Seventy-one shots rang out during the Presidio of Monterey's annual Salute to the Nation, July 3, 2019.
The ceremonial battery from the 84th Training Command, Pacific Division, out of Camp Parks, Dublin, California fired one round for each state, ending with a 21-gun salute. Gun salutes began as a naval tradition in the 1700s, when warships would fire their guns during an approach to a foreign port, letting the shore batteries know their cannons were empty and they meant no harm. By the 19th century gun salutes evolved into a way for countries to honor each other as equals.
The United States was first formally recognized as an independent nation with a 9-gun salute, Nov. 16, 1776, when the Dutch governor of the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius honored the American brigantine Andrew Doria with a 9-gun salute. Today the 21-gun salute is used as a presidential and national salute. Original public domain image from Flickr