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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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As we reported in the last program, British forces attackedWashington in the summer of Eighteen-Fourteen. They burned theCapitol building, the White House, and other public buildings beforewithdrawing to their ships in the Chesapeake Bay.
British General Robert Ross and Admiral Sir George Cockburn ledthe attack on Washington. They planned next to attack Baltimore. Butthe people of Baltimore expected the attack, and began to preparefor it. Fifty-thousand of them built defenses around the city.
The port of Baltimore was protected by Fort McHenry. The guns andcannon of the fort could prevent British ships from reaching thecity.
VOICE TWO:
The British began with a land attack against Baltimore. GeneralRoss, Admiral Cockburn, and about four-thousand British soldierslanded at North Point, a finger of land reaching into the ChesapeakeBay.
From North Point, it was a march of about twenty-two kilometersto Baltimore. The march began about seven in the morning. GeneralRoss and Admiral Cockburn stopped their men after an hour. The twocommanders and several of their officers rode to a nearby farmhouseand forced the family living there to give them breakfast.
When the British officers had finished eating, the farmer askedGeneral Ross where the British were going. "To Baltimore," answeredRoss. The farmer told Ross that he might have some difficultygetting there, because of the city's strong defenses. "I will eatsupper in Baltimore...or in hell," answered the British general.
VOICE ONE:
Ross and Cockburn moved far in front of the British forces. Agroup of several hundred Americans opened fire on the Britishofficers. Ross was hit and died soon afterwards.
The Americans retreated, but slowed the progress of the Britishsoldiers. It was late the next day before the British force arrivedto face the army of Americans near Baltimore. The Americans were onhigh ground and had about one-hundred cannon to fire down on theBritish. The British commander ordered his men to rest for thenight. He sent a message to the British warships to attack the citywith guns and mortars. Such an attack, he felt, might cause theAmericans to fall back. But the British ships already had beenfiring since early morning at Fort McHenry. The British guns weremore powerful than those of the fort. This let the ships fire fromso far away that the American guns could not hit them.
Shells and bombs from Britishmortars fell like rain over Fort McHenry. But few Americans in thefort were hurt or killed. Most of the rockets and shells exploded inthe air or missed. Many of them failed to explode.
VOICE TWO:
On a tall staff from the center of the fort flew a large Americanflag. The flag could be seen by the soldiers defending the city andby the British warships. The flag also was seen by a young American.His name was Francis Scott Key.
Key was a lawyer who once had thought of giving his life toreligious work. He was a poet and writer. Key opposed war. But heloved his country and joined the army in Washington to help defendit.
When the British withdrew from Washington, they took with them anAmerican doctor, Wiliam Beanes. Key knew Beanes. And he askedPresident Madison to request the British commander to release thedoctor. President Madison wrote such a request, and Key agreed tocarry it to Admiral Cockburn. Key also carried letters from woundedBritish soldiers in American hospitals. In one of the letters, aBritish soldier told of the excellent medical care he was beinggiven.
Cockburn agreed to free the doctor after he read the reports ofgood medical care given his wounded men. But Cockburn would notpermit Key, the doctor, or a man who came with Key to return to landuntil after the attack.
VOICE ONE:
Francis Scott Key watched as the shells and rockets began to fallon Fort McHenry.
"I saw the flag of my country," Key said later,
"waving over a city -- thestrength and pride of my native state. I watched the enemy preparefor his assault. I heard the sound of battle. The noise of theconflict fell upon my listening ear. It told me that the `brave andthe free' had met the invaders."
All through the rainy day, the attack continued. Doctor Beanes,watching with Key, had difficulty seeing the flag. He kept askingKey if the "stars and stripes" still flew above the fort. Untildark, Key could still see it. After then, he could only hope.
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Britain tried to land another force of men near the fort. But theAmericans heard the boats and fired at them. The landing failed.Shells and rockets continued to rain down on Fort McHenry. At times,the fort's cannon answered. And Key knew the Americans had notsurrendered.
The British land force east of Baltimore spent most of the nighttrying to keep dry. Commanders could not decide if they shouldattack or retreat. Finally, orders came from the admiral: "Withdrawto your ships." A land attack against Baltimore's defenses would notbe attempted.
At first light of morning, British shells were still bursting inthe air over the fort. The flag had holes in it from the Britishshells. But it still flew. The British shelling stopped at seveno'clock. Key took an old letter from his pocket and wrote a poemabout what he had seen.
VOICE ONE:
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 rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proofthrough 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?
For more than one-hundred years, Americans sang this song andremembered the attack at Fort McHenry. In Nineteen-Thirty-One,Congress made the "Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem of theUnited States.
VOICE TWO:
The unsuccessful British attack on Baltimore was followed by newsthat Britain also had suffered a defeat to the north.
British General Sir George Prevost led eleven-thousand soldierssouth from Montreal to New York. At Plattsburgh, on the westernshore of Lake Champlain, his army was opposed by less thanfour-thousand Americans. General Prevost believed he should getcontrol of the lake before moving against the American defenders.
He requested the support of four British ships and about tengunboats. A group of American ships of about the same size alsoentered the lake. In a fierce battle, the American naval force sankthe British ships. The large land army of Prevost decided not toattack without naval support. The eleven-thousand British soldiersturned around and marched back to Montreal.
VOICE ONE:
By the time these battles of Eighteen-Fourteen had been fought,the two sides already had agreed to discuss peace. The peace talksbegan in the summer at Ghent, in Belgium.
The British at first were in no hurry to sign a peace treaty.They believed that their forces would be able to capture parts ofthe United States.
Britain demanded as a condition for peace that the United Statesgive large areas of its northwest to the Indians. It also saidAmerica must give Canada other areas along the border. And Britainwould not promise to stop seizing American seamen and putting themin the British navy.
But British policy at the peace talks changed after the battlesof Baltimore and Plattsburgh. That will be our story next week.
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VOICE TWO:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THEMAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Harry Monroe and MauriceJoyce. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF ANATION can be heard Thursdays.