{"id":100499,"date":"2024-09-16T12:05:44","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T16:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=100499"},"modified":"2024-09-16T12:06:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T16:06:08","slug":"210th-anniversary-of-the-star-spangled-banner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/210th-anniversary-of-the-star-spangled-banner.html","title":{"rendered":"210th Anniversary of \u2018The Star-Spangled Banner\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Jane Hampton Cook tells the story of how Francis Scott Key\u2019s poem eventually became the U.S. national anthem. Jane is a presidential historian and author of \u201cResilience on Parade: Short Stories of Suffragists and Women\u2019s Right to Vote.\u201d Her works can be found at Janecook.com<\/a>. She is also the host of Red, White, Blue and You<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This past weekend marked the 210th anniversary of America\u2019s national anthem, \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d The public first read \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u2019s\u201d lyrics in the aftermath of the Battle of Fort McHenry against the British in Baltimore, Maryland, on 13-14 September 1814.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: the caption reads \u201cA VIEW of the BOMBARDMENT of Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, by the British fleet taken from the Observatory under the Command of Admirals Cochrane & Cockburn on the morning of the 13th of Sept. 1814 which lasted 24 hours.\u201d Credit: PD-ART; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Articles I found in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> show the birth of the lyrics in September 1814, and how the song became popular.<\/p>\n

Many newspapers throughout the nation published an article called the \u201cDefence of Fort McHenry.\u201d The article\u2019s author prophetically concluded that the song was so touching and universal that it would outlast the current moment.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Enquirer (Richmond, Virginia), 28 September 1814, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

The following beautiful and animating effusion, which is destined long to outlast the occasion, and outlive the impulse, which produced it, has already been extensively circulated. In our first renewal of publication, we rejoice in an opportunity to enliven the sketch of an exploit so illustrious, with strains, which so fitly celebrate it.<\/p>\n

The annexed song was composed under the following circumstances \u2013 A gentleman [attorney Francis Scott Key] had left Baltimore in a flag of truce for the purpose of getting released from the British fleet a friend of his [physician William Beanes] who had been captured at Marlborough. He went as far as the mouth of the Patuxent [River], and was not permitted to return lest the intended attack on Baltimore should be disclosed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What the article did not mention was that Francis Scott Key had opposed the War of 1812. He had not supported President James Madson or his war. Then after the British military burned the White House and U.S. Capitol on August 24, Key learned that his friend from Marlborough, Mr. Beanes, had been captured by the British military. Key put aside his political differences with Madison and asked for a meeting with him. President Madison gave Key permission to find the enemy and negotiate Beanes\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: \u201cBy Dawn\u2019s Early Light\u201d shows Francis Scott Key standing on boat, with right arm stretched out toward the United States flag flying over Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland, on 14 September 1814, by Edward Percy Moran, 1913. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Key and Mr. Skinner, the U.S. Army\u2019s prisoner of war negotiator, arrived at the British fleet, they met with British officers. Although the enemy agreed to release Beanes to Key and Skinner\u2019s custody, the trio was not allowed to leave the British fleet until after the attack on Baltimore. The article continues:<\/p>\n

He [Key] was therefore brought up the bay to the mouth of the Patuxent, where the flag vessel was kept under the guns of a frigate, and he was compelled to witness the bombardment of Fort McHenry, which the [British] admiral had boasted he would carry in a few hours, and that the city must fall. He watched the flag at the fort through the whole day with an anxiety that can be better felt than described, until the night prevented him from seeing it. In the night he watched the bombshells, and at early dawn his eye was again greeted by the proudly waving flag of his country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then the article features the lyrics, which were set to a popular tune called \u201cAnacreon in Heaven.\u201d The song and this article were published dozens of times in newspapers throughout the country over the next year, spreading the song\u2019s popularity. Key\u2019s poem has four verses, but only the first was used for the national anthem:<\/p>\n

O say can you see, by the dawn\u2019s early light,
\nWhat so proudly we hail\u2019d at the twilight\u2019s last gleaming?
\nWhose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
\nO\u2019er the ramparts we watch\u2019d were so gallantly streaming?
\nAnd the rockets\u2019 red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
\nGave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
\nO say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
\nO\u2019er the land of the free and the home of the brave?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Soon Key\u2019s new song caught on as a tribute to patriotism and was being called \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d In October 1814 the Baltimore Patriot<\/em> ran an advertisement for a historical play called Count Benyowsky<\/em>. The evening would also feature a performance of Key\u2019s new song.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Baltimore Patriot (Baltimore, Maryland), 18 October 1814, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This ad reads:<\/p>\n

After the play, Mr. Hardings will sing a much-admired new song, written by a gentleman of Maryland, in commemoration of the gallant defence of Fort McHenry, called The Star-Spangled Banner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Treaty of Ghent, signed overseas in Ghent, United Netherlands, on 24 December 1814, ended the War of 1812 \u2013 although fighting continued until the U.S. Congress ratified the peace treaty on 17 February 1815. When news of the peace treaty spread, Americans celebrated. Back then, it was common to host dinners that toasted good news and heroes.<\/p>\n

As the Western Citizen<\/em> reported on 11 March 1815, \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d was one of a series of toasts given to celebrate the war\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Western Citizen (Paris, Kentucky), 11 March 1815, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The toast:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe star-spangled banner of Columbia \u2013 the proud guarantee of \u2018free trade and sailors\u2019 rights.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To top it off, Francis Scott Key\u2019s new anthem for America was featured on the first Independence Day after the Battle of Fort McHenry. On 3 July 1815, the Daily National Intelligencer<\/em> announced a theater\u2019s plans for Independence Day, which included a performance of \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), 3 July 1815, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This ad reads:<\/p>\n

The celebrated song of the \u201cStar Spangled Banner,\u201d (written by F. S. Key, Esq., during the bombardment of Fort McHenry), by Mr. Steward.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the decades that followed, \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d continued to be a popular patriotic song. Key knew that his song pleased Americans, but he never knew that it became the national anthem. On 3 March 1931, Congress passed a resolution naming \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d America\u2019s official national anthem.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Patriot (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), 5 March 1931, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

President Herbert Hoover signed the resolution into law and the rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> the large 15-star, 15-stripe \u201cStar-Spangled Banner\u201d flag that inspired Francis Scott Key\u2019s poem (which became the lyrics of the U.S. national anthem) when it flew above Fort McHenry in the 1814 Battle of Baltimore. Shown here on display at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of History and Technology, around 1964. Credit: Smithsonian Institution Archives; Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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