In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed an Executive Order to make it our national anthem.

“Star-Spangled Banner” facts and figures: One of the original flags that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814 is called the “Star-Spangled Banner.” This flag is old and fragile, but is now being cared for at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. In the 1800’s the song was performed and sung at public events the poem was written to be sung to a popular British melody called, “To Anacreon in Heaven.” O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there, O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?Īnd the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming, O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

When he could see that the American flag was still flying in the morning, he wrote a poem that tells the story of his experience. If the flag was not flying or was replaced with a British flag, it would mean that the British had captured the fort. The bombing of Fort McHenry continued throughout the night, and the American flag, the symbol of our nation, was not always visible. He was trying to secure the release of prisoners but ended up being detained and held by the British.

During the War of 1812, on September 13, 1814, Key watched a night-time battle between Great Britain and America that took place in Baltimore, Maryland at Fort McHenry.

The words are from a poem that was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814. The “Star-Spangled Banner” is the national anthem, or national song, of the United States.

Words to the star spangled banner song