Here's a challenging question. During the War of 1812 the British attacked the federal garrison at Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor. The fort was battered with over 100 tons of shells overnight, but the garrison kept the British far enough away with aggressive gunnery that few casualties were incurred (4 out of 1000 men). At 0700 the British halted the barrage, hoised sail, and by 0900 headed downriver - at which point the Fort ran up their largest ensign.
A young "lawyer-poet," Francis Scott Key, was aboard a truce ship in the harbor observing the 25-hour battle. He immortalized the event and coined the term "star-spangled banner."
Here are your quiz questions:
1) How many stars were on that flag?
2) How many stripes were on that flag?
No fair Googling. Philatelists may want to check the image (or denomination!!) of Scott #1597.
Answer in the comments section.
There were 15 stars, reflecting the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union.
ReplyDeleteThere were 15 stripes. To my knowledge, this is the only non-13-stripe flag in the history of the country.
Found at an excellent article in the November print edition of Smithsonian magazine.
A picture of the original Fort McHenry flag is at this url -
http://www.scienceviews.com/parks/garrisonflag.html
I got the stars right, but I didn't know about the stripes. Cool bit if info about this incredible country
ReplyDeleteI actually remembered this odd bit of trivia because of the stripes. I'm glad they did away with the adding stripes concept. The flag would look ridiculous now if they hadn't.
ReplyDeletei might learn something here if I am not careful
ReplyDelete