The song “Yankee Doodle” echoed through Fort McHenry on a blustery Saturday morning, powered by rhythmic drums and bright flutes as a crowd gathered near the flagpole in the center of the star-shaped fort to help unfold the 17-foot-by-25-foot American flag. In a distinctly Baltimore and undeniably patriotic scene, they had come to mark the site’s 100th anniversary as a national park, even as an undertone of worry washed over some volunteers and supporters.

Designated a national park by Congress on March 3, 1925, Fort McHenry, where American forces withstood a British bombardment and inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner,” on Saturday drew visitors who lamented and protested President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal workforce through massive job dismissals, including for the National Park Service. But some also approved of the cuts.

On Feb. 14, the Trump administration eliminated 1,000 NPS jobs in what it calls efforts to cut government spending and shrink the federal workforce.

Visiting for the fourth week in a row, Wes and Kim Forsythe, whose son plays drums in the Fort McHenry Guard Fife and Drum Corps, said the park service firings are deeply upsetting.

“It’s nonpartisan, but they’ve made it partisan,” Wes Forsythe said. “It’s a terrible shame. It tarnishes all of us and makes something political that was established as an apolitical entity.”

On top of the 1,000 workers, more than 700 NPS employees took a deferred resignation — adding up to 9% of the workforce “gone very suddenly,” said Ed Stierli, Mid-Atlantic regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, an independent advocacy group.

The targeted were probationary workers, an especially heartbreaking move because many of the workers had finally landed their dream job, he said.

Six of those people worked at Fort McHenry.

The crowds at national parks will only grow as they approach their busy season, especially Maryland parks and historic sites where people from around the world visit to learn America’s story, Stierli said.

“Many of these parks have 20% fewer staff than they did 10 or 15 years ago. ... Essentially what we just saw, with a 9% staff reduction across the board, that’s like pouring gasoline on an already existing problem,” he said.

In response to questions from The Banner about how the staff cuts would affect services at the park, an NPS spokesperson said it is “hiring seasonal workers to continue enhancing the visitor experience as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management. We are focused on ensuring that every visitor has the chance to explore and connect with the incredible, iconic spaces of our national parks.”

Kordell Kemp, who said he has volunteered at the fort for a decade, disagreed with the cuts to park staff. Dressed in a Civil War-era 2nd U.S. Artillery uniform, he said he was proud to celebrate the park’s anniversary and hopes “we’re able to continue celebrating.”

Another longtime volunteer, Tim Ervin, said the firings were sad and disrespectful.

Other fort visitors thought the government was finally doing what it should: cutting down on spending. A couple — one sporting a Make America Great Again cap — said they love the national parks and want them to stay just as they are. They felt OK with cuts to the park service as long as the spending was not necessary. The money saved, they said, should be spent on preventing forest fires and taking care of veterans. They declined to provide their names.

But, as people inside the fort explored living history exhibits, a peaceful protest began just inside the entrance to the park, one of many efforts across the country, including Joshua Tree National Park and Yosemite in California, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and Yellowstone.

Thirty or so people stood in a line holding posters that said “Save our parks! Fire Musk!” and “Keep your DOGE on a leash,” in reference to the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has spearheaded layoff efforts. Cars honked and drivers cheered as they drove into the park.

Protest organizer Madelyn de Manincor was one of the six rangers who was terminated from the park two weeks ago.

She was 10 months into her 12-month probationary period and had been a federal employee for six years prior.

“I was a name on some spreadsheet somewhere, and my skills were not looked into, the work that I had been doing was not looked into,” said de Manincor, who worked as a visual information specialist. “It was just an arbitrary slash and burn.”

After two years of applying to other parks, she landed the job she was most passionate about. The day she was fired, she said, she just felt numb.

Some other fort staffers who lost their jobs were part of the maintenance team who fixed things like the Sea Wall Trail or the brick walkway so it was more accessible for visitors, she said.

The cuts are a devastating blow to an already understaffed park, which had 35 to 40 people working among the fort and the three other NPS sites in the area, de Manincor said.

As she referred to the park and the staff, De Manincor continued to say “we.” “Sorry, I need to stop saying ‘we,’” she said with a nervous laugh.

Among the protesters was Yvette Piacsek, general counsel for the National Federation of Federal Employees, who has filed three lawsuits to try to get federal workers their jobs back.

She said they’re hitting as many courts as possible to increase the chances they will win.

Many of the workers lived in government housing, Piacsek said, and on top of being fired, they’ve been evicted, too.

She also works as an attorney with the union that represents the 3,400 Forest Service workers and rangers at Yellowstone, who were among the first to receive layoffs.

Piacsek stood with the protesters holding Smokey Bear, which had an upside-down American flag in his paw. As a sign of distress, she said, the flag shows she is trying to take hold and show resistance to what has happened to the federal government.

The flag upside down is still respectful, she said, and she‘s proud to be an American.