That 'splendid ensign'

There's much to be said for working at Fort McHenry, but Jim Bailey covets one job above all others.

"My absolute favorite thing to do is raise the flag every morning and lower it each night," said the park ranger who is the volunteer coordinator. "After almost 10 years, I never get tired of working the lines on the flagpole. It's an honor to be entrusted with the Star-Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry."

Of course, when Bailey mentions "the Star-Spangled Banner," that's exactly what he means, because it was that flag still flying over the fort that protected Baltimore's harbor that inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the lines that eventually became our national anthem.

The United States was just trying to establish itself in the early 1800s when merchant vessels fell victim to both the English and French, who were at war with each other once again. Losing cargoes and ships was one thing, but when the English added the impressing U.S. sailors into their navy, some in Congress had had enough. The "War Hawks" had their way and the young nation declared war on England in 1812.

That declaration was mostly a distraction to the British until they had finished with Napoleon in 1814. That done, they turned their attention toward the former colonies. Some 5,000 British troops sailed across the Atlantic.

Quickly they had the upper hand on the defenders of the nation's capital, setting it afire -- a little payback to the Americans who had burned some important buildings in Canada a year earlier.

Finished with Washington, the invaders turned their attention to Baltimore.

The British prevailed in a skirmish outside Baltimore -- the Battle of North Point -- but they lost their commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Ross, in the process.

Capturing Baltimore meant getting by the defenses at Fort McHenry, strategically located at the mouth of the city's harbor. The British navy began bombarding the fort at dawn on Sept. 13, 1814. They shelled the outpost for some 25 hours until the morning of the 14th.

When all was said and done, the huge flag flying over Fort McHenry was still waving.

The British were beaten. And Key, a lawyer and Englishman who had viewed the "bombs bursting in air" while being detained on one of the British ships, was inspired.

In his "Naval Recollections of the Late American War," circa 1841, British Midshipman Robert J. Barrett wrote:

"Thus, after bombarding the forts and harbour of Baltimore for twenty-four hours, the squadron of frigates weighed ... and were immediately followed by the bombs and sloops-of-war. In truth, it was a galling spectacle for British seamen to be hold. And, as the last vessel spread her canvas to the wind, the Americans hoisted a most superb and splendid ensign on their battery, and fired at the same time a gun of defiance."

The original flag, or "splendid ensign," is in the Smithsonian. A replica flies over the fort daily.

"We fly the U.S. flag 24 hours a day by presidential order (Harry Truman, 1948), the first site in the nation to be ordered to do so," Bailey said.

"During good weather in the summer, we fly a full-size replica of the 30-foot-by-42-foot Star-Spangled Banner that Francis Scott Key saw waving o'er the ramparts. So, some of our 600,000-plus visitors a year get a chance to see it. We fly a small 5-foot-by-9-foot modern flag at night, and raise a larger flag over the fort every morning at 9:30 and change it back to a small one every evening at 4:20."

For more information, visit www.nps.gov/ftmc.

(Bill Wagner also writes, as Babe Waxpack, the ASKBABE sports-collectibles column that is distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)