The Star-Spangled Banner
In August of 1814, Francis Scott Key's friend, Dr. William Beanes, was taken prisoner by the British army. When Key discovered this, he immediately went to Baltimore, Maryland to ask Colonel John Skinner if he would help him to obtain the release of his friend. John Skinner was the government's prisoner of war exchange agent and he agreed to help Key.
Together, Scott and Skinner, boarded a truce ship and sailed into the Baltimore Harbor to met the British fleet. When they met up with the British fleet, Scott and Skinner boarded one of the British ships so that they could begin negotiating Beanes' release.
On the night of September 14, 1814, two very important things happened. Key and Skinner successfully negotiated Beanes' release but they were not allowed to leave the British ship until the next morning. This British ship was located 8 miles below Fort McHenry in the Baltimore Harbor. It was from this site, that Scott watched the British fleet attack Fort McHenry.
The next morning, Francis Scott Key saw the American flag flying over Fort McHenry! He was so relieved to see that our flag was still there that he wrote a poem. The name of this poem was “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
Later, this poem was set to the tune of an old English song. In 1931, it became our National Anthem.
This is the first verse of our National Anthem,
"The Star-Spangled Banner".
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, thro' the perilous fight'
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets 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?