Fort Mchenry

While Fort McHenry's cannons blasted at schooners in the Baltimore harbor Tuesday, the voices of children from several city schools rose above the din. The young singers quivered a bit but stayed on key as they sang patriotic anthems. Four choirs and one wind ensemble performed at the fort's first maritime and musical education experience as the 1814 Battle of Baltimore was re-enacted - with ersatz cannon blasts and authentic smoke - in the background. A few children held their ears or jumped at the suddenness of the volleys, but they kept on singing.

The quickly constructed, earthen star-shaped Fort Whetstone, built in 1776, was the first fortification to occupy the site where Fort McHenry now stands. The city's vulnerability to a waterborne attack was exposed in the spring of 1776 when the British sloop Otter sailed unchallenged up the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimoreans quickly sprang into action, and the Maryland Council of Safety began to supervise construction of the fort on Whetstone Point, which was to include an 18-gun battery.

There's another part of the story of Fort McHenry, one that is not much concerned with the War of 1812 and the bombing that inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner."Scott Sheads, 42, the national shrine's historian, has spent the past several years detailing Fort McHenry's use during the Civil War when it was a federal prison.Fort McHenry was the military headquarters of Baltimore, the keystone of the Eighth Army Corps, an installation and prison where some 2,000 political prisoners were jailed at times during this period of conflict and division.

CURRENT volunteers' news and needs:The Fort McHenry guard needs volunteers for its many summer programs, particularly helping to depict a soldier's life at Fort McHenry in 1814. Those who can volunteer to the guard should call Hugh Manar, 962-4290.The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital needs volunteers to lead tours of its historic buildings, to work in its gift and thrift shops and to help with patient care. Day, evening and weekend hours are available and training is provided. Call Betsy Simons, 938-4850.

Betcha didn't know this -- but it's the opening days of the Civil War, and Fort McHenry is a Union fort, surrounded by a city whose sentiments are openly sympathetic to the South.And you thought this was 1996 with the Civil War far, far behind us. Well, on Saturday and Sunday, the 1861 Civil War Encampment takes over Fort McHenry. The park will be open to visitors who wish to experience that period in the life of Fort McHenry. About 7,000 people are expected to attend over the two days."There are 150 people involved," says Scott Sheads, the park historian at Fort McHenry.

Six weeks ago when Social Retiree ran in the 1 1/2 -mile Riggs Handicap at Pimlico, he led at the eighth pole, then tired down the lane and finished sixth.Yesterday, in the $75,000 Fort McHenry Handicap at Laurel, the 6-year-old gelding had plenty of energy left at the finish.With jockey Walter Guerra rating him just off a blistering pace, Social Retiree overtook Square Cut to win by 1 1/2 lengths in 1 minute, 58 4/5 seconds, track record time for 1 1/4 miles over the turf course.The clocking eclipsed by three-fifths of a second the record time run by Storm On The Loose in 1986.

California residents Caryn and Kurt Burris missed the Star-Spangled Sailabration festivities in June, but they learned all about the Stars and Stripes this month at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. The Burrises toured the birthplace of the national anthem Thursday with their children, Wyatt, 11, and Shelby, 13, while visiting Baltimore to see Kurt's great aunt. "It's an important part of history," Caryn Burris said. "We live in southern California, where everything is so new. It's nice to show the kids where it all started.

About 4,000 Maryland elementary school students will form the stars and stripes at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Fort McHenry in the annual re-creation of a 1914 event marking the 100th anniversary of the fort's bombardment and the writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner."Youngsters from Baltimore and 15 counties will form the red and white stripes of the Living Flag, and students from all of Maryland's counties and Baltimore will hold the stars.The final event in the national Flag Week observance -- a pause for the Pledge of Allegiance -- will be held at 7 p.m. on June 14 at Fort McHenry, followed by fireworks.

The federal government will give $364,000 to the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Site to upgrade the entrance and parking facilities, Maryland's two U.S. senators announced yesterday. The money - to come from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration - will help relieve safety concerns about schoolchildren, pedestrians and tour groups walking amid rows of buses to enter the Fort McHenry visitor center, according to the senators' offices. The parking lot will be improved, and a study will begin to look at building a circular route for transit vehicles to enter the lot from Fort Avenue.

Under hazy skies, two stenciled words on the black-and-white sign at the entrance gate to the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine today brought huge disappointment for local residents and out-of-towners alike."