Ashes in the Capital, Blood on the Castle Slopes

From the burning of Washington to the storming of Chapultepec, this episode follows the Marines through a generation of transformation and war. It opens with the War of 1812's final acts. From there, we moves through the Second Barbary War and Archibald Henderson's rise as the "Grand Old Man," who reshaped the Corps into a disciplined, permanent force. His Marines fought across swamps and frontiers in the Seminole campaigns before marching ashore in Mexico. The story ends at Veracruz and Chapultepec, where Marines scaled the fortress walls, earning the words forever carried in song.