Fort McHenry and “The Star Spangled Banner”
Have you ever wondered why Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner”? There is a wonderful story behind how “The Star Spangled Banner” was written. During the night of September 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the greatest song ever written.
Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner”. He was an American lawyer and an amatuer verse writer(Goertzen,p853). He wrote the song during the War of 1812. The original flag from 1812 had fallen apart over the years but had been restored and become apart of a special display. People were given small parts of the flag to remember that day.
In August 1814 British forces arrested William Beanes. They held him prisoner aboard a
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Only four out of a thousand soldiers were killed and twenty-four wounded.The British Navy could not take over Fort McHenry. The British left Baltimore and went to Chesapeake Bay.
The United States needed a flag for Fort McHenry. They wanted the flag to be so big that the British could see it from far away. George Armistead hired Mary Pickersgill to do the job. Mary Pickersgill, her mother, Rebecca Young, her daughter, and her 2 nieces helped make the flag. They worked on the flag for six weeks. The flag was thirty feet tall and forty-two feet wide. The flag had fifteen stars and fifteen stripes. The flag is now smaller. It is now thirty feet tall and thirty-three feet wide. In 1818, they changed the flag so that there was a star for all the states and a stripe for the 13 original colonies.
After the war of 1812 Major George Armistead took the flag home as a keepsake. Historians think that there is a large “A”on it that his wife sewed on. On the flag it looks like a an upside down “V”. People were given small parts of the flag to remember that day.
During the battle of Baltimore it was really rainy. When there was bad weather they raised a smaller flag, “The Storm Flag”. However when they won the war they raised the normal