Thursday, March 10, 2016

Fort McHenry Field Trip

Today my class and I went to Fort McHenry. When we first got there we got a speech about how we behave at the fort. We were told several times to stay OFF the cannons because people in the past have climbed on them. After we heard this message many times, we watched a video about the battle at Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

After the video we walked outside and talked to a ranger about what we just learned in the video. He talked to us about how even when the battle was so bad the Americans still kept the flag waving high. The American army even replaced the normal flag that they had above the fort with a bigger flag! They replaced the flag to show the British that they were't going to give up. We even got to hold a replica of the second flag that they raised. It took 2 classes plus 6 chaperones to hop the flag because it measured 30 x 42 feet! Each star was 2 feet from point to point! It was the biggest flag I have ever seen!

Then we got to enter the fort! It was so cool! We met up with another ranger who talked to us into more detail about the battle. Did you know that the at the beginning of the battle the British outnumbered us 5 to 1! That means that 1 U. S. soldier would have to fight 5 British soldiers! He told us that this war was so important because it gave Americans confidence because they defeated the strangest country in the world at the time!

We even had some time afterward to look around the fort. I went into one of the buildings were they held British captives. The prison cells were so dark and cold (even though it was hot outside so imagine that when it would be really cold outside!) I'm glad I was not a prisoner of war.

The most important thing that I will remember about this trip is that out National Anthem was written there by Francis Scott Key! This is a trip I won't forget!

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