Patriotic Songs
The Star Spangled Banner
The History of the Star Spangled Banner
Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States. The U.S. Congress officially approved the song as the national anthem in 1931. However, it took a long time for the song to become the national anthem. Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer and amateur verse writer, wrote the song during the War of 1812. The melody comes from an English party song created by composer John Stafford Smith of Britain in the late 1700's.
How the song came to be written: In August 1814, after British forces invaded Washington D. C., they burned prominent government buildings and captured numerous soldiers and civilians. One of these prisoners included William Beanes who was a popular citizen. The British held Mr. Beanes prisoner aboard a warship in Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Potomac River. General John Mason, the United States asked two Americans to communicate with the British in an effort to have Mr. Beanes released. These Americans were Francis Scott Key, a friend of Beanes's, and John S. Skinner, a government agent.
Key and Skinner went to Baltimore. There, they boarded a United States flag of truce ship, a ship used to conduct negotiations with the British. The flag of truce ship took Key and Skinner to the British warship just as the vessel was preparing to bombard Fort McHenry, which stood near Baltimore's harbor. The British agreed to release Beanes. But they did not want the Americans to reveal plans of the attack. They therefore held the Americans on the flag of truce ship at the rear of the British fleet until after the battle ended.
The big battle started on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 1814, and continued all day and almost all night. Key and his friends knew that Fort McHenry had little defense. The prisoners paced the deck all night. When dawn came, they saw the American flag still flying over the walls of the fort. Key was deeply moved. He pulled a letter from his pocket and started writing verses. Later that day, the British released the Americans, and Key returned to Baltimore. There, he finished revising the song.
How the song became famous. A few days after the bombardment, Key's poem, titled "Defense of Fort M'Henry," was printed on handbills and distributed in Baltimore. A note on the handbills said the poem should be sung to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven." Americans knew the melody, which had been used for other popular political song named "Adams and Liberty" and many other patriotic songs.. By November 1814, the song had been published in Baltimore under the name "The Star-Spangled Banner." It was soon published in several other American cities, and it quickly gained popularity. The U.S. Army began to sing it at the daily raising and lowering of the flag in 1895. Today, by government permission, the United States flag flies continuously over Key's grave at Frederick, Maryland, and over Fort McHenry.
Valerie Woodring Goertzen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music, Earlham College.
How the song came to be written: In August 1814, after British forces invaded Washington D. C., they burned prominent government buildings and captured numerous soldiers and civilians. One of these prisoners included William Beanes who was a popular citizen. The British held Mr. Beanes prisoner aboard a warship in Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Potomac River. General John Mason, the United States asked two Americans to communicate with the British in an effort to have Mr. Beanes released. These Americans were Francis Scott Key, a friend of Beanes's, and John S. Skinner, a government agent.
Key and Skinner went to Baltimore. There, they boarded a United States flag of truce ship, a ship used to conduct negotiations with the British. The flag of truce ship took Key and Skinner to the British warship just as the vessel was preparing to bombard Fort McHenry, which stood near Baltimore's harbor. The British agreed to release Beanes. But they did not want the Americans to reveal plans of the attack. They therefore held the Americans on the flag of truce ship at the rear of the British fleet until after the battle ended.
The big battle started on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 1814, and continued all day and almost all night. Key and his friends knew that Fort McHenry had little defense. The prisoners paced the deck all night. When dawn came, they saw the American flag still flying over the walls of the fort. Key was deeply moved. He pulled a letter from his pocket and started writing verses. Later that day, the British released the Americans, and Key returned to Baltimore. There, he finished revising the song.
How the song became famous. A few days after the bombardment, Key's poem, titled "Defense of Fort M'Henry," was printed on handbills and distributed in Baltimore. A note on the handbills said the poem should be sung to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven." Americans knew the melody, which had been used for other popular political song named "Adams and Liberty" and many other patriotic songs.. By November 1814, the song had been published in Baltimore under the name "The Star-Spangled Banner." It was soon published in several other American cities, and it quickly gained popularity. The U.S. Army began to sing it at the daily raising and lowering of the flag in 1895. Today, by government permission, the United States flag flies continuously over Key's grave at Frederick, Maryland, and over Fort McHenry.
Valerie Woodring Goertzen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music, Earlham College.
Francis Scott Key
Photo Taken from Painting posted at East High School, Salt Lake City Utah
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