And the star spangled banner still waves...

I watched a documentary on the War of 1812 on the History channel the other night. I was greatly touched by the bravery of the men who fought for the freedom that was so perilously close to being snuffed out by the British. There were so many miracles that helped the US win the war, one being that a hurricane and tornado killed many of the British soldiers who had sacked and burned Washington DC, another being that the British cannonball that landed in Fort McHenry's gunpowder storage room never ignited (250,000 lbs. of gunpowder would have absolutely destroyed the fort), and that in the battle of New Orleans the rag-tag army guided by Andrew Jackson suffered less than 20 deaths, whereas the British lost a couple thousand men... For some reason I never realized how important the War of 1812 was...I'm glad that so many were so committed to our freedom and protecting our way of life.