Star Spangled Banner

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To celebrate the anniversary of the U.S.A. this week I drew a drawing of the inspirational moment when Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that would become the U.S. National Anthem.

On September 13, 1914 the British started a bombardment of Fort McHenry outside of Baltimore, Maryland.  On board the British vessel was an American Lawyer who had been discussing prisoner exchange with the British.  The British admiral had agreed to letting an American doctor go and to do prisoner exchanges, however, the attack on Fort McHenry was about to start so Dr. Beans and Key were required to stay on Key's ship, under guard, for the duration of the battle.

The battle went on all night.  Key let the prisoners know about the battle.  Some reports say that they were praying for the flag over the fort to not be lowered.  Lowering the flag means surrender.  The artillery battle was rather one sided because the American cannons had less range than the British cannons and rockets.

The British tried to get some boats full of soldiers up the river but an alert American sentry set a haystack on fire and the boats had to turn around.  By the way, there were days before that included land battles.  The British did not get an all out victory in any of these land battles and had to eventually withdraw.

Francis Scott Key stayed up all night and was very happy to see the American Flag still flying in the morning...  (by the dawn's early light).  He wrote a poem called:  The Defense of Fort McHenry.  The local paper printed it up and copies of the poem were given to all the brave defenders of the fort.  The drawing is from when Francis Scott Key first saw the American Flag.  The fort had an extra large flag that General Armistead, the fort commander, previously had ordered made.  It was put out in the morning.  It sent a signal to the British Navy that the fort had not and would not surrender.  The British Navy withdrew and neither the fort nor Baltimore were taken by the British.

Key put the poem to the tune called To Anacreon In Heaven.   The new title for the song was The Star Spangled Banner.  For years the U.S. military used the song and in 1931 the U. S. Congress made it the National Anthem.