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Francis Scott Key awoke aboard a British warship after witnessing the terrifying 25-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry. At dawn, he was astonished to see our flag nonetheless flying on at the present time in historical past, September 14, 1814.
The Baltimore lawyer, struck by a wave of patriotism after witnessing the brutal naval assault on his American homeland, rapidly picked up his pen and feverishly wrote his poetic account of the occasion.
In the present day we all know his phrases as our nationwide anthem.
“The pink glow of the rocket, the bomb exploding within the air/had been proof via the evening that our flag was nonetheless there,” Key wrote over the subsequent two days.
“Oh, says that star-spangled banner nonetheless/Over the land of the free and the house of the courageous.”
This 1941 silkscreen illustration exhibits an American flag flying over Fort McHenry, primarily based on Francis Scott Key’s nationwide anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” (GraphicaArtis/Getty Photographs)
Key was impressed by the willpower of his countrymen because the younger republic confronted despair and potential defeat by the British Empire within the Warfare of 1812.
America had been humiliated simply three weeks earlier when British troops looted and burned Washington, D.C. A lot of the White Home and the Capitol had been set ablaze.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1857, MILK CHOCOLATE MAGNATE MILTON HERSHEY WAS BORN IN PA
Key was assured that the American defenses at Fort McHenry, simply 40 miles from the capital, would collapse beneath the depth of the assault.
“Mom Earth…vomited out hail and shells in a sheet of fireside and brimstone.” — Francis Scott Key
“Superior British weapons pounded the fort from newly designed bombardiers safely anchored out of vary of the fort’s personal weapons,” the Nationwide Structure Middle wrote of the firepower of the British Empire.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, AUGUST 24, 1814, BRITISH TROOPS BROKE AND SET FIRE THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE CAPITOL
“It was as if Mom Earth had opened up and was belching forth hail and shells in a curtain of fireside and brimstone,” Key later wrote.
The fort’s incapability to outlive, and the nation’s fervent refusal to undergo the British at its weakest second, fueled Keys’s deep-seated patriotic response.
Oil on panel portrait of Francis Scott Key (fragment). Attributed to Joseph Wooden (1778-1830). Assortment of the Walters Artwork Museum. (Public area)
“His brother-in-law, a militia commander at Fort McHenry, learn Keys’ work and had it distributed beneath the title ‘Protection of Fort M’Henry,’” Smithsonian Journal reported in a 2007 account of the Battle of Baltimore.
“The Baltimore Patriot newspaper rapidly revealed it, and inside weeks Key’s poem, now known as ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ was showing throughout the nation, immortalizing his phrases and without end naming the flag it celebrated.”
Key’s poem turned the nationwide anthem by regulation signed by President Herbert Hoover in 1931.
“The pink glow of the rocket/The bombs exploding within the sky/Proved all evening lengthy/That our flag was nonetheless there.”
The precise flag raised over Fort McHenry at dawn on September 14 in the present day holds a spot of honor within the Nationwide Museum of American Historical past in Washington, D.C.
This flag is called the Grand Garrison Flag.
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The fort’s star-spangled banner measured 12 by 9 metres and had 15 stars and 15 stripes.
Within the early days of the nation, it was customary so as to add each a star and a stripe when a brand new state joined the Union.
The Star-Spangled Banner flag or Nice Garrison Flag — the flag that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814 and impressed Francis Scott Key; serigraph, 1926. (Photograph by GraphicaArtis/Getty Photographs)
Main George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry, had requested a big flag fly over the fort a yr earlier, with the Warfare of 1812 in full swing and him sure he can be attacked in some unspecified time in the future.
“The fee went to a 37-year-old widow, Mary Pickersgill, a ship and sign flag maker,” the Nationwide Park Service stated of the Nice Garrison Flag’s historical past.
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“She labored for seven weeks along with her 13-year-old daughter Caroline, two cousins, 13-year-old Eliza Younger and 15-year-old Margaret Younger, a 13-year-old African-American indentured servant, Grace Wisher, and probably her mom, Rebecca Younger, who had taught her the commerce.”
The state of Maryland honors the protection of Fort McHenry throughout Defenders Day on September 12.
The NPS continued: “They tied collectively strips of loosely woven English wool bunting after which laid out all the flag on the expansive ground of a brewery close to Mrs. Pickersgill’s house on Pratt Avenue, now the Star-Spangled Banner Flag Home Museum.”
In accordance with the NPS, a smaller flag that flew above the fort through the bombing was misplaced.
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In the present day, Fort McHenry enjoys particular standing not solely as a nationwide monument, but additionally as a historic shrine of the US.
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The state of Maryland honors the protection of Fort McHenry throughout Defenders Day on September 12.
