Happy Fourth of July 2019

Happy Fourth of July 2019

Please enjoy this video for the Fourth of July. Francis Scott Key was an attorney in Upper Marlboro, Maryland who sought the release of an American citizen who had been taken captive by the British forces as they invaded Maryland, fought the United States defenders at Bladensburg and went on into the City of Washington where they sacked and burned the major public buildings.

The Royal Navy then sailed back down the Patuxent River to the Chesapeake Bay and then north to Baltimore. Key was on board a British ship and held prisoner during the bombardment of Fort McHenry.

Each year, the United States Coast Guard at Curtis Bay shipyards sends the Tender James Rankin out to place a buoy to mark the spot in the Patapsco River where Francis Scott Key penned his narrative as he observed the shelling of Fort McHenry. The Star-Spangled Banner later became the National Anthem of the United States.

I prepared this video using images that included ones the Coast Guard provided me of the Key Buoy and the crew of the Rankin placing the historic buoy; other images I had taken as well as some from the Library of Congress. The beaten and worn Old Glory shown in the video is the one that survived the long night of Britsh shelling. Actress and Singer Elllynne Brice Davis performed the Anthem in this video and she did it in one take. She has often performed for my annual crab feast over the years and at other major public and private events as well as playing roles in historic dramas.

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