THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

On this date in 1814 Francis Scott Key was moved to write a poem after witnessing how an American flag flying over Maryland's Fort McHenry withstood a night of British bombardment during the War of 1812.  He wrote the first stanza of this poem "on the back of a letter he had in his pocket,"  author Robert Sears wrote in his book The Pictorial History of the American Revolution; with a sketch of the early history of the country...." (This book, published in 1846 by R. Sears, is in the Bullis Collection for your reference use.) A facsimile of the original manuscript of the first stanza of the "The Star-Spangled Banner" is included in the book.

Key initially titled his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry."  The morning after he wrote the poem, Key showed it to his uncle, who had copies printed and distributed in the Baltimore and Gay streets neighborhood. Later on, the words were set to the tune of a current popular song and (as they say) the rest is history.

Sears also wrote, "The Star-spanged Banner itself...that waved over Fort McHenry during that bombardment, is still in existence. I saw it at the house of Christopher Hughes Armistead (a son of the gallant defender of the fort) in Baltimore during the late Civil War. It had eleven holes in it, made there by the shot of the British during the bombardment."

As we looked through Sears' book this week, our national anthem took on new meaning for us. We hope you have the same experience.