Beanes was freed, but he and Key were not permitted to return to Baltimore until after the battle whose plans they had overheard. Negotiations took place over dinner - while the British officers also planned their attack on Baltimore. Francis Scott Key, a successful Washington lawyer, had permission from President James Madison to try to negotiate Beanes' release. Flag-maker Mary Young Pickersgill, assisted by her 13-year-old daughter Caroline, assembled the flag with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, laying out yards of woolen bunting at night by candlelight on the spacious floor of a brewery.īritish forces had burned Washington in August of 1814, and captured a beloved elderly physician named William Beanes. It had been commissioned by Major George Armistead, the commander of Fort McHenry at the entrance to Baltimore Harbor, who wanted a flag large enough to be seen by the British at a distance. The actual star-spangled banner was 30' by 42' - the largest battle flag ever flown. Smith's melody was originally sung at each fortnightly meeting of London's Anacreontic Society, a club of wealthy amateur musicians founded in 1766.įor further information about the song "Star Spangled Banner" you may find Wikipedia helpful.įrancis Scott Key's words commemorate precise details of a specific event during the War of 1812. John Stafford Smith, to whom the tune was attributed, was an important English music historian, as well as a singer, organist and composer. This patriotic song was in the year 1889 officially recognized for use by the Navy and thereafter by the President in 1916, and ultimately it was made the US's national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931. The poem was set to the tune of a well known British drinking song "The Anacreontic Song" and renamed "Star Spangled Banner". The area was under attack by the British Royal Navy ships in the Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812. The lyrics for this song stem from a poem by Francis Scott Key in 1814 called "Defense of Fort McHenry" and written after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland. The "Star Spangled Banner" is the US national anthem.
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