Not like, 'What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?' type of drinking song, but had been written for this gentleman's club in London at the time of the American Revolution. People thought it was a drinking song, which it technically was. People thought it was too warlike, which is ironic since Francis Scott Key was a war critic. There had been a number of bills introduced for the previous 20 years, but there had always been a lot of opposition to this song for a number of reasons, you know. "You know, people had been fighting for years to make it the national anthem. On why it took so long for "The Star-Spangled Banner" to become the national anthem His description of the flag still flying at the fort was an image sort of like the Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima during World War II." And after the song is printed in the newspapers, it spreads like wildfire around the country, because his words painted an image for the country at a time when the nation was really shaken by the fall of Washington. He's asking more than whether just the flag is flying over this fort he's really asking whether the American republic is going to survive, because that's what he and a lot of other people believed was at stake that night. He's overcome with relief and that first verse that we sing at baseball games and everywhere else - it's critical to remember that he's asking one long question. "And he begins scribbling the lines almost immediately as he sees the British start to withdraw. And finally, a little breeze kicked up and they were able to see the stars and stripes. And it wasn't until the sun came up, and it was a very misty morning, that they were able to see some flag hanging limply over the ramparts at the fort, and they couldn't make out whether it was British or American. You know, while the bombs were going off, Key was at least reassured that, well, the fort hasn't surrendered. Then a little bit before dawn, everything goes silent.
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"During the night, he can't see anything at the fort, but he sees and hears this tremendous bombardment that actually picks up during the night with amazing intensity after midnight, as the British launched hundreds of bombs at the fort plus hundreds of rockets.
"At Fort McHenry they have this grassy knoll that protected the fort, essentially an earthen defense from a lot of the concussion of the bombs. It was a very reassuring sight because as long as that flag was up there, the fort had not surrendered. "Before it got dark, he'd been able to see the American flag flying over the ramparts at Fort McHenry. On what he saw in Baltimore and how it inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner" And he sails out to the British fleet and finds them just as they're preparing to attack Baltimore." They had taken this doctor who they believed had violated the terms of the truce agreement, and was asked to launch a rescue mission to negotiate his freedom. And the British had taken an American doctor as a prisoner on their way out of Washington after burning the capitol. "As an attorney, he's very capable and a good negotiator. The United States had a very small military, had done very little to prepare for war, and he had problems with the basic American strategy, which consisted of invading Canada, which was then a collection of British colonies. He felt that it was ludicrous for the United States to take on Great Britain, which at the time was one of the most powerful nations on earth. He ironically is a big opponent of the war, like many Americans. He was a Washington attorney, at this time he's 34 years old. On who Francis Scott Key was and how he became a witness to the Battle for Baltimore in 1814 He tells NPR's David Greene about the Washington lawyer who wrote the song and why it took so long for it to become the national anthem. In many places, those fireworks will come with a patriotic soundtrack - one that wouldn't be complete without "The Star-Spangled Banner." The song officially became America's national anthem in 1931, but it's been around since the early 19th century.Īuthor Steve Vogel explores the story behind that anthem in Through The Perilous Fight, which details the end of the War of 1812. All over the country on Thursday, fireworks will light up the sky.