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On Flag Day, Remember Fort McHenry’s Lost Storm Flag


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Draggingtree
On Flag Day, Remember Fort McHenry’s Lost Storm Flag

Flag Day is a time to think about ways to rekindle the awe in others of living under a system that aims to protect the rights of human beings as purposeful individuals.

By Stella Morabito JUNE 13, 2015

During the Battle of Baltimore on September 13 and 14, 1814, heavy thunderstorms over Fort McHenry prevented the flying of the flag we know today as the Star Spangled Banner. At 30 by 42 feet, it was so massive that, if waterlogged, it could weigh several hundred pounds and snap the flagpole. So instead, a smaller “storm flag” (17 by 25 feet) was flown during the furious battle.

 

After the British withdrew and the clash ended, American Maj. George Armistead had the storm flag lowered and the “great garrison flag” hoisted over the fort. The latter was the flag Francis Scott Key is presumed to have seen “by the dawn’s early light,” from a ship in Baltimore Harbor, and which inspired him to pen the words to our national anthem. Scissors-32x32.png

http://thefederalist.com/2015/06/13/on-flag-day-remember-fort-mchenrys-lost-storm-flag/

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  • 4 weeks later...

@Draggingtree I have one 4th cousin - Colonel David Shepherd and a fight cousin Captain Moses Shepherd, that fought at Ft. Mchenry. Another 5th cousin, William Shepherd died there. After the Revolutionary War they built their homes and farms in the land they fought for , only to have their farms burnt to the ground by the Union Soldiers in the Civil War. I had other cousins that fought on the other side, only to lose their farms also. A sad chapter in the history of this country- but never the less - the history of this country.

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