Governor proclaims Friday as Star-Spangled Banner Day
After assuming command, Fort McHenry’s new commander, Maj. George Armistead, in
1813 asked for a suitable flag to fly above it, “so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance.” The request was granted and widow Mary Pickersgill started fabricating a standard-sized garrison flag, 42 by 30 feet, with 15 stars stretching 26 inches across and
2-foot stripes, 15 of them. On Sept. 13, 1814, British warships attacked Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor, relentlessly pounding the American fort for
25 hours.
A week earlier, Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old American lawyer, had boarded the flagship of the British fleet on the Chesapeake Bay in hopes of persuading the British to release a friend who had been arrested. Key’s tactics were successful, but because he and his companions had gained knowledge of the impending attack on Baltimore, the British did not release them. Under their scrutiny, Key watched on Sept. 13 as the barrage of Fort McHenry began 8 miles away.
“It seemed as though mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone,” Key wrote. But when darkness arrived, Key saw only red erupting in the night sky. Given the scale of the attack, he was certain the British would win. In the clearing smoke of “the dawn’s early light” on Sept. 14, he saw the American flag flying over the fort, announcing an American victory.
Key put his thoughts on paper while still on board the ship. Key’s poem, now called “The Star-Spangled Banner,” appeared in print across the country.
The United States Daughters of 1812 is committed to preserving American history, particularly the history of the forgotten War of 1812.