MONDAY NATIONAL ANTHEM, MULTI BRANCH

The Star Spangled Banner

In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem, Defense of Fort McHenry. The poem was later put to the tune of (John Stafford Smith’s song) The Anacreontic Song, modified somewhat, and retitled The Star Spangled Banner. Congress proclaimed The Star Spangled Banner the U.S. National Anthem in 1931.  (see lyrics and history below)

 

 

Oh, 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, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro’ the mists of the deep,
Where 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 on the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O’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 confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov’d homes and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The Star-Spangled Banner at the Smithsonian

Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

Is this flag the single most important artifact at the Smithsonian Institution? It just might be.

Star-Spangled Banner Quick Facts

• It was made in Baltimore, Maryland by flag maker Mary Pickersgill in 1813 after being commissioned by Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry. Original cost: $405.90

• The flag flew over Fort McHenry on the morning of September 14, 1814, signaling American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore.

• Of course, the sight inspired Francis Scott Key to write poem published as “The Defense of Fort McHenry” with instructions that it be sung to the tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a popular British song. It was weeks later when it got a new title: “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

• Original size: 30 feet by 42 feet. The stars were two feet across, stripes were 23 inches wide.

• Back then, it commemorated America as it was: 15 stars, eight red stripes, seven white stripes.

• The flag was preserved by the Armistead family as a memento of the battle.

• It was first loaned to the Smithsonian Institution in 1907 and converted to permanent gift in 1912.

• It’s only been on exhibit at the National Museum of American History since 1964.

• A major, multi-year conservation effort launched in 1998. After six years of conservation and restoration, the flag was presented as the centerpiece of the renovated National Museum of American History.

• Over $58 million has been spent over the years in caring for the flag.