Oh, Say, Can You See?

Independence Day is past, and we in the US have reflected on our patriotism and saluted the flag and sung The Star Spangled Banner.  But do you know the story behind our national anthem?

It all started with a battle in 1814 when British ships were bombarding Ft. McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland.  Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer who was on an England ship and watched overnight, wondering if when morning arrived whether the American flag or the British flag would be raised over the fort.  Imagine his relief and thankfulness when he realized that it was the American flag which flew that morning.  Here is a link to more information about his life and how he came to write these words which eventually became our national anthem.

The Star-Spangled Banner

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d 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,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Ft. McHenry is an interesting place to visit.  There were displays inside various buildings and lots of  walkways and bunkers to explore.

Little ones love to run around old forts and see the buildings and ramparts and cannons.

"There was a JAIL here???"

Key Bridge seen from Ft. McHenry