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Pence Gives RNC Speech From Site That Inspired US National Anthem

VOA News

   U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will speak to the Republican National
   Convention Wednesday night from Maryland's Fort McHenry, site of the
   1814 battle that inspired what is now the U.S. national anthem.

   The National Park Service announced Monday that the [1]site would be
   closed Tuesday and Wednesday for a "first amendment event."

   The choice is in character for Pence, who quoted Abraham Lincoln in a
   video released Tuesday, and who has previously leaned on themes of
   American patriotism and the legacy of the nation's early days.

     America is the Land of OPPORTUNITY! [2]#RNC2020 πΊπΈ
     [3]pic.twitter.com/KIMDm5SKlF
     -- Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) [4]August 26, 2020

   Storied site

   In 1814, the U.S. and Great Britain were still embroiled in the War of
   1812. At 6 a.m. on September 13 of that year, 5,000 British soldiers
   and a fleet of 19 ships launched an attack on Fort McHenry, which
   protected the Baltimore harbor. Under heavy rain, the British military
   shelled the fort for 25 hours.

   Lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key was stuck on a ship watching
   the bombardment while he helped negotiate the release of a U.S.
   civilian captured in an earlier battle.

   On the morning of September 14, Key saw the fort's garrison flag
   waving, having replaced the smaller storm flag flown during the attack.
   On the back of a letter, Key scrawled down the first stanza of a poem,
   "Defence of Fort M'Henry," which eventually became known as The
   Star-Spangled Banner.

   The flag he wrote about was a massive cotton and wool creation 9 meters
   (30 feet) high by 13 meters (42 feet) long. Major George Armistead, the
   commanding officer, had said ahead of the battle that he wanted "to
   have a flag so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing
   it from a distance," according to the [5]National Park Service.

References

   1. https://www.nps.gov/fomc/learn/news/park-closure-august-2020.htm
   2. https://twitter.com/hashtag/RNC2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   3. https://t.co/KIMDm5SKlF
   4. https://twitter.com/Mike_Pence/status/1298438685344636928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   5. https://www.nps.gov/fomc/learn/historyculture/the-great-garrison-flag.htm

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