On the morning of September 14, 1814, after a day and night of constant shelling by the British at Fort McHenry, the American defenders raised the biggest flag they had over the fort to show the British and the people of Baltimore that they still controlled the fort. Unable to take the fort, the British withdrew. Upon seeing the flag in position that morning, Francis Scott Key started a poem that would become the lyrics to the national anthem of the United States. One day and 208 years later, I visited. It just so happened I got there right at 10 AM, which is when they raise the flag and I got to help out the guy, Roy, who usually does this. Even though there were no British around and we used a much smaller flag, it was still pretty cool. The good thing is we had zero casualties.
We started with the folded up flag, which I got to hold all by myself, and then I unfolded it while Roy held the other end.
I had to hold the flag while Roy got the ropes ready. Then I kept it from touching the ground while we raised it. Roy pointed out that the flag code does not require you to burn a flag if it touches the ground accidentally, only if it is on purpose or if it gets dirty.
I was able to let go once it got high enough off the ground. Ironically, we only raised it to half mast because the Queen of England had died only a few days before. I wonder how the American soldiers who got bombarded all night would feel about raising the flag half mast in honor of the British monarch?
Actually, a bunch of other people helped put up the flag that morning, but they asked me to help Roy take down the flag from the night before. Fort McHenry is one of the only places that is authorized to keep the flag flying all night, so they swap out the regular size nighttime flag with as big a flag as the wind will support that day. So I posted the pictures backwards. I did get to catch the flag as it came down and then fold it up.
Thanks to Susan for driving me to Fort McHenry, making me help Roy, and taking the pictures!