Download Baltimore in the Balance

Teacher Resource for History of National Anthem
The Star–Spangled Banner
On September 14, 1814, U.S. soldiers at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry raised a huge American flag
to celebrate a crucial victory over British forces during the War of 1812. The sight of those
“broad stripes and bright stars” inspired Francis Scott Key to write a song that eventually became
the United States national anthem. Key’s words gave new significance to a national symbol and
started a tradition through which generations of Americans have invested the flag with their own
meanings and memories.
War of 1812
Although its events inspired one of the nation’s most famous patriotic songs, the War of 1812 is
a relatively little-known war in American history. Despite its complicated causes and
inconclusive outcome, the conflict helped establish the credibility of the young United States
among other nations. It fostered a strong sense of national pride among the American people, and
those patriotic feelings are reflected and preserved in the song we know today as the U.S.
national anthem. Britain’s defeat at the 1781 Battle of Yorktown marked the conclusion of the
American Revolution and the beginning of new challenges for a new nation. Not even three
decades after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which formalized Britain’s recognition of the
United States of America, the two countries were again in conflict. Resentment for Britain’s
interference with American international trade, combined with American expansionist visions,
led Congress to declare war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812. In the early stages of the war, the
American navy scored victories in the Atlantic and on Lake Erie while Britain concentrated its
military efforts on its ongoing war with France. But with the defeat of Emperor Napoléon’s
armies in April 1814, Britain turned its full attention to the war against an ill-prepared United
States.
Capital Captured
Angered by British interference with American trade, the young United States was intent on
reaffirming its recently won independence. Instead, a series of defeats left Americans anxious
and demoralized. They were stunned when, on August 24, 1814, British troops marched into
Washington, D.C., and set the Capitol building and White House ablaze.
Baltimore in the Balance
America’s future seemed more uncertain than ever as the British set their sights on Baltimore,
Maryland, a vital seaport. On September 13, 1814, British warships began firing bombs and
rockets on Fort McHenry, which protected the city’s harbor. The bombardment continued for
twenty-five hours while the nation awaited news of Baltimore’s fate.
Teacher Resource for History of National Anthem
Moment of Triumph
By the “dawn’s early light” of September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key, who was aboard a ship
several miles distant, could just make out an American flag waving above Fort McHenry. British
ships were withdrawing from Baltimore, and Key realized that the United States had survived the
battle and stopped the enemy advance. Moved by the sight, he wrote a song celebrating “that
star-spangled banner” as a symbol of America’s triumph and endurance.
Making the Flag
In the summer of 1813, Mary Pickersgill (1776–1857) was contracted to sew two flags for Fort
McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. The one that became the Star-Spangled Banner was a 30 x
42–foot garrison flag; the other was a 17 x 25–foot storm flag for use in inclement weather.
Pickersgill, a thirty-seven-year-old widow, was an experienced maker of ships’ colors and signal
flags. She filled orders for many of the military and merchant ships that sailed into Baltimore’s
busy port. Helping Pickersgill make the flags were her thirteen-year-old daughter Caroline;
nieces Eliza Young (thirteen) and Margaret Young (fifteen); and a thirteen-year-old African
American indentured servant, Grace Wisher. Pickersgill’s elderly mother, Rebecca Young, from
whom she had learned flagmaking, may have helped as well. Pickersgill and her assistants spent
about seven weeks making the two flags. They assembled the blue canton and the red and white
stripes of the flag by piecing together strips of loosely woven English wool bunting that were
only 12 or 18 inches wide.
Lyrics
Francis Scott Key was a gifted amateur poet. Inspired by the sight of the American flag flying
over Fort McHenry the morning after the bombardment, he scribbled the initial verse of his song
on the back of a letter. Back in Baltimore, he completed the 4 verses and copied them onto a
sheet of paper, probably making more than one copy. A local printer issued the new song as a
broadside. Shortly afterward, two Baltimore newspapers published it, and by mid-October it had
appeared in at least seventeen other papers in cities up and down the East Coast.
Francis Scott Key
Attorney Francis Scott Key witnessed the twenty-five hour bombardment of Fort McHenry from
a British troopship anchored some four miles away. He had boarded the ship to negotiate the
release of an American civilian imprisoned by the British, and had been detained aboard as the
bombardment began. On September 14, 1814, as the dawn’s early light revealed a flag flying
over the fort, Key exultantly began jotting down the lines of the song that became our national
anthem. After the war, Key continued to practice law in the District of Columbia.
Teacher Resource for History of National Anthem
National Anthem
During the 19th century, “The Star-Spangled Banner” became one of the nation’s best-loved
patriotic songs. It gained special significance during the Civil War, a time when many Americans
turned to music to express their feelings for the flag and the ideals and values it represented. By
the 1890s, the military had adopted the song for ceremonial purposes, requiring it to be played at
the raising and lowering of the colors. Despite its widespread popularity, “The Star-Spangled
Banner” did not become the National Anthem until 1931.
Symbols of a New Nation
The American flag did not play a major role in the War of Independence. Most of the myths
about the flag’s importance during the Revolution—including the famous tale of Betsy Ross
sewing the first flag for General Washington—emerged much later, after the Star-Spangled
Banner had become the nation’s most significant and cherished icon. At the time the American
flag was created, it did not attract much attention from the general public; its primary function
was to identify ships and forts. Ordinary Americans in the Revolutionary era turned to a variety
of other symbols—the eagle, Lady liberty, George Washington— to express their patriotism and
define their national identity.
This would start to change during the War of 1812. Often referred to as the “Second War of
Independence,” the conflict inspired a fresh wave of patriotism in a generation too young to
remember the Revolution. When Key declared that “our flag was still there,” he fused the
physical symbol of the nation with universal feelings of patriotism, courage, and resilience. By
giving the flag a starring role in one of the most celebrated victories of the war, Francis Scott
Key’s song established a new prominence for the flag as an expression of national identity, unity,
and pride. And by giving it a name—that Star-Spangled Banner—Key transformed the official
emblem into something familiar and evocative, a symbol that Americans could connect with and
claim as their own. The flag was no longer just an emblem of the nation; it became a
representation of the country’s values and the ideals for which it stands.
In the years since 1814, in times of celebration and crisis, pride and protest, people have raised
the flag to express their ideas about what it means to be American.