Flag Day, Fort McHenry, and the Star Spangled Banner

The inspiration behind Francis Scott Key's "O say can you see..."

by Peter Butzerin.There had been darker days in our young nation’s life, but among the worst was the bombardment of Fort McHenry. The War of 1812 had been raging for two years, and an imposing British force of 150 warships, several thousand regulars, and Marines had invaded up into Chesapeake Bay on a campaign of terror. The attacks were meant to punish the Americans for some notable victories earlier in the war.This force overran the Americans at Bladensburg and captured the capital of Washington D.C. Both the capital building and the White House were looted and burned, after which the British moved on to their next objective: the port city of Baltimore.[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1170"]

(image courtesy of www.kennedy-center.org)[/caption]Lacking the strength to overpower the American defenses by land, the British massed a large fleet of warships, many purpose-built to launch rockets, while others were equipped with cannons and bombardment mortars. The British opened fire on Fort McHenry at first light on September 13, 1814. Anchored beyond the fort’s cannon range, the British fleet was safe from the Americans. They fired thousands of projectiles at the defenders, who could only endure the storm of fire.The British would know they were victorious if the Americans were to strike their colors. Failing that, they would blast the fort into rubble and then sail into Baltimore Harbor. Firing from anchored warships at a single stationary target, many shots found their mark, and several men were killed or wounded. The bombardment lasted all day and all night, leaving the fort shrouded in heavy smoke.In the morning, the British lifted the barrage and let the smoke clear. What they saw was not at all what they had hoped for! A huge, 30 by 42-foot American flag was flying over Fort McHenry. As it turned out, this special flag was raised every morning at reveille, and this morning was no different. It would have been an eye-popping sight to a British naval officer, or to an American lawyer named Francis Scott Key, who at the moment was aboard the British fleet. This image struck a chord, quite literally, with Francis.[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="980"]

(image courtesy of www.kennedy-center.org)[/caption]An amateur poet, Francis Scott Key began drafting the lines of what would become our national anthem right then and there. Notably, he had also successfully negotiated the release of an American doctor being held on a British warship. Upon returning to his still-free home of Baltimore, he quickly finished his poem and suggested it be sung to a popular tune of the day.This was neither the first nor the last time American soldiers would endure unimaginable terror and shed their blood in battle. Many would be cut down while carrying or recovering our nation’s colors. Several of the Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima didn’t survive the battle.This Flag Day, let’s give some thought to those brave men, honor their sacrifice, and give our flag the respect it merits. Remember that we stand for the flag, and we kneel for the fallen.

The Star-Spangled Banner

by Francis Scott Key (Original complete poem)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 fightO’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?And the rocket’s 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 waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deepWhere 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 in the stream,’Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusionA home and a Country should leave us no more?Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slaveFrom the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.O thus be it ever when freemen shall standBetween their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued landPraise 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 waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.