During the War of 1812, the British captured Washington, D.C. & took a revered physician named William Beanes prisoner, holding him aboard ship in their fleet off the Baltimore shore. On September 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key, a well-known Washington, D.C. lawyer-poet, was persuaded to attempt to negotiate his release. Consequently, Key ventured out to the fleet, and succeeded in gaining Beanes' release, but both men were detained overnight because the British had planned an attack that very same evening. Although rain obscured much of the shoreline from Key's view that night, he stood on deck in despair as more than 1800 bombs, rockets and shells were hurtled from the British ships toward Baltimore, Maryland. At daybreak on the morning of September 14, 1814, Key was overjoyed when he first glimpsed the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry. Realizing that the fort had somehow withstood the fierce British bombardment, he was compelled to record his emotions. Key began drafting the words to his celebratory poem on an envelope. Shortly thereafter, the American duo was sent ashore & the British fleet withdrew. The following day, from his Baltimore hotel room, Francis Scott Key completed his poem and created a neater copy of it. When he promptly decided to re-use the melody from a well-known English song from 1780s ("To Anacreon in Heaven"), our beloved-but-oh-so-challenging-to-sing national anthem was born. Originally printed as a handbill entitled "The Defense of Fort McHenry," his work was distributed throughout the city of Baltimore by relatives of his wife. Within a couple of weeks, Key's heartfelt tribute was published in Baltimore newspapers, having been re-named "The Star Spangled Banner." It gained instant local popularity, but only became a nationally popular song at the beginning of the Civil War. Many decades later, competing against & beating out other candidates such as "America the Beautiful" and "Yankee Doodle," Francis Scott Key's creation was finally adopted as the country's first national anthem when President Herbert Hoover signed legislation on March 3, 1931. Featuring four full verses, each ending with this same line for added emphasis, our national anthem was written while Key gazed at Ft. McHenry's 15-star/15-stripe, 30' x 42' flag that gloriously waved, "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
This color coordinated collection of fashion fabrics was first featured in our Vogue Fabrics By Mail Summer 2011 catalog of swatches. Subscribe to receive home delivery of these catalogs every other month.
This color coordinated collection of fashion fabrics was first featured in our Vogue Fabrics By Mail Summer 2011 catalog of swatches. Subscribe to receive home delivery of these catalogs every other month.
