The Star-Spangled Banner

Francis Scott Key

Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer and an amateur poet. He and many other Americans were not all that happy when the U.S. declared war on Great Britain, starting the War of 1812. The British war machine greatly outgunned the young U.S. army and navy. The war was also bad for American business, since Great Britain had been the biggest trading partner of U.S. merchants.

U.S. forces struggled to match the British on land, sea, and the Great Lakes. Then in August 1814, British forces raided Washington, D.C. They torched the White House, the buildings that housed Congress, and other government buildings. The destruction of the U.S. capital was a huge blow to American morale. But it also fired up a lot of Americans, including Francis Scott Key, to get behind the U.S. war effort.

It was against this backdrop that “The Star-Spangled Banner” got its words. On September 13, 1814, Key and a U.S. official rowed over to a British warship at the mouth of the Patapsco River outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Their mission was to seek the release of some American prisoners.

The meeting with the British officers went well, and they even dined together. But when it came time for Key and his companions to paddle home, their hosts said hold your rowboats. The Americans had seen too much. British ships were moving into position to blast the daylights out of Fort McHenry, about eight miles away. Once they captured the fort, British troops would then raid the city, like they had in Washington. The British could not let Key and the others report on what they had seen.

Meanwhile, the Americans had very good seats for the fireworks. British ships let loose with their cannon as night fell. Hour after hour, they lobbed rockets and shells at the fort, more than 1,500 ka-booms in all.

As dawn neared, Key squinted through the gloom and smoke. He prepared himself to see his fears fulfilled: the British flag flying over Fort McHenry. But wait. Was that …? Was it …? It sure was. A huge American flag still waved there. The British attack had failed and Baltimore was saved.