The defense of Baltimore

I was up in Baltimore recently. On the way to the airport we stopped to see Ft. McHenry. The battle for the fort is the place that Francis Scott Key was watching when he was inspired to write our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. I love to visit historical sites and this one is very cool. The flag of that era is flying over the fort. It has 15 stars and 15 stripes. The one they fly is large and it's still half the size of the one that was over the fort during the battle. I have seen that flag hanging in the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
     The song mentions "bombs bursting in air". They have two examples of them there. These things were big.

If you go, watch the short movie first. I walked in just as the docent was introducing the film. He was saying that our anthem music is based on another tune and did anyone know what it was? I'm going to brag a little, I knew. It's Anacreon in Heaven.  I'd learned that in the Air Force squadron officers school material. Then he asked if I knew where it came from. I told him it was a British drinking song. Which is what it was. He later came by and asked me if I knew who wrote that song, which I didn't and he said they think it was written by a man named Smith. I think we were in a contest by now, so I asked him if Smith was a spelled with an I or a Y. We both laughed. I have to wonder what the Brits who know about that song think when they hear our anthem.
   You can walk through the fort and around the grounds. There are historical displays and well-kept grounds. You can also either buy or bring a flag of your own and they will raise it with you over the fort. They will then give you a certificate that the flag flew over Ft. McHenry. How cool is that?