March 3rd is National Anthem Day

Written by Francis Scott Key, the Star Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States of America.  On National Anthem Day, we celebrate and honor this song.

The story behind the Star Spangled Banner is as moving as the anthem itself. While an attorney, Key was serving in the Georgetown Light Field Artillery during the War of 1812. In 1814 his negotiation skills as a lawyer were called upon to release Dr. William Beane who was a prisoner on the British naval ship, Tonnant. Early in September Key traveled to Baltimore in the company of Colonel John Skinner to begin negotiations.

Key and Skinner secured Beane’s release but since the British navy had begun attacking Baltimore, the trio had to wait at sea to return to Georgetown.

Fort McHenry is built on a peninsula of the Patapsco River and the city of Baltimore is just across the Northwest Branch. In 1814, the population of Baltimore was roughly 50,000 people, hardly the metropolis it is today. The country itself was still young and often families of soldiers lived nearby and provided support to their soldiers.

The British navy abandoned Baltimore and turned their full attention on Fort McHenry on September 13. As the 190 pound shells began to shake the fort,  mother nature brought a storm of her own. Thunder and rain pelted the shore along with the bombs and shells. Through out the night, parents, wives and children in their homes could hear and feel the bomb blasts across the way. There were reports of the explosions being felt as far away as Philadelphia. It was a long night of fear, worry and providing comfort to one another.

At sea, Key had a similar night. Being a religious man, one who believed the war could have been avoided, he watched the bombs bursting in air over the water and steadily pummeling Fort McHenry. It was surely a sight to behold.

For 25 hours the star shaped fort manned by approximately 1,000 American soldiers endured over 1,500 cannon shots. The fort answered with their own with almost no effect.

In the early morning of September 14th, after Major George Armistead’s armed troops stopped the British landing party in a blaze of gun fire, he ordered the oversized American flag which had been made a few months before by Mary Perckersgill and her daughter, raised in all its glory over Fort McHenry, replacing the storm flag which had been raised during battle.

As Key awaited at sea for dawn to break and smoke to clear, imagine the inspiring sight in the silence of the morning to see his country’s flag fully unfurled against the breaking of the day and the fort standing strong.

Key was so moved by the experience he immediately began penning the lyrics to a song which were later published  by his brother-in-law as a poem titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry”.

The song officially became our national anthem on March 3, 1931.