as an open question. That’s something to think about this Independence Day…
Other Independence Day Postings:
Michelle Malkin: Happy Birthday, America
Bookworm: Happy Birthday, America
Neo-neocon: On liberty
Gateway Pundit: Happy Independence Day 2007
Shrinkwrapped has reprinted the Declaration of Independence in full.
Captain Quarters: Happy 231st Birthday, America