@Janko @VeryBadLlama

History Time!

Before he wrote the US National anthem, Francis Scott Key tried to play soldier boy in the war of 1812. He fought in the Battle of Bladenburg near DC where ~7K US forces fought ~4K British. The heavily outnumbered Brits had a group of paid soldiers called the Colonial Marines that included some Black dudes✊🏿

Brits said, "Yo slaves! Let us train you as soldiers! You will get paid to kill slavers!"

You already know what happened next.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cze5A4iyQGk

@Janko @VeryBadLlama

The Brits won the battle so decisively that they pushed on from Bladensburg and burned Washington DC., including the building that we call the White House today.

The White House was already white, but people didn't call it that. After their victory at Bladensburg, the British burned DC. Soot everywhere!

After the US rebuilt the city, the building was shining white. People started calling it the White House.

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/burned-white-house-painting

The US side had a few Black soldiers too! They received a similar promise of freedom. But the Black US soldiers were disappointed in the skill and resolve of some of their white peers. Charles Ball said (in 1814 language), "Bro! Why are y'all running away? We're fighting for our freedom and our country! I thought you were a militia? Pshh! Soft!"

@Janko @VeryBadLlama
Francis Scott Key was so embarrassed by getting spanked at Bladenburg by former slaves turned professional soldiers, that he added these lines to the third verse of the Star Spangled Banner:

"No refuge could save the hireling and slave / From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave."

In most US wars, Black prisoners of war didn't get the same humane treatment as white POWs. They were tortured and executed. Some colonial Marines met this fate.