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Team Name Origins


MickinMD

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Seattle Seahawks are named after the birds flying around Seattle - a common occurrence like the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago (then St. Louis then Arizona) Cardinals. etc.

The Washington Redskins name is controversial but there were tribes in the area - I prefer the Washington Piscataways (piss-CAT-a-ways) as one the tribes still living in the area to this day - the Sergeant-at-arms in a club I belong to is a Piscataway, though his name is Jimmy, not Powhatan: who was the father of Pocohontas and chief of the tribal alliance including the Piscataways.  I had a cousin who coached and named his kids' little league team the Piscataways to the consternation of the league officials. He had shirts made that basically read "PIScataways."  It was in a rednecky area and the parents loved it.

But where did Seattle Dragons and Washington Defenders come from?

Washington D.C. has an abysmal record of defending itself in war.  In 1814, very poorly organized defensive lines outside of Washington and a bad movement decision resulted in the American army fleeing and James and Dolly Madison rushing out of the city - but not before Dolly saved a key painting of George Washington. The head of the Patent Office talked the British out of burning it because many of the examples and records belonged to private citizens. They burned almost all else associated with the government.

The British then marched on Baltimore, strongly hated because it was where most of the fast sloops were built that raided British merchant shipping.  But the outnumbered Marylanders - most of whom had been sent to defend Washington, using General Armistead's brilliant defensive plan, kicked the shit out of the same British veterans who had recently defeated Napoleon and, as the first victory over the British and coming after Washington was burned, revitalized the American people's support for the war.  By the way Fort McHenry, celebrated in our National Anthem, had virtually nothing to do with the battle except that it blocked the way straight into Baltimore - shelling it was a diversion for the main attack along a peninsula.

Then there was the Civil War, where Confederate General Jubal Early's division circled into Maryland to raid Washington and after a couple minor battles there where he was delayed by pissed-off Maryland militias, his army arrived in front of Fort Stevens, guarding Washington.  Early could have easily captured the fort except for one thing: his men were so worn out from marching and fighting Marylanders that they didn't have enough energy to attack the fort!

So Washington Defenders doesn't fit!

Dragons in Seattle. Historical?  I can find nothing.e is.

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