Happy 200th Birthday to “The Star-Spangled Banner”

War of 1812 Bicentennial

Happy 200th Birthday to “The Star-Spangled Banner”

On Sunday, September 14th, “The Star-Spangled Banner” celebrated its 200th birthday. Little is known about the historic events surrounding its writing and the truth is easily confused by popular mythology. Reflecting back 200 years ago to the closing years of the War of 1812, the story behind the writing of the National Anthem is focused on three unique individuals: a Soldier, a Seamstress, and a Songwriter. These three, Colonel George Armistead, Mary Young Pickersgill, and Francis Scott Key, provided us with both “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the large flag now on display in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. This flag that inspired Key flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the British attack in September 1814.

The soldier in the story is Major George Armistead. He was born in Virginia in 1780 and was one of five brothers, all of whom served in the War of 1812. In 1813, he was appointed the new commander of Fort McHenry, a post he held until his death five years later.

On taking command of the fort, Armistead ordered a flag made "so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance." He met with Mary Young Pickersgill, a Baltimore seamstress and flag maker. She agreed to make the large 30’ x 42’ flag along with a smaller 17’ x 25’ storm flag, to be flown in inclement weather. Helping her make the flags were four teenagers: her daughter, two nieces and an African American indentured servant. Pickersgill’s elderly mother, Rebecca Young, also seems to have assisted.

They used 400 yards of the best quality wool bunting. The 15 stars measured two feet from point to point, and the eight red and seven white stripes were each two feet wide. The cost was $405.90 for the large flag with $168.54 for the smaller one. The pieces of the flag were created in Pickersgill’s house, and assembled on a large floor in Claggett’s brewery near her house. The project took about seven weeks to complete. Today her home is the “The Star Spangled Banner Flag House Museum.”

With the flags made and flying over Fort McHenry, the role of the third person, the Songwriter, picks up the story. In 1814, the British decided to send more troops to increase their raiding of cities in the Chesapeake Bay region. By mid-August, British forces advanced through Maryland and defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg. Then they marched into the American capital on August 24th, quickly burning the Capitol, the White House and other public buildings. Within 24 hours, they fell back to their ships, taking Dr. William Beanes, a Maryland civic leader, with them as a prisoner.

In early September 1814, Francis Scott Key, a Washington lawyer and a friend of Dr. Beanes and Colonel John Skinner, an American prisoner release negotiator, were sent to seek the release of Dr. Beanes. They sailed a small truce ship into the Bay, searching for the British fleet. Once they found it, thes boarded the HMS Tonnant, the British flagship.

Their negotiations were successful, but they had overheard the British discuss plans to capture Baltimore. Rather than release the Americans, the British placed them back on their truce ship as hostages until after the attack.

At 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 13, the British guns opened fire on the fort, hoping to obtain its quick surrender. However, the fort was well prepared. The British attack was foiled. After a 25-hour bombardment, the British decided to halt the attack and sail out of Chesapeake Bay. Uncertain of who won the battle, Key looked at the fort and saw the U.S. Flag flying. He began to write the words that became an inspiration that moves us today. Key took paper from his pocket, and began to write some verses. The truce ship returned to Baltimore on September 16. Key left the ship and checked into the “Indian Queen,” a Baltimore hotel where he composed the lyrics.

Initially called "In Defence of Fort M'Henry." Key’s words were written to use with music composed by John Stafford Smith in the mid-1760s for a London society of amateur musicians, the Anacreontic Society. The society’s president, Ralph Tomlinson, had written the words for a song, "Anacreon in Heav'n." This unique tune became popular in America and was used with other words, including “When the Warrior Returns,” a song Key wrote in 1805 about the First Barbary War.

Key’s “In Defence of Fort M’Henry” was quickly printed, sung across Baltimore and re-named “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Two actors, brothers Charles and Ferdinand Durang, reportedly participated in a group that made the first public performance of the song in early October. The song rapidly spread to other states and officially became the National Anthem of the United States of America in 1931.

We continue remembering the War of 1812 every time we sing the “National Anthem.” Today, at baseball and football games and everywhere people gather across the Nation, we rise and pay tribute to the “flag that was still there.”

by Jim McConnell

(A retired Dearborn educator, Jim McConnell is Secretary of the Michigan War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission. He was Executive Producer of “Michigan at War: The Struggle for the Old Northwest, 1812-1815.”)

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