STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 



5533 



STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 



On Tuesday, September 13, 1814, the bom- 

 bardment began, continuing that day and al- 

 most all night. To Key and his companions 

 it seemed impossible that the fort could sur- 

 vive the attack, as its guns were small and its 





"THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER" 

 The illustration is a drawing of the original 

 flag which floated over Fort McHenry. 



defenders were few. All night they walked the 

 deck in anguish, and even when dawn came 

 could not discover the outcome because of haze 

 and smoke. Suddenly, at seven o'clock, a rift 

 in the mist showed for a moment the flag 

 gleaming over the walls. Thrilled by the sight, 

 Key wrote the greater part of the poem in a 

 few minutes on the back of an unfinished let- 

 ter, and completed the stanzas that night in a 

 Baltimore hotel. 



The next morning the poem was printed on 

 handbills, and during that day Key's brother- 

 in-law suggested that it be set to the old Eng- 

 lish drinking tune, Anacreon in Heaven, which 

 was already familiar to Americans as the air 

 for a political song entitled Adams and Liberty. 

 A few days later an actor named Ferdinand 

 Durang first sang it in public at Baltimore. 

 The composition immediately became popular, 

 was played at the Battle of New Orleans, and 

 is now played each evening at flag lowering in 

 every American fort and garrison and on every 

 American battleship throughout the world. The 

 words of the song appear on this page. 



The United States government keeps a flag 

 floating continually over Key's grave at Fred- 



The Star-Spangled 

 Banner 



[The third stanza is omitted.] 



Oh ! say, can you see, by the dawn's 



early light, 



What so proudly we hailed at the twi- 

 light'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 thro' the night that our flag 



was still there. 

 Oh ! say, does the star-spangled banner 



still wave 

 O'er the land of the free and the home 



of the brave.? 



On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist 



of the deep, 

 Where the foe's haughty host in dread 



silence reposes, 

 What is that which the breeze, o'er the 



towering steep, 

 As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half 



discloses? 



Now it catches the gleam of the morn- 

 ing's first beam, 

 In full glory reflected, now shines on 



the stream ; 

 "Pis the star-spangled banner. Oh ! 



long may it wave 

 O'er the land of the free and the home 



of the brave ! 



Oh ! thus be it ever when freemen shall 



stand 

 Between their loved homes and the 



war's desolation ; 

 Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the 



heav'n-rescued land 

 Praise the Pow'r that hath made and 



preserved us a nation. 

 Then, conquer we must, when our cause 



it is just, 

 And this be our motto, "In God is our 



trust." 



And the star-spangled banner in tri- 

 umph shall wave 

 O'er the land of the free and the home 



of the brave. 



