STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

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?

On the shore dimly seen
Thro' the mists 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 morning's first beam
In full glory reflected
Now shines on the stream
'Tis the star-spangled banner
O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave!

And where is that band
Who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war
And the battle's confusion
A home and a country
Should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out
Their foul footsteps' pollution
No refuge could save
The hireling and slave
From the terror of flight
Or the gloom of the grave
And the star-spangled banner
In triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave

O thus be it ever
When free-men shall stand
Between their lov'd home
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 preserv'd 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 triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave!

~ Francis Scott Key ~

On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British
fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William
Beanes, who had been captured after 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. In the morning, he was so delighted to see
the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a
poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the
title "Defense of Fort M'Henry," and later as "The Star-Spangled
Banner," the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the
tune "To Anacreon in Heaven." The origin of this tune is obscure,
but it may have been written by John Stafford Smith, a British
composer born in 1750. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was officially
made the National Anthem by Congress in 1931, although it
already had been adopted as such by the Army and the Navy.