Hours of british bombardment, soldiers raised the flag that inspired an American Lawyer to write a poem that became our National Anthem. We all know about the anthem, but the man behind the song is less wellknown. We may be familiar with his name and the key bridge over the all. Ac, but that is about it has been more than 75 years since the biography of key has been published, and our speaker toay, marc leepson, is here tell us about what he has discovered through researching and writing his new book about key, what so proudly we hailed. Saidrian john coppola leepson tells a multifaceted story of the author of the starspangled banner with clarity, precision, and passion, a literary performance akin to a great soloist nailing the high notes in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Is a journalist, historian, and author of eight books. Marc is a former staff writer for Congressional Quarterly and has been a freelance writer since 1986. He has written for many newspapers and mag
Less wellknown. We may be familiar with his name and the key bridge over the potomac, but that is about all. It has been more than 75 years since the biography of key has been published, and our speaker today, marc leepson, is here to tell us about what he has discovered through researching and writing his new book about key, what so proudly we hailed. Historian john coppola said leepson tells a multifaceted story of the author of the starspangled banner with clarity, precision, and passion, a literary performance akin to a great soloist nailing the high notes in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Marc leepson is a journalist, historian, and author of eight rooks books. Marc is a former staff writer for Congressional Quarterly and has been a freelance writer since 1986. He has written for many newspapers and magazines, and is arts editor and columnist for the newspaper published by the Vietnam Veterans of america, he teaches u. S. History at Lord Fairfax Community college
Its been 75 years since a biography of key has been published. Our speaker mark leepson is here to tell us what hes discovered and writing rching his new book about key, what so hailed. We historian john cupla, officer of women said it tells the multifacetted story star author of the spangled banner with clarity, passion, a and literary performance nailing the high notes of the land of the brave. D the home of the mark leepson is a journalist, historian, and author of eight previous bookses include lafayette, letters of eadership, desperate engagement, the story of onfederate general jubals early attack on washington. Flag, an american biography, the istory of the stars and stripes. And the levy familys epic quest that ease the house jefferson built. Es a former staff writer for Congressional Quarterly and a freelance writer since 1986, ritten for many newspapers and magazines and arts editor and olumnist for the newspaper published by the Vietnam Veterans of america. At Fairfax Commun
Theyre also very different. And i suspect that the truth is somewhere in the middle here, and i couldnt tell you which one is better. And this is another one. This is an image that came out of one of the books that i did and it is showing the british piling up material, and this is in the Capitol Building. And if youll notice, the guy on the left, on the back, hes carrying a backpack that would carry two cases for a congrieve rocket. Rocket and if youll notice the man standing on top of the pile, hes literally taking the projectile material that would have been inside of that rocket and hes sprinkling it over the top and then thats how they would light that fire and here is the actual account and this is by Benjamin Henry latrobe. There was no want of material for the conflagration. For when the number of members of congress was increased the old platform was left in its place and another raised over it giving an additional quantity of dry and loose timber. All the stages and seats of
In the war of 1812, obviously. So its my pleasure to welcome colonel eshelman to the podium. [ applause ] good morning, everyone. Thank you. That was a kind introduction. I have never been called colonel when im been introduced. Thank you very much. I want to add to the accolades expressed about the wonderful job the partners and all the individuals have done to put this symposium together. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope you have as well. We still have an afternoon to go as well. Itis not over and im looking forward to it. Before lunch, which is an important thing for all of us, i have a few words i would like to say about some of the myth that surround washington, d. C. Specifically, im going to talk about three myths. Im going to present them to you in the form of a question. The first one is did the british really burn Washington City . Question number two. Is the white house really called the white house because it was painted white because of the scorch marks when the britis