0:00:02 > 0:00:04In honour of his late father, actor Chris O'Donnell is
0:00:04 > 0:00:07investigating his paternal family history.
0:00:07 > 0:00:08So he went absent...
0:00:08 > 0:00:10He discovers a legacy of courage...
0:00:10 > 0:00:13- They're digging holes, burying bodies fast as they can.- Right.
0:00:13 > 0:00:14..patriotism...
0:00:14 > 0:00:16Having them come in and burn down his town.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18- His family's up on the hill watching. - That's right.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22..and a devotion to family that goes deeper than he ever imagined.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25I mean, who wouldn't be so proud to hear this about your family?
0:01:00 > 0:01:02All right, Charlie, you ready?
0:01:02 > 0:01:04You guys ready? This is championship right here.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Actor, producer and director Chris O'Donnell currently stars
0:01:08 > 0:01:11in the hit series NCIS Los Angeles.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13It's the latest success in a career
0:01:13 > 0:01:18that's thrived on both big and small screens for more than 25 years.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Ooh! Curls over him!
0:01:20 > 0:01:24At just 19, Chris earned rave reviews for his debut film
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Men Don't Leave and later for Scent of a Woman.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Then at 24, Chris shot to fame
0:01:31 > 0:01:35with the breakthrough role of Robin in the blockbuster Batman Forever.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39The first Batman film I did
0:01:39 > 0:01:41just sent things to a different level.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45But I knew when I was working, there was different paths you could take
0:01:45 > 0:01:49and I knew that I could continue to date and never get married
0:01:49 > 0:01:52and enjoy Hollywood and all the benefits of it but that
0:01:52 > 0:01:54really wasn't who I was. It's tough to have it both ways.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58If you know you want to have a great family and a bunch of kids,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01it's hard to run around in Hollywood.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04I think I was 26 and I met the right person.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07And I did always want to have...
0:02:07 > 0:02:09a big family.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Caroline and I have been married 16 years and we have five kids.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Until you have children
0:02:14 > 0:02:18you just have no idea what it means to love someone.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22I mean you would literally stand in front of a moving train
0:02:22 > 0:02:23or something for them.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27I'm the youngest of seven. I always had great role model with my parents.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32My dad, William O'Donnell, was born in 1922 in St Louis.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36I think the biggest motivation to learn more about the family history
0:02:36 > 0:02:39was my dad passing away two years ago.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43You just start longing to keep a connection there.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47He was a totally self made man, always put his family first.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51It's funny. I still get very choked up just talking about Dad.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Even just now, just starting to talk about it,
0:02:54 > 0:02:55but, erm...
0:02:57 > 0:02:58..just to, eh...
0:03:00 > 0:03:02..incredibly solid role model.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Dad was very proud of me and Mom too.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10I'm lucky enough that she's still alive. I can ask her questions
0:03:10 > 0:03:14about her side but I don't know much about my dad's side
0:03:14 > 0:03:15of the family.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19All right. Let's see what you have found out.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24So Tory Berner is my sister Libby's middle child.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27She's actually out here for the summer living with us.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31I figured with her being a bit of an amateur genealogist herself,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33pick her brain a little bit about what she knows about
0:03:33 > 0:03:37specifically my dad's side of the family.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41- We know that Poppy's parents are Sarah Regina McCabe...- Right.
0:03:41 > 0:03:47..and John O'Donnell. Here we have the baptism
0:03:47 > 0:03:48for Sarah Regina McCabe.
0:03:48 > 0:03:541886 is when she was born. Oh, my God. In St Louis.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Child of Henry McCabe and Mary McEnnis.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00- So I've always heard McCabe.- Right.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03- But I've never heard that name before.- Mary McEnnis.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07- I don't know anything about...- I know.- ..this part of the family.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10So then to find out more about this...
0:04:10 > 0:04:14I looked up the McEnnis name in St. Louis and I found...
0:04:14 > 0:04:17- Census?- 1850 census.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19Wow. Here's McEnnis down here.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22- And there's Mary...- Right.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25..not even a year old and her parents are Michael McEnnis
0:04:25 > 0:04:28and Eliza McEnnis.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32- So these are Poppy's great- grandparents.- Great-grandparents.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37The census has taken Chris back four generations and more than 150 years
0:04:37 > 0:04:42to his great-great-grandparents Michael and Eliza McEnnis.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45As Chris is already familiar with the O'Donnells and the McCabes,
0:04:45 > 0:04:49his niece Tory has been researching the McEnnis line.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53- I went on some of the local history St. Louis websites.- Right.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56And if you go to research,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58search the collections,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01guide to the archival collections.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05- This is what you just typed McEnnis into?- Mm-hmm.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07McEnnis.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10- Michael McEnnis, 1849...- Right.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14..which includes an account of the cholera epidemic, 1849,
0:05:14 > 0:05:16by Michael McEnnis.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19He wrote something on the cholera epidemic,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22but there was nothing more about that on this website.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25So where do we go to find out what he wrote about the cholera epidemic?
0:05:25 > 0:05:27You go to St. Louis, Missouri.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32What I learned from Tory was about some account of a cholera epidemic
0:05:32 > 0:05:38that was written about by Michael McEnnis, my great-great-grandfather.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40But this is all news to me.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44I'm not familiar with any cholera epidemic in Missouri
0:05:44 > 0:05:47and I had never heard the family name McEnnis before, so...
0:05:48 > 0:05:50..lot of questions all of a sudden.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Chris is off to St. Louis.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03He's heading to the Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07He's meeting archivist Dennis Northcott to try to find out
0:06:07 > 0:06:09about his great-great-grandfather's written account
0:06:09 > 0:06:12of the 1849 cholera epidemic.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15- Nice to meet you. - Yeah, good to see you.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Trying to find information about my great-great-grandfather
0:06:17 > 0:06:21- Michael McEnnis.- Right.- And he wrote about a cholera epidemic.- Right.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25I wonder if you might have anything in relation to this?
0:06:25 > 0:06:27This is from our online guide.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Let me take this with me and I'll go run down the stacks
0:06:30 > 0:06:31- and get that for you.- Appreciate it.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42- Aha. You have something! - All right.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47So this first item I want to show you are some original
0:06:47 > 0:06:50recollections written by your great- great-grandfather Michael McEnnis.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54This was likely donated to us by Michael McEnnis or perhaps
0:06:54 > 0:06:55some of his family members.
0:06:55 > 0:07:01- And what was the cholera epidemic? - Oh, so in 1849, St. Louis suffered
0:07:01 > 0:07:03through this devastating cholera epidemic.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07People would take sick and they'd die within a matter of hours.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11In the mid 1800's a deadly cholera epidemic hit
0:07:11 > 0:07:13the United States from Europe.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18By 1849, Michael McEnnis's hometown of St. Louis
0:07:18 > 0:07:21was one of the hardest hit cities in America.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Cholera claimed the lives of roughly ten per cent of the population.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28And at the height of the epidemic some 88 victims
0:07:28 > 0:07:30were being buried each day.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34- It literally just hit like that?- Right.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37- It was something that would get in the water and you would drink it? - Right, right.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Now we know what causes it -
0:07:39 > 0:07:41human waste contaminating the water supply.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44But at the time they didn't know what caused it.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Take a look. It's probably going to be a dramatic account,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50because this was one of the worst periods in St. Louis' history.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53"Cholera 1849.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55"My father, John McEnnis, was the Superintendent
0:07:55 > 0:08:00"of the old Catholic graveyard. My father died whilst the writer
0:08:00 > 0:08:03"was in New Mexico in the Mexican War."
0:08:03 > 0:08:06My God, the writer being...
0:08:06 > 0:08:08- my great-great-grandfather.- Correct.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11"My brother, then 16-years-old, took charge.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15"When the cholera was at its height, my mother wrote me a note
0:08:15 > 0:08:20"stating my brother was very sick and that four of his men had died
0:08:20 > 0:08:23"the night before, that there were eight bodies lying in the graveyard
0:08:23 > 0:08:27"and no-one to bury them or to attend to their remains.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30"That I must come out at once and take charge."
0:08:30 > 0:08:33So they're just literally digging holes and burying bodies
0:08:33 > 0:08:35- as fast as they can?- Right, right.
0:08:35 > 0:08:394,500 people died within the space of about three months.
0:08:39 > 0:08:40Oh, my gosh!
0:08:41 > 0:08:44"On a very hot day near the close of the cholera
0:08:44 > 0:08:48"I was standing at the graveyard gate. Coming up the road was a woman
0:08:48 > 0:08:53"carrying a large bundle. I stepped out seeing she was staggering
0:08:53 > 0:08:56"under the load and invited her to come into the shade of a tree and rest.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00"She then handed the writer a poor ticket for a grave for a child
0:09:00 > 0:09:04"12-years-old. I told her that was all right
0:09:04 > 0:09:06"and asked when the remains would be brought.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10"She answered by pointing to the bundle - it is here.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13"She told me her husband and one child had died with cholera
0:09:13 > 0:09:15"and now this child was the last.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21"She told me she was the last of her people and very likely I would
0:09:21 > 0:09:24"bury her remains the following week.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26"I can feel the tears running down my cheeks now."
0:09:28 > 0:09:29Wow.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Yeah and you can imagine why he wrote these recollections
0:09:32 > 0:09:34that had such an effect on him.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37- Yeah.- Living through it.- Jeez.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Doing all that work for the people.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Really.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Brave person to do that. Just amazing.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48- Wow! - It's a great story.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51I mean you think it's just a great story you're reading
0:09:51 > 0:09:53about and then you realise it's your family
0:09:53 > 0:09:55and it's written by your family. That's unbelievable.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57What am I looking at now, here?
0:09:59 > 0:10:03- Oh, my God, so this is Michael? - Hm-mm.- Look at that!
0:10:04 > 0:10:05Michael McEnnis.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09I can't believe there's a photo of him.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12That's pretty early for photography to find a photo of an ancestor
0:10:12 > 0:10:15- back in the 1850's or so.- Wow.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19I wonder how long he was off fighting in the Mexican War?
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Maybe there's some information on that?
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Yeah I would suggest you go to Washington D.C.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25and meet with an expert on the Mexican American War.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28And maybe you can find out, I mean here it seems to imply that he
0:10:28 > 0:10:31served, maybe you can document that.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34- Thank you so much.- You're welcome. Great meeting you.- This is amazing.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38To have that first-hand account of the cholera epidemic
0:10:38 > 0:10:40here in St. Louis
0:10:40 > 0:10:42and understand what he was feeling and what he was going through.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44It was really amazing.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47I don't even have written accounts of my own dad
0:10:47 > 0:10:50and this is my great-great-grandfather.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53He was going to have to be kind of the man for the family
0:10:53 > 0:10:56and he stood up to the test.
0:10:56 > 0:10:57Michael was very brave.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01He's had a pretty amazing life so far
0:11:01 > 0:11:06so I'm curious to find out what else we can about... about Michael.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Chris's next stop is Washington DC.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19To discover whether or not his great great grandfather,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Michael McEnnis, served in the Mexican American War,
0:11:22 > 0:11:27Chris is visiting the Georgetown Neighbourhood Library to meet historian, Amy Greenberg.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30- So nice to meet you, Chris. - Nice to meet you.- Yeah.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33I'm trying to find out some information
0:11:33 > 0:11:35on my great great grandfather Michael McEnnis.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39I understand you are an expert on the Mexican Amercian War?
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Well I was able to get his compiled military
0:11:43 > 0:11:44records from the National Archives.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47And I think you'll find these interesting.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50- So my great great grandfather served in the Mexican American War.- He did.
0:11:50 > 0:11:51That's amazing.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55Can you just give me a little synopsis on the Mexican American War
0:11:55 > 0:11:58- just to refresh my memory from senior year of high school?- Absolutely.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03- So the US Mexico War is about the boundary of the United States at the time.- Got you.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07In 1846, the western border of the United Sates reached
0:12:07 > 0:12:10only to the region now known as the Midwest.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Mexico claimed the area from West Texas to California.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19At the time, the US was riding high on a belief known as "manifest destiny" -
0:12:19 > 0:12:23the idea that America was destined to stretch across the continent.
0:12:23 > 0:12:29In May of 1846, President Polk declared war on Mexico
0:12:29 > 0:12:33and young men like Michael McEnnis answered the call to invade,
0:12:33 > 0:12:38claim territory and push the US border west to the Pacific.
0:12:38 > 0:12:44So here are Michael McEnnis' muster rolls from the US Mexico War.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47So this would explain how he got there or...?
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Muster roll is the record of your service.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53McEnnis was one of the 12-month volunteers.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56- Most of the volunteers in this war signed up for a 12-month period.- OK.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Michael McEnnis, so June 11th to August 31st 1846.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05He's probably 21 years old. So he went in June 11th.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08This is less than a month after Polk first calls for volunteers so...
0:13:08 > 0:13:10- This war has just begun. - The war has really just begun,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12I'm imaging Michael McEnnis being
0:13:12 > 0:13:15one of the thousands of men are extremely, extremely excited.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19- And as soon as they hear this call for troops, they turn out. - They're out there, OK.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22McEnnis was under orders to march through New Mexico
0:13:22 > 0:13:26capture New Mexico and march all the way to California and capture California.
0:13:26 > 0:13:27Oh, really?
0:13:27 > 0:13:32- This is two months in the summer marching through Oklahoma and New Mexico.- Hot.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35It was, it was brutal. Everybody would have been sunburned.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Everybody would have been parched.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42- Wow. OK, January and February now we're into 1847.- Right.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45This is St Louis. He's back in St Louis.
0:13:45 > 0:13:51His remarks, "absent on furlough since the last muster."
0:13:51 > 0:13:52So he went absent.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00- So he signed up in June of 1846 for a year...- Right.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03..and then all of sudden after seven months he disappears
0:14:03 > 0:14:05and he's on furlough, he's back in St Louis.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10That's right. In fact he's back in St Louis just a few months after he musters into service.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- He got there and then they sent him back?- Pretty much right away.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15So what could that...? I mean I wonder why he was sent back?
0:14:15 > 0:14:22- Or what he went back for? - Well, I think we may be able to determine that from looking online.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Letters from the Adjutant General 1822 to 1860.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28All right, so I'll open that.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34"Washington, December 21st 1846.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38"Discharge of Michael McEnnis." OK.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42"On the 7th of June, last I left St Louis."
0:14:42 > 0:14:45- Oh, this is a letter from Michael. - Yeah.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50"If after leaving Fort Leavenworth and arriving at Santa Fe
0:14:50 > 0:14:54"I received intelligence of the sudden death of my father."
0:14:56 > 0:14:58He just got there and he finds out his dad died.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02"Leaving me a large and helpless family to...
0:15:02 > 0:15:04"protect and see after."
0:15:04 > 0:15:09- He just gets there and he gets word that his dad has passed away. - Yeah, and he's 21 years old.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Wow. That's a lot of responsibility.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16"I immediately apply for a discharge."
0:15:16 > 0:15:18So that's what happened so he got to Santa Fe,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21he'd signed up for a year he was only there for a couple months.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24And immediately he gets a letter that his father's passed away
0:15:24 > 0:15:27- who's the head of the whole family.- Right.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29So is that a dishonourable discharge or is that...?
0:15:29 > 0:15:33No, it isn't a dishonourable discharge because at the end of the letter that you were just reading
0:15:33 > 0:15:38- he was applying for a discharge and he got one.- He got one. - So he was honourably discharged.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42- So he was honourably discharged. - Right.- The family obligation was more important to him
0:15:42 > 0:15:44and it pulled him back to St Louis.
0:15:46 > 0:15:54You know there's an amazing collection of Mexican War artefacts at the Smithsonian Museum.
0:15:54 > 0:15:55We should probably go check that out...
0:15:55 > 0:15:58- That would be great.- ..while you're here.- Yeah, absolutely.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01Seems like Michael was, you know, the ultimate eagle scout or something.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04I mean an amazing amount of character.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06He signed right up to fight in the Mexican American War.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09And then when he found out his dad had died he, you know,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12felt obligated to go back and take care of the family.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15And then serve his city by burying all the dead during the cholera epidemic.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18I mean, he had a real sense of duty and obligation.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21'Family obviously was such a priority for him
0:16:21 > 0:16:23'and it's always been a priority for me.'
0:16:23 > 0:16:26I mean, I always knew I always wanted to have a big family
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and, you know, even with my career taking me
0:16:29 > 0:16:32everywhere I've been filming and that sort of thing.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35It's always just been, you know, my family first
0:16:35 > 0:16:37and even above my career.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40I've been to the Smithsonian before, I've taken my kids there.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43So this will be kind of fun to have a real interest in seeing
0:16:43 > 0:16:47something that directly relates to my family history.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50- Here's the Mexican War.- Aha!
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Amy has arranged for Chris to meet one of the curators
0:16:52 > 0:16:54of the Smithsonian, David Miller.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58- David, nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.- How's it going? - All right.
0:16:58 > 0:16:59Wow, look at this.
0:17:05 > 0:17:06What do we have here?
0:17:06 > 0:17:08We have here a letter that came in with
0:17:08 > 0:17:12one of our items in the collections, I think you'd like to read it.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16"June 5th, 1905. My dear friend and comrade
0:17:16 > 0:17:20"I have thought over your request to place my old sabre in your hands.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22"These arms were given to men to be used,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26"either as Calvary or Infantry as occasion might it require.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28"Neither arms were handsome
0:17:28 > 0:17:31"yet the one I carried and accidentally retained..."
0:17:31 > 0:17:33accidentally retained,
0:17:33 > 0:17:39"..is valued as a souvenir of a war that won high honour on the United States.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42"If you still think it's worthy of placing with other souvenirs
0:17:42 > 0:17:45"of the Mexican War in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC
0:17:45 > 0:17:48"I am not disposed to refuse your request.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51"Very truly your friend and comrade, Michael McEnnis."
0:17:51 > 0:17:52That's unbelievable.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57This is his, this was his sabre?
0:17:57 > 0:17:58That was his sabre.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02I can't believe that you've got his sabre.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Oh, my God. Are you kidding me?
0:18:13 > 0:18:16It is a model, an 1813 horseman sabre.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20- And this was in storage here in the...?- Yes, it was.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22..Smithsonian?
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Who would have thought that 107 years later his great great grandson
0:18:26 > 0:18:29would come in here and be looking at this?
0:18:30 > 0:18:34He somehow ended up with it, he said. HE LAUGHS
0:18:34 > 0:18:38It's funny I have a sword from when I did the Three Musketeers, I kept my sword.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41- I somehow accidentally kept it. - Must run in the family.
0:18:41 > 0:18:42Must run in the family.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44It's amazing that he kept all these letters
0:18:44 > 0:18:48and these documents writing about the history that he experienced
0:18:48 > 0:18:52and yet somehow nobody in the family had all this.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55So I was doing some research on Michael McEnnis and I also found this.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Let me see what we got here.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03Holy cow! What year do we think this was probably?
0:19:03 > 0:19:04He's about 80 there.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08So probably when he wrote this letter.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11There are little resemblances to my own father, William.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15That's got to be the same bloodline, there's something too it.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20Boy, his hair was white. I mean does that mean I'm going grey?
0:19:24 > 0:19:28"St Louis Post Dispatch May 14th, 1911.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32"Michael McEnnis is the only man living in St Louis of 8,600
0:19:32 > 0:19:36"who marched away from here to the Mexican War 65 years ago.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38"The sword he carried to the Mexican War is
0:19:38 > 0:19:41"preserved as a relic in the Smithsonian Institution.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43"McEnnis comes of fighting stock.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47"He is of the ninth generation of his family in this country."
0:19:47 > 0:19:49The ninth generation of his family in this country
0:19:49 > 0:19:52and this is back in 1900.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Oh, my God, that's unbelievable.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59"In the War of 1812, there were 88 members of his family.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01"His grandfather, George McNeir,
0:20:01 > 0:20:07"was a Lieutenant in the Sea Fencibles at the bombardment of Fort McHenry."
0:20:07 > 0:20:10- The War of 1812, are you...? - That's right.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Oh, my God, that's just outrageous.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18According to the newspaper article, Chris's family history
0:20:18 > 0:20:22in the United State goes back much further than he thought.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25Michael McEnnis's father was John McEnnis.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28It seems he married the daughter of George McNeir,
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Chris's four times great grandfather.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Looks like I'm going to find out something about George McNeir.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35Where would I do that?
0:20:35 > 0:20:39Because they mention George McNeir by name in here it's quite
0:20:39 > 0:20:41possible that the National Archives might have some
0:20:41 > 0:20:44records of his service in the War of 1812.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49- That sounds like that's my next stop. Thank you so much. - You're welcome.- I appreciate it.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51'I think that Michael McEnnis wanted his family to be
0:20:51 > 0:20:54'proud of their history and to pass that along to everybody.'
0:20:54 > 0:20:58And I think if he knew that his great great grandson all these years
0:20:58 > 0:21:00later was holding that sword in the Smithsonian
0:21:00 > 0:21:03he would be pretty amazed and pleased.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07'Michael McEnnis is the ninth generation in this country,'
0:21:07 > 0:21:11which means I am the 13th generation,
0:21:11 > 0:21:13which means my children are 14th generation.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16It's hard to even fathom.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21But, obviously, the big news we learn about George McNeir,
0:21:21 > 0:21:26my four times great grandfather, fought in the War of 1812.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30And I'm curious to learn more about George now.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35Chris is heading to the National Archives to meet historian
0:21:35 > 0:21:41Vonnie Zullo who has been researching George McNeir's service in the War of 1812.
0:21:41 > 0:21:48You're in luck I have right here his compiled military service record for the War of 1812.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50This is the real one. This isn't even a copy.
0:21:50 > 0:21:51No, this is the real thing.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56- That's unbelievable, from the War of 1812.- 1812, yes.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00It was at a time when the future of America, of that young nation,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03really hung perilously in the balance.
0:22:03 > 0:22:04They had earned their...
0:22:04 > 0:22:08freedom from Britain but not their total independence.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12In 1812, Britain was at war with Napoleon's France.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16To gain the upper hand, Britain crushed America's sea trade
0:22:16 > 0:22:21with France and used its powerful navy to force US sailors to fight for Britain.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26American citizens like George McNeir rallied to defend their nation as it
0:22:26 > 0:22:31declared war on the same empire from which it had just won independence.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33I can't believe this.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35So this shows you.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40"George McNeir, third lieutenant Captain John Gill's company of Sea Fencibles."
0:22:40 > 0:22:42I've never heard of a Sea Fencible.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47The Sea Fencibles were groups of local men that were
0:22:47 > 0:22:55- brought into the existing forts at key port cities, to protect them.- Got you.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58So what exactly would a third lieutenant do?
0:22:58 > 0:23:04He would have been in charge of the men who actually fired
0:23:04 > 0:23:05the cannons, the cannoneers.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09- It was a pretty big job.- Got you.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13- So he probably had really bad hearing?- Probably. Probably.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17"February 28th to March 31st, 1814."
0:23:17 > 0:23:24This is when he enlisted. 1814, by then it was not a good year for our military.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27We were not doing well in this battle.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31- The British Royal Navy has a lot more ships, a lot more men. - So they send him over.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36- A lot more supplies. Yeah, they destroy entire towns, burn them to the ground.- Wow.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40Take anything that they wanted and they kept doing this with
0:23:40 > 0:23:45the idea that this was gonna destroy our willingness to fight.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47- Right.- That we would just give up.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52And then they had their sights, you know, on the capital, Washington DC,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55why not? They burned the capital, they burned the White House.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58- That's unbelievable.- It is unbelievable. It was an outrage.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03Imagine if you saw the destruction on villages all around you.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06It would definitely motivate you to fight
0:24:06 > 0:24:09- if suddenly it's threatening your safety.- Yes.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11- Wow.- Yeah.- That's amazing.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17And then we go to April 30th to June 30th, Fort McHenry.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19Where's Fort McHenry?
0:24:19 > 0:24:23Fort McHenry is in Baltimore.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25- So would that mean that he was from that area?- Yes.
0:24:27 > 0:24:28Got you.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33"August 31st to October 31st, 1814."
0:24:33 > 0:24:37That's the last muster roll card that was available for him.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Does that mean that he left at that point or was discharged or...?
0:24:40 > 0:24:44Well, there were a few more documents in his service record.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46You are really lucky, this is not common.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49- Really?- Almost 200 years old. - Oh, my God. All right.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56"Sir, the situation on my family is such that is calls
0:24:56 > 0:25:00"imperiously for my continual presence.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04"I therefore solicit you to have the goodness to
0:25:04 > 0:25:08"prevail on the secretary of war.
0:25:08 > 0:25:14"To accept my resignation as third lieutenant. Your obedient servant...
0:25:14 > 0:25:19- Obedient servant, that's it. - "..George McNeir, October 22nd, 1814."
0:25:19 > 0:25:24So just like my great great grandfather who had to leave because of his family.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27- That's...- Wow.- ..crazy coincidence.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29- Coincidence, huh?- Yeah.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33So what happened? Was the resignation granted?
0:25:33 > 0:25:37There's one more document that you can look at.
0:25:37 > 0:25:38The suspense.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46"It appears by the records of this office that George McNeir
0:25:46 > 0:25:54"of Sea Fencibles accepted his appointment on the 22nd of March 1814
0:25:54 > 0:26:00"and resigned on the 24th of November 1814."
0:26:00 > 0:26:04- So his resignation was accepted. - It was accepted.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Was this normal for someone to request something like this and...?
0:26:07 > 0:26:10No, it's not necessarily totally normal.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14And you often don't find this sort of thing in a service record,
0:26:14 > 0:26:19the letters like this from the 1812 time period, so pretty lucky.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Wow. That's unbelievable.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26- So he, as of November 24th, 1814 was back home with the family. - Back home with the family.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31So I wonder what the situation of the family is.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34Why he had to go back and what was going on?
0:26:34 > 0:26:41Now since we know he was from Baltimore area, right, Baltimore County.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46- The Maryland State Archives would be the best place for you to look, in Annapolis.- OK.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Because they would have the records of citizens that
0:26:49 > 0:26:51lived in Baltimore or Baltimore County.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54- I've got to find out more. - I know. I know. You're not done yet.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56- I'm on my way.- Yeah. you are.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58So there's a trend here.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00McEnnis and McNeir made choices.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03It was they chose family, which, you know,
0:27:03 > 0:27:05is definitely a pattern I've seen in our lives.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07My dad always put our family first
0:27:07 > 0:27:10and it's for sure the choice I've always made in life.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14I don't know why George McNeir needed to leave.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17Maybe someone got sick, maybe somebody died.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Maybe he was just sick of hearing all these cannons blast all day.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23I don't know, but I want to find out.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Chris's four times great grandfather wrote that a family situation
0:27:27 > 0:27:31was the reason for his resignation from the Sea Fencibles.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33To try to find out more, Chris has come to the
0:27:33 > 0:27:38Maryland State Archives to meet genealogist Michael Hait.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45So I've got some muster rolls here on my four times great grandfather...
0:27:45 > 0:27:47- OK.- George McNeir.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50It says something in here that he had to leave
0:27:50 > 0:27:53the War of 1812 for some family reasons
0:27:53 > 0:27:57- and I'm trying to kind of figure out what that might have been.- OK.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01I've actually done a little bit of research already
0:28:01 > 0:28:03and I have a few things to finish up.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08But why don't you take a look at the US Federal Census
0:28:08 > 0:28:12since he was serving in Baltimore in 1814.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15You should take a look at the census in Baltimore in 1810,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18which will give you an ideal of the household, composition,
0:28:18 > 0:28:20the family dynamics and that sort of thing.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24- OK, great. I'll check it out.- I'll be back in just a minute.- OK. Great.
0:28:28 > 0:28:341810 Federal Census. OK, so I got a little something here.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38That's McNeir, George McNeir.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Looks like right now there's two, there's the parents
0:28:41 > 0:28:43and they look like they've got four kids.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Well I found in the 1810 census I've got George McNeir down here.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53It says that he and his wife seem to have four kids, three young ones.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55So he's got a full house at home.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59One place you can go to get a little bit more detail about George
0:28:59 > 0:29:01would be the Baltimore City directories.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05I was able to find a city directory from 1812
0:29:05 > 0:29:07and I printed out the page here.
0:29:07 > 0:29:12City directory from 1812.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17McNeir, George - he's a tailor.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21So he's a tailor and they were saying that he was a Sea Fencible
0:29:21 > 0:29:25and that... So he was... He probably answered the call to duty
0:29:25 > 0:29:28because if the British came in it'd destroy his business.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31- Right.- It would be tough if he's got a little tailor shop right in town.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Is this do you know where this address is?
0:29:33 > 0:29:36- Is that somewhere near the water? - Baltimore is a port city.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40- So...- So everything's right around it.- ..everything's, you know, kind of around the water.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43It didn't have to be right on the water to be affected by the war.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47Also found another record.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49These are core papers.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54- Take a look at these.- Oh, my God. - Each...- Are these the originals? - These are the originals.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56- And you're allowed to touch them? - Yes, you are.
0:29:56 > 0:29:57Really?
0:29:57 > 0:29:59So, you want to find '72.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03'71.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05'72.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09I see George McNeir for house rent 21, 10.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15April of 1813.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18So this is before he signs up to become a Sea Fencible.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20Right, exactly.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23"A schedule of the goods and chattels of George McNeir."
0:30:23 > 0:30:25- Chattels? What are chattels? - Personal property.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29OK. "Seized and taken for house rent."
0:30:31 > 0:30:34So someone came in and seized all his stuff.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38These were people who were empowered by William Smith who owned the property.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42- He obviously wasn't paying his bills.- Right.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Wow. OK.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48All right, so it says here 88 great coats
0:30:48 > 0:30:51and 704 dollars, is that considered a lot of money?
0:30:51 > 0:30:54704 dollars was about 11,000 dollars.
0:30:54 > 0:30:55- Today?- Today.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58So he was a tailor so he had made these coats,
0:30:58 > 0:31:00- so they took his inventory, basically.- Right, exactly.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05He's in tough shape business wise, obviously. But I wonder why?
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Well, a lot of the trade was with Europe
0:31:08 > 0:31:13and great coats in particular, you know, were more for kind of the upper classes.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16And so lot of those would have being going to Europe.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21The war with Britain obviously would have cut off trade to Britain.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Which would be devastating to someone like George McNeir?
0:31:24 > 0:31:28- So it sounds like the war destroyed his business.- Right.
0:31:28 > 0:31:33And he's got a household full of people at least four kids, a wife.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36William Smith has just taken all of his inventory of coats
0:31:36 > 0:31:40so he's really in a tough, tough place.
0:31:40 > 0:31:46So in April of 1813, suddenly he's had everything seized
0:31:46 > 0:31:49and then a year later, almost a year later,
0:31:49 > 0:31:52- he enlists and we see him in the muster records.- Right.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54- So he needs a job.- Exactly.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58So he started in February of 1814.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01What how much would a Sea Fencible be paid for something like this?
0:32:01 > 0:32:05They would have been paid about 23 dollars a month,
0:32:05 > 0:32:11which was in today's terms probably about 300 or 400 dollars a month.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13- OK. I guess it's something.- Yeah.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18So he was, he probably answered the call to duty
0:32:18 > 0:32:21because he's got a real vested interest to go join
0:32:21 > 0:32:25the Sea Fencibles if suddenly his livelihood is endangered.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29George McNeir obviously had a lot going on in his life at this point.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33But why he left the Sea Fencibles, I'm confused about.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35I still don't understand exactly why.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38The papers we looked at yesterday said that he resigned
0:32:38 > 0:32:41- November 24th of 1814.- OK.
0:32:41 > 0:32:46Now one thing I noticed is the time frame that he served.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49He was serving during September of 1814
0:32:49 > 0:32:52- at the Garrison of Fort McHenry.- OK.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56And a very significant military event occurred there.
0:32:56 > 0:32:57- Really?- Yeah.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59- During September?- During September.
0:32:59 > 0:33:05So that would have been just a couple months before he officially resigned from the Sea Fencibles.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09OK, well that, maybe that can give me some more information on what was going on.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13- All right.- All right.- Thank you very much for helping me out.- Sure.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18It seems pretty clear from what we've seen that George McNeir had a lot on his plate.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21And having a house full of kids at home.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24I mean, I could imagine in my own life, how crazy that is.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Anybody with a, you know, a family and kids,
0:33:28 > 0:33:33it's always your first priority to make sure you're providing for them.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36It seems like McNeir's gonna fight for them and literally.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43I'm not sure why he resigned from the Sea Fencibles, hopefully
0:33:43 > 0:33:47visiting Fort McHenry will help us to understand more of that.
0:33:48 > 0:33:55To get to the heart of George McNeir's experience in the War of 1812, Chris is heading to Baltimore.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Two months before resigning as a third lieutenant
0:34:01 > 0:34:04Chris's four times great grandfather was involved
0:34:04 > 0:34:08in a significant military event that took place at Fort McHenry.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12So to find out what happened there, Chris is meeting historian Vince Vaise.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16So my four times great father, George McNeir joined as a Sea Fencible
0:34:16 > 0:34:20- and that he was in charge of the guys running the cannons and things like that.- That's right.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25McNeir was stationed what we call on the water battery.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27That's the front row sea.
0:34:27 > 0:34:33By late 1814, the war with Britain had taken a terrible toll on the United States.
0:34:33 > 0:34:39Washington DC had been burned and the British set their sights on Baltimore.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43On September 12th, the powerful Royal Navy appeared on the horizon
0:34:43 > 0:34:47forcing George McNeir and the other soldiers at Fort McHenry to take up
0:34:47 > 0:34:52arms and prepare for a bombardment of legendary proportions.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57Six in the morning on the 13th, it's overcast, it starts to rain
0:34:57 > 0:35:00the ships come within the gunnery range of the fort.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04It sounded like thunder when the fort's cannons opened up.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09But the British had a secret weapon that the American's could not use here.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11- What was that? - They called them the bomb vessels.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16200 years ago they had the technology to throw a 194-pound shell two miles.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20- Oh, so that was further than our range.- Right.- So that's the... Off a ship.- Off a ship.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25So think about how the defenders of the fort
0:35:25 > 0:35:27and your ancestor would have had to feel.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Here it's pouring down rain -
0:35:29 > 0:35:31you're standing between the city of Baltimore and here.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35- You don't know you're gonna win or not. - Your bullets aren't reaching them.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38And then, as a matter of fact, knowing that the orders are passed down the line,
0:35:38 > 0:35:40"cease-fire don't waste your ammunition."
0:35:40 > 0:35:44- So all these guys can do is just hunker down and take it. - They said cease-fire.- Cease-fire.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47And they're sitting here and these guys are drilling them with 190-pound missiles.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49That's why one captain who was in the fort said,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53"We felt like pigeons tied by the legs to be shot at."
0:35:54 > 0:35:56Oh, my God.
0:35:56 > 0:36:01They said you could hear the concussion of the shells in the city of Baltimore.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05Theoretically if George McNeir was out here in this battle,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08- his family is up on the hill watching what's going on.- Yeah, that's right.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10Wow. So how long did the battle last?
0:36:10 > 0:36:1425 hours. The next morning they're out around 7.00am
0:36:14 > 0:36:16on the morning of the 14th.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20The British cease-fire, and then there's this ominous silence.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25The people in Baltimore sit here like, "OK, did the fort win?
0:36:25 > 0:36:27"Or are the British moving in the fort?"
0:36:27 > 0:36:29The silence could mean that the British won.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32If you're in the fort you're like, "OK, what's next?
0:36:32 > 0:36:36"I survived the night. Are the British gonna come up and we got a bigger battle on our hands?
0:36:36 > 0:36:41- "Are we gonna make it through this day?"- And so what was our plan at that point?
0:36:41 > 0:36:44The British, they're the ones essentially holding the cards.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48They're like, "OK, we wasted all this ammunition."
0:36:48 > 0:36:51- They don't have infinite stockpiles. - That's right.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54So the second option was to bring the ships in close
0:36:54 > 0:36:57- but they figured, "Man, they're gonna tear us up."- Sure.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00So the only option left is to turn and sail away.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06- You know, it kind of showed the British you threw your best at us and we took it and...- That's right.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Then as the British ships are sailing away at nine in the morning,
0:37:10 > 0:37:14the morning cannon fires probably from this bastion right here.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Boom! The small sopping wet American flag is taken down
0:37:18 > 0:37:21- and a gigantic American flag... - No way.- Yeah.
0:37:21 > 0:37:2730 feet high, 42 feet long is hoisted as the fifes and drums played Yankee Doodle.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31So your ancestor would have seen that huge American flag go up.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33That had to be an amazing sight.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38I would say the most recognisable individual who saw the flag
0:37:38 > 0:37:41and immortalized what happened, is a lawyer.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43He was negotiating a release of a prisoner.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47He defines the whole experience. He writes this poem.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51'Tis the Star Spangled Banner Oh long may it wave.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56And that lawyer was Frances Scott Key
0:37:56 > 0:38:00and those words would become the National Anthem of the United States of America.
0:38:00 > 0:38:01That's amazing!
0:38:01 > 0:38:05Yeah. Part of your family history is part of the National Anthem.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07Jeez. My gosh. I had no idea.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11But I mean this was huge turning point in the War of 1812 and it
0:38:11 > 0:38:16really had a major impact on the treaty that ended the War of 1812.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18- Wow.- Saved the city of Baltimore.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22So I would like to invite you to change the flag,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26just like they did on the morning of September 14th.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30- That would be amazing. I thank you so much.- I'll see you down there. - All righty. I'll be there in a sec.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36I never knew what the National Anthem was written about.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41And to learn that it was written about this incident, the Battle of Baltimore in 1814.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45And that one my relatives was out here, is pretty amazing.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48- OK.- You ready?- Yeah. - All right, haul away.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51'I can only imagine what those 24 hours must have'
0:38:51 > 0:38:53seemed like a lifetime,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56that night, for the kids, for his wife,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00and for him, wondering what's going on back home. Are they gonna survive?
0:39:02 > 0:39:04On the one hand, you know, he was answering that call to duty
0:39:04 > 0:39:09'for his country and for his city and for his family and their safety.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14'This was important to serve, but he figured it was in good hands here'
0:39:14 > 0:39:17and he needed to get back to more important things.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21To me that makes sense that maybe that's why he made his way back to Baltimore, to his family.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Well I will never hear the song and not think about this.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30- That's pretty good.- That's awesome, isn't it?- Thank you.- You're welcome.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35'To hear these stories of great grandparents that
0:39:35 > 0:39:37'served in the cholera epidemic'
0:39:37 > 0:39:42and being a part of the battle that inspired the National Anthem, that's insane.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46My dad would be so excited to know this.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48I know he would have been very proud.
0:39:48 > 0:39:53I mean, who wouldn't be so proud to hear this about your family?
0:39:53 > 0:39:54They're amazing stories.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00McNeir and McEnnis both answered the call to service,
0:40:00 > 0:40:04but you know, what's the most important thing to them in life?
0:40:04 > 0:40:06Your family.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08'I think there is a through line as far as,
0:40:08 > 0:40:10'these guys putting their families first,'
0:40:10 > 0:40:14maybe that's part of why it feel so natural to me, or so right to me.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20That that is your instinct, maybe it comes from past generations
0:40:20 > 0:40:23that have kind of instilled that in you without you even knowing.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27That's amazing, yeah, really amazing.