Star Spangled Banner

 Today, September 3rd, is the 198th anniversary of journey's start for Francis Scott Key to negotiate with the British for exchange of prisoners. The War of 1812 was ongoing, and Key and another gentleman set sail from Baltimore, under a flag of negotiation and by the direction of President James Madison. Key and his compatriot reached the British flagship and spoke with British officers while the officers also discussed detailed plans for a siege on Baltimore.

Since they overheard these plans, they were held captive until after the battle. During the night the battle raged, and Key could not tell who had dominance over the harbor and city until the "dawn's early light" when he saw the giant 15-starred, 15-striped flag flying over the fortress. Key wrote a poem describing his reflections on the back of an envelope. His poem was quickly set to the tune of a popular contemporary song. After performances for more than a century, Herbert Hoover in 1931 finally adopted "The Star Spangled Banner" as our nation's national anthem.

As a Baltimorean myself, I have been to this fortress several times. Go if you can. It is inspiring. This video is perhaps the best rendition of The Star Spangled Banner I have ever heard. Take a listen. You will be amazed and inspired.

O say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through 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 through 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 in 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 washed 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 freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved 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!