THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER

Star Spangled Banner

This is the "Star Spangled Banner," currently in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., that was flying over Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland, when the British attacked on September 13, 1814. Francis Scott Key, a young lawyer had gone aboard a British War Ship hoping to secure the release of a friend, held prisoner. Key was detained over night, and in the morning, after a night long battle, saw that the American flag was still flying over the fort. This sight inspired him to write a poem about the nights events which was set to the tune of an old drinking song. In 1931 it became the National Anthem. This flag is the only official flag to have more than 13 stripes.


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The Star Spangled Banner
by
Francis Scott Key

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 bright stars, Through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets 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 free and the home of the brave?

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On the shore, dimly seen Thro' the mist of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host In dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, O'er the tower 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 on the stream: 'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

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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 washed 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.

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Oh! thus be it ever, When freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation, Blest with vict'ry and peace, May the Heav'n-rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, For our cause it is just, And this be our motto-- "In God is our trust." And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

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