American history classes often skip over the War of 1812 but
it is an important part of our country’s history as it was the first real war
of a new nation. It would also give us our National Anthem. On this day in
1814, Fort McHenry began its defense of Baltimore Harbor from the British Navy
attack in the Chesapeake Bay. On the morning of September 14th, a
large garrison flag was raised to signal American victory. The sight inspired
Francis Scott Key, who was aboard his ship among the British fleet, to write
his poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry” which would late become “The Star-Spangled
Banner.”
Key was aboard the British ship in order to negotiate
prisoner release. He was not allowed to return his ship to Baltimore and was
forced to watch the bombardment, unable to do anything to help. At dawn, he saw
the flag and reported it to the prisoners below. When he returned to Baltimore,
he would write his famous poem. Many do not know or have never read the full
poem.
Defence of Fort
M’Henry
The annexed song was composed under the following
circumstances--A gentleman had left Baltimore, in a flag of truce for the
purpose of getting released from the British fleet, a friend of his who had
been captured at Marlborough.--He went as far as the mouth of the Patuxent, and
was not permitted to return lest the intended attack on Baltimore should be
disclosed. He was therefore brought up the Bay to the mouth of the Patapsco,
where the flag vessel was kept under the guns of a frigate, and he was
compelled to witness the bombardment of Fort M'Henry [sic], which the Admiral
had boasted that he would carry in a few hours, and that the city must fall. He
watched the flag at the Fort through the whole day with an anxiety that can be
better felt than described, until the night prevented him from seeing it. In
the night he watched the Bomb Shells, and at early dawn his eye was again
greeted by the proudly waving flag of his country.
O! say can you see,
by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we
hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes
and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we
watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red
glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through
the night that our flag was still there —
O! say, does that
star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the
free, and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly
seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's
haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which
the breeze o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows,
half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the
gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory
reflected now shines on the stream —
'Tis the
star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the
free, and the home of the brave.
And where is that
band who so vauntingly swore
That the havock of
war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country
should leave us no more?
Their blood has
wash'd out their foul foot-steps' pollution,
No refuge could save
the hireling and slave,
From the terror of
flight or the gloom of the grave;
And the star-spangled
banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the
free, and the home of the brave.
O! thus be it ever
when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd
home, and the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry
and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the power that
hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must,
when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto
— "In God is our trust!"
And the star-spangled
banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the
free, and the home of the brave.
The poem would be set to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven”
aka the Drinking Song. It is the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an
18th century gentleman’s club of amateur musicians in London. The
society is dedicated to the Ancient Greek poet, Anacreon, who was renowned for
his drinking songs and odes to love. The song was composed in 1775 and Key used
the melody to compose his poem. When the poem was first published, a note cited
that the poem should be song to the tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven.” Since the
song was a popular British drinking song and amid anti-British sentiment at the
time, the use of the song was to such a patriotic poem was equivalent to
thumbing their noses at the British.
The Star-Spangled Banner became a popular song with the
Union Troops during the Civil War. However, it did not become the national
anthem until March 3, 1931 when Congress passed a measure to formally designate
the song as the national anthem of the United States.
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