The Star Spangled Banner

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The Star Spangled Banner
Susan Sudtelgte
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The Star Spangled Banner is a very old, large
flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the
American/British War of 1812.
The flag was large so that everyone could see
that the fort belonged to the Americans.
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• Mary Pickersgill made the Star Spangled Banner .
  The fabric was English wool bunting.
• The U.S. Government paid Mary 405.90 to make the
  flag.
• She started in July 1813 and finished in August
  1813.
• The flag was 30 x 42 feet and was flown on a 90
  foot pole.

Click here for more info
http//www.sos.state.md.us/sos/kids/html/marypick.
html
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• Francis Scott Key was a 35 year old Washington
  lawyer and amateur poet who wrote the lyrics for
  our national anthem.
• He was a religious man opposed to war.
• The British had just burned the Capitol and were
  marching toward Baltimore by land and sea.
• Dr. Willliam Bean had been captured by the
  British.
• In August of 1814, Dr. Beans friends asked
  Francis Scott Key to negotiate his release from
  the British.

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• On September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key traveled
  on a truce ship to meet the British Fleet.
• The British agreed to release Dr. Bean.
• So as not to warn the Americans of the British
  attack, the truce ship was forced to remain with
  the British fleet until the battle was over.

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• Keys truce ship was 8 miles from Fort McHenry.
• For 25 hours, the passengers on the truce ship
  watched the British bomb Fort McHenry.
• The attack ended at 730 a.m. on September 14th.

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Even from 8 miles, Francis Scott Key could see
the large flag and knew that Fort McHenry had not
surrendered.
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• Francis Scott Key took a letter from his pocket
  and started to write a poem describing his
  feelings.
• The truce ship returned to Baltimore on September
  16th.
• Key revised and made additions to the poem.

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This is the original manuscript Francis Scott Key
wrote. He made 3 handwritten copies.
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• Called a broadside, it was probably printed in
  Baltimore on Sept. 17, 1814.
• Everyone at Fort McHenry was given a copy.
• Notice it was originally titled Defense of Fort
  McHenry.

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You really need to hear this!

• The poem was set to the tune of a popular English
  drinking song, To Anacreon in Heaven.

To Anacreon in heaven where he sat in full
glee,A few sons of harmony sent a petition,That
he their inspirer and patron would be,When this
answer arrived from the jolly old GrecianVoice,
fiddleaud flute, no longer be mute,I'll lend you
my name and inspire you to boot!And besides I'll
instruct you like me to entwineThe myrtle of
Venus and Bacchus's vine.
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• The first public performance took place on
  October 19, 1814.
• John Philips Sousa arranged the Star Spangled
  Banner into a stirring march helping to boost its
  popularity.
• The Star Spangled Banner became our National
  Anthem in 1931.

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Oh, say can you see, by the dawns early
light, What so proudly we hailed at the
twilights last gleaming? Whose broad stripes
and bright stars, through the perilous
fight, Oer the ramparts we watched, were so
gallantly streaming?
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And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in
air, Gave proof through the night that our flag
was still there. O say, does that star-spangled
banner yet wave
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Oer the land of the free and the home of the
brave?
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