A day after the bombardment, a US lawyer and amateur poet named Francis Scott Key looked out to the fort. He was on board a ship in Chesapeake Bay and could see “by the dawn’s early light” that an American flag – the “star spangled banner” – was still flying, having survived the assault.

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The British attack had failed as Fort McHenry remained in American hands. Key was so moved by what he saw that he wrote the poem that now forms the lyrics for the national anthem of the USA. The banner in question was an enormous 100 square metre flag, sewn the previous year by 37-year-old widow Mary Pickersgill, and a team of helpers at a cost of $405.90. The remains of this giant standard are now on display in the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History in Washington DC.

Francis Scott Key was so moved by what he saw that he wrote the poem that now forms the lyrics for the national anthem of the USA

A smaller flag, also sewn by Pickersgill, had probably flown during the bombardment itself.

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The music of the anthem comes from an 18th-century English drinking song and Key probably had the melody in mind when he wrote the poem. The Star Spangled Banner soon grew in popularity but it wasn’t formally adopted as the anthem until 1931.

This article was taken from BBC History Revealed magazine

Authors

Abigail is a freelance writer and editor based in Hereford.

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