Stephen Vogel; With Respect 07/04/21

John’s guest this week Stephen Vogel, the author of Through the Perilous Fight, a history of the six weeks that saved the United States in 1813. The British, in retribution of an American shelling of English ports, sent a powerful invasion force to attack Washington, DC. They looted and burned the Capitol and marched off to Baltimore. There their prize was Ft. McHenry, which guarded that city against invasion. The results were in doubt, clouds of smoke and nighttime darkness left a young American lawyer confused and fearful of the loss of the fort, until “gy the dawn’s early light: he saw our flag, the Star Spangled Banner. So he wrote a poem, later put to music, still later made our National Anthem.