american wall of freedom- wall center - Forged by the providence of god & prayer

Frances Scott Key was a lawyer in Baltimore. The colonies were engaged in vicious conflict with their mother country, Britain. Because of conflict, they had accumulated prisoners on both sides, the American colonies and Britain. The American government said… “Let us negotiate for the release of these prisoners. We want to send a man out to discuss this with you. They were holding American prisoners about 1000 yards offshore. The man, Frances Scott Key, he will come out and negotiate to see if we can make a mutual exchange.

On the appointed day, in a row boat, he went out to this boat to meet with the British officials. They reached a conclusion that men could be exchanged on a one to one basis. Frances was jubilant. He went down into the hold and found a cargo of men. He told them, “Tonight men, you are free. I have negotiated and you will be taken out of this boat, out of this filth and out of your chains.” 

As he went back up to arrange for the passage to the shore, the British Admiral said, “We have a slight problem. We will still honor the release of these men, but it will be merely academic after tonight. It won’t matter.” 

Frances Scott Key said… “What do you mean?”

“Well Mr. Key, tonight we have laid an ultimatum upon the colonies. Your people will lay down the colors of that flag that you think so much of… or… you see Fort Henry over there? We are going to remove it from the face of the earth!”

“How are you going to do that?”

“If you will scan the horizon of the sea, you will see hundreds of little dots. That is the entire British War Fleet! All of the gun power is called upon to demolish that fort. They will be here within striking distance within two and a half hours.”

Frances Scott Key, “You can’t shell that fort. It is full of women and children. It is predominantly not a military fort.”

“Don’t worry about it. We have left them a way out. You see that flag way up on the rampart? We have told them if they will lower that flag, the shelling will stop. We will know that they have surrendered and you will now be under British rule.”

Frances Scott Key went below and told the men what was about to happen. “How many ships they asked?” “Hundreds”, he answered.

The ships got closer and Frances told the men, “I will shout down to you as we watch.” 

As twilight falls and the haze fell over the ocean at sunset, suddenly the British War Fleet unleashed. The sounds were deafening. There were so many guns. There was no relief. It was impossible to talk or hear. The sky was lit.

From down below, all you could hear was… the men saying… 

“Tell us, Where Is The Flag?  What have they done with the flag?  Is the flag still flying over the rampart? Tell us!”

An hour, two, three hours into the shelling… every time the bombs would go near the flag, they would see the flag in the illuminated red glare of that bomb. Frances Scott Key would report, “IT IS STILL UP!” It’s not down! The Admiral came and he said, “Your people are insane! What’s the matter with them? Don’t they understand this is an impossible situation?” 

Frances Scott Key remembered what George Washington had said…“The thing that sets American Christians apart from all other people in the world is he will

DIE ON HIS FEET, before, HE’LL LIVE ON HIS KNEES!”

The Admiral said, “We have now instructed all of the guns on the rampart to take that flag down! We don’t understand… our reconnaissance tell us, that flag has been hit directly again and again and again and yet it is still flying. We don’t understand that! We are going to bring every gun for the next three hours to bear on that flag!” 

Frances Scott Key said the barrage was unmerciful! All that he could hear was the men down below praying, the prayer… “God keep that FLAG FLYING where we last saw it!”

Sunrise came… there was a heavy mist haze over the land. The Rampart was tall enough… There stood THE FLAG, completely non-descript in shreds. The flagpole was at a crazy angle. The FLAG was still at the top! Frances Scott Key immediately went to Fort Henry to see what had happened.

He saw that… that flag pole and that flag had suffered repetitious direct hits and when the flag pole had fallen, men, fathers who knew what it meant for that flag pole to be in the ground… knowing that all the British guns were trained on it, walked over and held it up… until they died. Their bodies were removed and others took their place. 

What held the flagpole up in place at that unusual angle were patriot’s bodies. 

And the song, “O say can you see by the dawns early light… What so proudly we hail at the twilights last gleaming? For the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say does that star spangled banner yet wave… for the land of the FREE and the home of the brave. The debt was demanded, the price it was paid.” 

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD  

"God Did Not Allow The Flag To Be Removed!"

At the close of the Constitution Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a Mrs. Powel asked, 

“Well Doctor, what have we got?”

 Benjamin Franklin responded…

 “A Republic if you can  keep it!” 

 Founders warned us about what is happening today. 

Our parents and grandparents have passed this burden to us.