BALTIMORE - As a nation, the United States of America wasn't born when the Declaration of Independence was signed July 4, 1776. It didn't spring from the ashes of the American Revolution in 1783. It wasn't quite there when George Washington was elected the first president in 1788.
Rather, the nation finally took form in the throes of another war fought throughout and along North America's east coast and on the Great Lakes nearly 30 years after the Revolution. The War of 1812 (1812-1814) pitted the Americans against their former countrymen - the soldiers and sailors of Great Britain - and the war allowed the nascent country to achieve two lasting and profound victories.
First, the infant American Navy beat again and again the best in the world - the British Royal Navy - which finally gave the U.S. an inarguable place on the international stage. These Americans were legitimate: a force to be reckoned with.
Second, and for the first time ever, Americans began to draw together in a spirit of national pride. This was epitomized in a poem penned during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814; this poem, "The Star Spangled Banner," would later become the nation's anthem.
Winning the War of 1812 brought the seeds sown in 1776, 1783 and 1788 to fruition and made a unified nation of America. But that victory almost never was.
As their war against Napoleon Bonaparte wound down in 1814, the British redoubled their efforts against the Americans. In August of that year, the British Army invaded in large numbers and overran Washington, D.C. After sacking the capital, they headed north into Maryland intent on burning Baltimore as well.
However, their advance met the first heavy resistance at North Point about five miles from Baltimore, Sept. 12, 1814. There, members of the Maryland militia took a stand against the invaders.
Though the 5th Maryland Regiment (the North Point defenders) eventually made an organized retreat from the skirmish, their defense was key in halting the British advance. The commander of the British forces was killed there; his death demoralized the invading troops and stalled their advance until another, less able general took command.
The delay allowed American forces to rally and win the Battle of Baltimore. The victory marked the beginning of the end of the war and the birth of a new era.
To commemorate the importance of the defense of North Point, over 400 members of the Maryland Army National Guard, Maryland Defense Force members, and members of other services marched in the 200th March of the Defenders in Baltimore, Sept. 12.
"It means a lot to know how passionate people are about what we have here (in America)," said Spc. Gareth J. Ainsworth, an infantryman in C Co., 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment. Ainsworth is from North Wales in Great Britain and had mixed feelings about things. "During the march, I tried to reflect on what it must have been like for the patriots marching down not knowing whether or not they would be coming back."
The march was part of the Star Spangled Spectacular (Sept. 10-16), Baltimore's celebration of the bicentennial anniversary of the writing of the national anthem.
Soldiers from the 5th Maryland, nowadays known as the 175th Infantry Regiment, participated in the march, which took them on a 6-mile trek from Patterson Park to Battle Acre Park along the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail.
"I felt a sense of pride knowing that the people were supporting us for the meaning behind the march," said Pvt. Clifton Shivers Jr., an infantryman from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-175th Infantry Regiment. "We got to walk in the footsteps of the Soldiers who dug the trenches and fought the war, we walked with their spirits."
The route, which took marchers in the footsteps of the North Point defenders of 1814, was lined with festive red, white and blue bunting and period flags.
The Maryland National Guard's 229th Army Band and the Maryland Defense Force Band performed during a ceremony at Patterson Park and the conclusion at Battle Acre. Band members even accompanied the 1-175th during the march. The Remembrance Ceremony at Battle Acre included a wreath-laying ceremony with representatives from the British Embassy and the local Maryland government.
"We came over to see the marching troops and to pay our respect and honor to the Guard," said Mary Feigley, a Baltimore resident who first learned of the Battle of North Point as a girl in grade school.
She enjoys retelling the history that she was taught and sharing the new facts she learned to her 12-year-old grandson.
Though the War of 1812 was bitter and bloody, the March of the Defenders and the other events of the Star Spangled Spectacular celebrated what the trials of that war meant. Because of the sacrifices of those like the Soldiers of the 5th Maryland at North Point, the U.S. became more than an independent country: its people came together as a unified nation.