Francis Scott Key writes “The Star-Spangled Banner” - September 14th, 1814

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key penned the poem that later became America’s national anthem.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that flies the flag of history every day of
the week. I'm Gabe Luzier, and today we're looking back
on the Battle of Baltimore, a turning point both in
the War of eighteen twelve and in the life of

(00:22):
a lawyer with a penchant for poetry. The day was
September fourteenth, eighteen fourteen. Francis Scott Key penned the poem
that later became America's national anthem. The Washington, DC attorney

(00:45):
and amateur poet was inspired to write the verse after
witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland.
As dawn broke the following morning. Key was moved by
the site of a lone US flag still flying over
the battered fort, something which he took as a symbol
of the young nations endurance and courage. Originally titled The

(01:10):
Defense of Fort me Henry, Key's poem was later set
to music and renamed The Star Spangled Banner. Less than
three decades after Britain had recognized the independence of the
United States, the two countries found themselves at war once again,
this time over a series of trade disagreements and maritime disputes.

(01:32):
The War of eighteen twelve started out well for the US,
as Great Britain's military forces were already busy fighting in
ongoing war with France that allowed the American Navy to
rack up several key victories in the Atlantic Ocean and
on Lake Erie. However, once Napoleon's armies were defeated in

(01:52):
the spring of eighteen fourteen, Britain focused its full military
might on the United States and quickly gained the upper hand. Then,
in late August, British troops pressed their advantage by marching
into Washington, d c. And setting fire to the White House,
the capital, and many other government buildings. Americans had sought

(02:13):
to use the war as a way to reaffirm the
nation's independence on the world stage, but with its capital
city in flames, the future of the fledgling Republic was
more in doubt than ever. That sense of uncertainty was
compounded a few weeks later when the British set their
sights on the vital seaport of Baltimore, Maryland. The city's

(02:34):
harbor was defended by Fort McHenry, and on September thirteenth,
eighteen fourteen, British warships launched a merciless, twenty five hour
assault on that stronghold. Americans knew the fate of Baltimore
would determine that of the entire Union, so they anxiously
waited to see if Fort McHenry could possibly withstand such

(02:55):
a punishing onslaught. One especially nervous onlooker was thirty five
year old Francis Scott Key. He had been dispatched to
Baltimore by President James Madison on a mission to negotiate
the release of doctor William Beans, a prominent civilian surgeon
who had been captured at the Battle of Bladensburg. He

(03:15):
arrived one week before the bombardment began, and on September seventh,
he and fellow lawyer John Skinner boarded the flagship of
the British fleet and hopes of securing the doctor's safe passage.
Their effort proved successful, but the British had one condition.
Since Key and his companions now had knowledge that the

(03:35):
British were mounting an impending attack, they couldn't be allowed
to return to shore until after Fort McHenry had been destroyed. Instead, He,
Skinner and doctor Beans were returned to the American ship
on which they had arrived and were guarded there by
the British for the next several days. Then, on September thirteenth,

(03:56):
he watched in horror as the barrage of Fort McHenry
began roughly eight miles away. It seemed as though mother
Earth had opened, he later wrote, and was vomiting shot
and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone. The
firefight lasted all day and all night, and given the
scope and ferocity of the attack, he was all but

(04:19):
certain that British would be victorious. But they weren't. In
the early morning of September fourteenth, he could just make
out an American flag in the distance. It was still
flying over Fort McHenry, a sure sign that the American
troops had stood their ground and weathered the assault. After
a full day of shelling the fort, the British had

(04:42):
been unable to destroy it, and now, with their ammunition spent,
they were withdrawing from Baltimore. Not only had the United
States survived the attack, it had halted the enemy advance.
Francis Scott Key was deeply moved by the realization that
his country would endure after all. And as he put it, quote,

(05:02):
then in that hour of deliverance and joyful triumph, my
heart spoke. He quickly pulled a letter from his pocket,
and on the back of it he scribbled the first
verse of a poem of victory. Oh 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

(05:25):
bright stars through the perilous fight 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

(05:45):
free and the home of the brave. Once he was
back ashore in Baltimore, Francis Scott Key wrote three more verses,
though only the first is commonly known today. The lawyer
turned poet didn't give his wa a title, but his
brother in law, the commander of a militia at Fort McHenry,
submitted it for publication under the title Defense of Fort Mahenry.

(06:09):
Within a week, Key's poem had been printed in two
Baltimore newspapers, and by mid October it had appeared in
nearly twenty others in cities all along the East coast.
Then a few weeks after that, a Baltimore music store
printed the verses with sheet music under a more expressive title,
The Star Spangled Banner. The song's melody had actually been

(06:33):
chosen by Key himself, as he had noted on the
first printed copies of the verses that the words were
meant to be sung to the tune of to Enacreon
in Heaven. Ironically, that song was a popular staple in
British pubs, and was even used as the de facto
theme song of an upper class gentleman's club in London.

(06:54):
The song was written in seventeen seventy five by John
Stafford Smith and was meant as a tribute the ancient
Greek poet Anacreon, who was himself a notorious lover of
wine and music. To Anacreon in Heaven had made its
way to American shores some years earlier, and Key was
well acquainted with it, having already used it to accompany

(07:15):
a different poem that he'd written in eighteen oh five.
And if it seemed strange that Americans should adopt a
British drinking song as a patriotic anthem, remember that the
precedent had already been set by Yankee Doodle, a song
which began life as a British insult before being co
opted by Americans as a defiant show of national pride.

(07:37):
In the wake of the War of eighteen twelve, both
songs Yankee Doodle and the Star Spangled Banner were increasingly
common at patriotic Celebrationske's song, in particular, took on new
significance during the Civil War, when it was used as
an anthem for Union soldiers. The song's popularity continued to

(07:57):
grow throughout the nineteenth century, and by the aigeen nineties,
the US military had adopted it for ceremonial purposes, requiring
that it be played anytime the American flag was raised
or lowered. Clearly, the Star Spangled Banner took on an
increasingly distinguished role in American culture, yet it didn't become
the national anthem until more than one hundred years after

(08:20):
it was written. The idea had been toyed with for decades.
By that point, but it wasn't until March third, nineteen
thirty one, that the designation was finally made official. From
that point on, the song would be played or sung
at government offices, schools, and sporting events all across the country.
Or you know, at least the first verse, I'm gay,

(08:45):
Bluesier And hopefully you now know a little more about
history today than you did yesterday. You can learn even
more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and
Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have any
comments or suggestions, you can always pass those along by
writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to

(09:08):
Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks to you
for listening. Well, I'll see you back here again tomorrow
for another day in history class.