Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 1776: John Adams pens a poem "I hear a ghost of my country; ‘tis the promise of all I hold dear." As Thomas Jefferson reads his draft of the Declaration of Independence before the Continental Congress, a tear wells up in Adams’ eye as he recognizes that this document embodies his deepest ideals. And the spirit of Captain America is present in the room….
Baltimore Harbor, September 13, 1814: the British Navy shells Fort McHenry but as the sun rises the American flag is seen to be still flying over the smoke; Francis Scott Key is inspired to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." And the spirit of Captain America stands by the flag….
New Orleans, January 8, 1815: General Andrew Jackson leads his troops against the British. The spirit of Captain America goes with them….
Allatoona, Georgia, August 5, 1864: a young Union solider kills an enemy in battle. He is so distraught at the horror of this civil war that he walks away—and is shot as a deserter. The spirit of Captain America mourns the individual and collective loss….
The Ardennes, 1945: a mortally wounded soldier pens his last letter home before dying as the spirit of Captain America looks on….
Vietnam, November 16, 1965: an American company is wiped out, the last survivor choosing suicide to captivity in a POW camp. The spirit of Captain America tries to shield him in his last moments….
New York, September 11, 2001: firefighters head into the ruined World Trade Center, searching for survivors and the spirit of Captain America goes with them….
…and we see Cap on the beaches of Normandy, on the moon with Armstrong and Aldren, marching with Martin Luther King, raising the flag on Iwo Jima, participating in an Independence Day celebration, honoring the dead at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier….
….Captain America: "I am a ghost of my country and his country is a ghost of me."