Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution. That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusionĪ home and a Country should leave us no more? O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!Īnd where is that band who so vauntingly swore, ‘Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,Īs it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes, On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there, O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?Īnd the rocket’s red glare, the bomb bursting in air, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming, O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
Today the flag is on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The flag Key saw after the attack was a 30-by-42 foot garrison flag (a flag for troops) commissioned by Major George Armistead in order “to have a flag so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance.” The flag was sewn by Mary Pickersgill (assisted by her daughter, two nieces, and an indentured servant), and contained 15 stars that are 24 inches from point-to-point. ĭuring the attack a 17-by-25 foot storm flag was flown. 14, the morning after, upon seeing an oversized American flag flying intact over the fort and realizing the Americans had stopped the British advance.
Key was detained on the ship during the attack and was inspired to write a poem on Sep. While on the ship, Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. William Beanes, an American civilian and friend of Key’s who was imprisoned by the British for allegedly aiding the arrest of British soldiers. In 1814, Key was aboard the British ship Tonnant negotiating the release of Dr. The US national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” was written during the War of 1812 by Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer and poet. The controversy over NFL players and others protesting while the national anthem is played has raised questions about the history of “The Star-Spangled Banner” itself, as well as whether the anthem is racist because of three lines in its little-known third verse. Source: Smithsonian, “The Star-Spangled Banner: National Treasure,” si.edu (accessed Oct. Visitors to the National Museum of American History in 1989 look up at the Star-Spangled Banner.
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