The Chill Runneth Down My Spine

Fort McHenry

Yesterday I made the trek to Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. The War of 1812. I remember it as the War of 1812, the forgotten war. That pretty much sums up my recollection of it from history class. In April 1814 the British had just conquered and burned Washington and were headed north to complete their siege and overtake Baltimore. On September 12, 1814 British troops attacked Baltimore on land but knew in order to totally take Baltimore, they would need reinforcements from the sea as well. They would need to conquer Fort McHenry. The significance of all of this is that the British did not overtake Fort McHenry and were forced to retreat. This was all witnessed by Francis Scott Key whom was a young Washington lawyer that had been captured by the British fleet prior to their onslaught of Fort McHenry. It was when Key saw the American flag flying post British retreat that he jotted down some words that became what we know today as our national anthem.

I am by no means a history buff, but found this very interesting about how our national anthem came about. The visitor center at Fort McHenry is neat because they play a movie explaining all of this and at the end the movie screen lifts and you are looking at a replica of the same flag that Key was looking at on September 14, 1814 which inspired him to write our national anthem. As a nation, the display of the American flag and the playing of our national anthem brings us great pride. Immediately everyone stood, removed their hats, and stood at attention for the anthem. I thought that was an awesome ending to a history lesson. It gave me goose bumps and a chill ran down my spine. I didn't remember it from history class, but I shall remember it now.

I thought back to all the times I heard the national anthem prior to all of my basketball games. How the national anthem is played each time an American wins an event in the olympics. There were renditions of the anthem being sung by Whitney Houston. I could go on and on. It was just a really neat history lesson. Then I got to walk around and explore the fort and imagine what the soldiers saw and experienced looking out into the bay. Well worth the trip.