Period Weaponry on Display at Hancock's Resolution

Docent Jim Van Epps was on hand at Hancock's Resolution State Park on Sunday to showcase a variety of weaponry that was used in the Battle of 1814, where American colonists repelled the British forces' attempt to take Baltimore.

The display was in commemoration of Defenders' Day, a Maryland holiday that celebrates the defense of Baltimore on September 12, 1814. This event led Francis Scott Key to write "The Defense of Ft. McHenry," the poem that eventually became America's national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Van Epps demonstrated the loading and firing process for the Brown Bess musket, a common firearm of the time. Simply loading the weapon was a complex process and it was highly inaccurate. Van Epps said that soldiers were often forced into melee combat due to the difficulty of rapidly firing such a weapon.