The War of 1812 was a fight by the new United States of America against Great Britain.
September 13, 1814, attorney Francis Scott Key who was an amateur poet, boarded a British troopship anchored some four miles away from Baltimore’s Fort McHenry to negotiate the release of an American civilian imprisoned. Key was detained aboard the ship as a bombardment on Fort McHenry began.
All through the night the sight and sounds of bombs bursting over Fort McHenry continued. Key witnessed a 25-hour non-stop barrage.
What he couldn’t have known at the time was how our Flag continued to wave above the pulverized Fort.
You see, one after another a patriot held up the damaged flagpole, and the tattered Betsy Ross Flag.
Like a mountain around the base of that pole, patriots took the place of the body of a patriot who died holding up the pole. They wanted the British to know America's determination.
Through the dark night, the enemy could see America’s Flag waving over Fort McHenry.
On
September 14, 1814, after unrelenting bombing, the courage and
sacrifice of those patriots, our First Veterans, proved America’s
resolve. That morning, the dawn’s early light revealed our Flag still flying over the Fort.
Key had been drenched in the sounds of the bombing and was inspired by the sight of our Flag still flying over war-torn Fort McHenry. He was quick to jot down what he saw.
On February 17, 1815, the Treaty of Ghent was ratified and the war ended.
Beleaguered and bloody, America won freedom and our Sovereignty once and for all.
The words Francis Scott Key captured in “The Star Spangled Banner” immortalize the sacrifice of our patriots who fought and died in this war.
After the War of 1812, Americans felt a new sense of patriotism and a strong national identity and they gained new respect from other nations in the world.
This stronger federal government favored trade, western expansion, a strengthened military and the development of the economy.”
According to the National Museum of American History's collection, the way we hear the song today is how G. W. E. Friederich played it in 1854.
American men and women won a lot more than said. We all must be grateful and protect what so many before us died to preserve for us.