"The Star-Spangled Banner"

During the War of 1812, the British captured the city of Washington, setting fire to the Capitol building and the White House.

In the blaze of cannon fire, Francis Scott Key, a lawyer living in Georgetown, could still see an American flag waving over Fort McHenry. When the bombing suddenly stopped during the night, he had no way of knowing if the flag was still there or if the American stronghold had fallen to the British. But at dawn the American flag became visible, still intact over the fort.

Key was inspired to write a poem. His brother-in-law took it to a printer and copies were circulated around the city.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as our national anthem on March 3, 1931.

Oh, say can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed
By the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous flight
O'er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming
And the rocket's red glare,
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there.

Oh, 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 on the stream:

Tis the Star-Spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band
That 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.

Oh! Thus be it ever
When free men shall stand
Between their loved homes
And the war's desolation;
Blest with victory 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 out motto:
"In God is our trust!"

And the Star-Spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.