Think About It. The Morning After. The night of September 13, 1814 a 35-year old attorney was being held on a British ship he had boarded in an attempt to negotiate the release of some American prisoners. Dinner as a guest of the ship’s officers had been quite pleasant, but he had seen and heard too much of the British plans of attack that night. As a result Scott was held on the sloop overnight and could only watch as the Brits attacked the fort. With the threat of attack imminent in the summer of 1813, fort commander Armistead had ordered a flag “so large that the British will have no trouble seeing it from a distance.” They saw it indeed, but sadly a rainy night caused a smaller storm flag to be flown, only intermittently visible in a munitions-lighted sky and unseen between explosions.
By now, few remember the second attempt to end the king’s interference with the military and economic lives of their fledgling nation. Granted, the multiple causes of the decision to enter mortal combat again caused confusion and consternation by and between those affected. Indiana’s territorial governor William Henry Harrison had led U.S. troops in defeating Native American warriors of Tecumseh’s Shawnee. They and their western allies decided they needed British help. The U.S. decided we should attack British colony called Canada. France considered getting involved and some Europeans just considered it an extension of the Napoleonic Wars already involving England, France, Russia and other nations in that part of the world. In that complicated context then-president James Madison declared war against Britain June 18,18l2 and the multi-faceted battle was on until February 18, 1815.
There was little sleep in the harbor of Fort McHenry that night. The well-intentioned American and his captors could only watch and wonder how the fight was proceeding. All they knew for certain was that the sound and the fury of bombs and rockets kept them wide awake and in fitful suspense. After twenty five hours the battle ceased and the sun began to rise as Commander Armistead ordered his giant 15 star and 15 stripe American flag raised in place of the barely visible flag flown during the night. It was clear to all on board during the battle that the British had been prevented from achieving their goal in the fight that changed the course of the War of 1812.
Our intrepid negotiator called down to the prisoners below deck telling them whose flag was flying. He was released by his captors and returned home to Baltimore inspired a poem called “Defence of Fort M’Henry”. With melodies expensive to duplicate for publication and distribution, he chose an old drinking song patterned after the ancient Greek poet Anacreon so that you could just sing along. You’ll remember the first of the four stanzas written in 1814 and named as the United States national anthem in 1931.
O! 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?
Even If he hadn’t been drinking, Francis Scott Key was happy with what he saw The Morning After. Think About It.
P.S. When you go to see the fireworks at Conner Prairie or the venue near you, they’ll probably play the Overture to 1812 written by Tchaikovsky, not for our nations struggle, but commemorating Napoleon’s attack of Russia in that year.