Written by Michael J. Perullo

The Star-Spangled Banner was made famous by Francis Scott Key’s 1814 composition of what was to become our National Anthem. It is a poem, it is a song, it is a banner, and it is a flag! But how was this unique flag with 15 stars and 15 stripes created in the first place, and why do we sing about it so often? To find out, let’s dive into the history of the early United States and the war of 1812.

Starting a War and Saving "Washington"

Only a generation removed from its War for Independence, the United States formally declared war against England on June 18, 1812. Most people today cannot tell you what the War of 1812 was about. The war had a series of complex causes, including differences within America over territorial expansion, British support for Indian resistance to American settlement of the Northwest Territory, tighter restrictions on trade with France, a desire by western and southern “War Hawks” to annex some or all of Canada, and American sailor impressment (forced conscription) on the high seas. The decision to go to war was an extremely partisan issue; when the House and the Senate voted to go to war, the Democratic-Republicans were for it and the Federalists against. America’s allies were the Cherokee, the Chickasaw, and the Choctaw; the British counted Tecumseh’s Confederacy, the Six Nations, and West Florida as allies.

By August 1814, the British were ready to give the Americans “a complete drubbing.” They routed 5,000 poorly led American troops at Bladensburg, Maryland. During the summer of 1814, the Capitol and the Executive Mansion (the White House), along with Alexandria, Virginia, had been burned. For his own safety, even President Madison had to leave Washington, but it was his wife, Dolley, who insisted that “Washington” was coming with them. It was she who directed that the frame of Washington’s portrait be destroyed to retrieve the canvas for posterity. The painting you see today in the White House was saved in August 1814 by Dolley Madison.

After burning Washington, the British turned their attention to conquering Baltimore. America was in peril; could the British be turned back?

Above: Francis Scott Key in Baltimore Harbor

Francis Scott Key’s Mission

Francis Scott Key was a wealthy Georgetown lawyer who had traveled 40 miles to Baltimore Harbor to locate an American agent for prisoners of war. Key was retained by the family of Dr. William Beanes to try and secure his freedom after Dr. Beanes was arrested by the British on August 28, 1814, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. He was accused of aiding the detention of captured British soldiers caught raiding local homesteads for food. Key and Dr. Beanes had also been friends for years.

Imagine the courage it took for Key and the American POW agent to sail to the British ship where Dr. Beanes was held captive! After dinner with the British admirals aboard their ship, HMS Tonnant, Key secured the release of Dr. Beanes and was allowed under guard to return to his own vessel, a small 60-foot sloop leased by the POW agent specifically for this mission. Because Key and the others had learned of the British strength and their intent to advance on Baltimore, they were not allowed to leave for shore and were detained on their sloop to watch the bombardment of Fort McHenry that night.

Above: The original Star-Spangled Banner, under repair at the Smithsonian in 1914. Note the enormous size of the flag.

The Flags of Fort McHenry

Earlier in the summer, when Fort McHenry’s commander, Major George Armistead, expressed interest in a very large flag to fly over the fort so that it could be seen for miles in all directions, his commanding general and commodore made an order for two large flags. The Great Garrison Flag, which at 30 by 42 feet would be the largest of such flown over any American military post to date; and the smaller of the two, the Storm Flag, at 17 by 25 feet. The Great Garrison Flag was intended for regular use, while the Storm Flag was used in inclement weather.

Both flags were sewn by Mary Young Pickersgill with her two daughters, two nieces, and an African American indentured servant named Grace Wisher. The price at the time for the Garrison Flag was $405.90 (and it weighed more than 50 pounds); the Storm Flag cost $168.54. The multi-section flagpole at Fort McHenry would raise these flags to a height of 90 feet. Like all U.S. flags at the time, these flags had 15 stars and 15 stripes, a standard which had been updated in 1795 to reflect the entrance of Kentucky and Vermont to the union. Just a few years later in 1818, Congress would revert the flag design to 13 stripes and begin the practice of adding stars (but not stripes) for new states. 

The Bombardment (September 13–14, 1814)

When the bombardment started just after sunset on September 13, Fort McHenry was flying its Storm Flag. Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment aboard his sloop under British guard from a distance of about eight miles. Interestingly, due to the fierce cannon power positioned at Fort McHenry, the 1,500 rockets and mortar rounds lobbed at the fort were less than effective, as the British were positioned too far away to inflict their munitions’ maximum damage. This repulse of the British naval attack of Fort McHenry prevented the capture of the city.

When the battle ended the next morning, Major Armistead ordered the Storm Flag to be replaced with the giant Great Garrison Flag so that it would be visible for miles in every direction to signal that the Americans still held Baltimore and beyond, and that they would continue to fight. What flew over Fort McHenry that night was not just a symbol, but a signal. 

The Poem That Became the Anthem

Upon seeing the Great Garrison Flag, Francis Scott Key was so overwhelmed that he began to write the first verse of what would become our National Anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner, on the back of a letter he was carrying. Key’s poem was entitled “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” and the first stanza was written aboard his leased sloop on the morning of September 14 after seeing that “…our flag was still there.”

Later that day, he returned to shore in Baltimore and checked into the Indian Queen Hotel, where late into the night he worked on his poem’s next three stanzas. Think of how difficult it would have been to transcribe what he witnessed on the night of September 13, 1814 into four eight-line stanzas of poetry.

The next day, he showed his poem to his wife’s brother-in-law, Judge Joseph Nicholson, who urged that he have it published. Nicholson commanded a volunteer company at Fort McHenry and thought that Key’s poem should be put to music.

When originally published as “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” it came with instructions to sing to the tune of the 18th-century British drinking melody, “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a song Key had in mind when he wrote the first verse. Upon reprinting, it was the printer who took the liberty of changing the song’s name to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Above: London's rowdy Anacreontic Society originated the music used for our national anthem.

The National Anthem's Colorful Origins

What about the music of the Star-Spangled Banner, and what was this song then known as “To Anacreon in Heaven”?  Anacreon was an ancient Greek poet renowned for his songs about drinking, promiscuity and love.  The Anacreontic Society (1766-1792) was a group of wealthy Londoners who would get together on Wednesday nights, twelve times each year, to hear amateur musicians plying their trade while eating and drinking. Some of the music was racy, and would not otherwise be heard in public or in polite company. Even during the 1929-1931 debate about making the Star-Spangled Banner our National Anthem, many Congressmen objected to the original verses of the song upon which the words of Key’s stanzas were set. Can you imagine witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry, and writing a four-stanza poem whose original music ended with, “And long may the Sons of Anacreon intwine The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s Vine.”?! How many other nations can say they have adopted the melody and music of a debauched drinking song of a former enemy?! 

Given that the Marine Corps was founded at Philadelphia’s Tun Tavern (1775), and the Star-Spangled Banner was set to the music of a British drinking song, it is only fitting that Mary Pickersgill and her helpers also sewed both the Storm and the Garrison Flags in the upstairs loft of a local Baltimore brewery. How American!

The Legacy of a Legendary Flag

After the unsuccessful bombardment of Fort McHenry, the British abandoned their quest to take Baltimore, fleeing for Jamaica and eventually onward to New Orleans, where future president Andrew Jackson rushed to deal the British a blow widely considered to be an annihilation. The events at Fort McHenry, immortalized by Francis Scott Key, truly helped change the course of U.S. history.

Purchase Your Own Star-Spangled Banner Flag

At Beaver Flags, our own finely crafted version of the Star-Spangled Banner Flag pays tribute to the original, while offering the chance to fly a unique piece of American history at your own home or workplace. Share this 15-striped, 15-starred flag with friends and family and enlighten them on the rich history behind the flag and the anthem it inspired.