"The Star Spangled Banner" was officially made the national anthem of the United States by Congres in 1931, although it had already been adapted as such by both the U.S. Army and Navy. The poem was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, and published under the title: "Defense of Fort M'Henry." It was sung to the beat of a British tune: "To Anecreon in Heaven."
Inspiration for writing the song came on the evening of September 13, 1814. On that night, Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured during the burning of Washington, D.C. The release was secured, but Key was detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore, Maryland. In the morning he was so moved to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began to pen the words we still sing today.
"The Star Spangled Banner" was officially made the national anthem of the United States by Congres in 1931, although it had already been adapted as such by both the U.S. Army and Navy. The poem was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, and published under the title: "Defense of Fort M'Henry." It was sung to the beat of a British tune: "To Anecreon in Heaven."
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, 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.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
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