Francis Scott Key
Lawyer / Poet / Composer
History of Star Spangled Banner (Parker)
In 1812 the US and Britain went to war. It was called The War of 1812. Britain stopped US ships in the ocean. Then in 1814, the British burned the White House. Two happy British soldiers were celebrating their victory and wandering around Baltimore. Dr. Beaners (who was American) tried to arrest them. One soldier got away and told other British soldiers. They came back to get Dr. Beanes.
Dr. Beanes was held on a British boat and two men (Francis Scott Key and John Skinner) went to save him. They boarded the British ship (HMS Tonnant) to free Dr. Beanes. The Capitan let Dr. Beanes go but the two men had to stay on the boat so that they wouldn't tell the Americans any British secrets that they heard. They watched the bombing of Fort McHenry from the boat. That night Francis Scott Key wrote the poem for the Star Spangled Banner. He was very happy when he saw the American flag still over Fort McHenry in the morning. It meant that the Americans won the battle!
About Star Spangled Banner
Becoming Our National Anthem (Jonah)
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson decided “The Star Spangled Banner” should be played at important events for the country. President Herbert Hoover and Congress made it the national anthem in 1931.
The Words of the Song
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!