

#Who invented the star spangled banner song full
But with the defeat of Emperor Napoleon’s armies in April 1814, Britain turned its full attention to the war against an ill-prepared United States. In the early stages of the war, the American navy scored victories in the Atlantic and on Lake Erie while Britain concentrated its military efforts on its ongoing war with France. Resentment for Britain’s interference with American international trade and impressment of American sailors combined with American expansionist visions led Congress to declare war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812. Not even three decades after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which formalized Britain’s recognition of the United States of America, the two countries were again in conflict. It also fostered a strong sense of national pride among the American people, and those patriotic feelings are reflected and preserved in the song we know today as our national anthem.īritain’s defeat at the 1781 Battle of Yorktown marked the conclusion of the American Revolution and the beginning of new challenges for a new nation. Despite its complicated causes and inconclusive outcome, the conflict helped establish the credibility of the young United States among other nations. The War of 1812 and the Burning of WashingtonĪlthough its events inspired one of our most famous national songs, the War of 1812 is itself a relatively little-known war in American history. The whereabouts of the storm flag are not known. The garrison flag would soon after be raised at Fort McHenry and ultimately find a permanent home at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The government paid $405.90 for the garrison flag and $168.54 for the storm flag.

(The third Flag Act, passed on April 4, 1818, reduced the number of stripes back to thirteen to honor the original thirteen colonies and provided for one star for each state - a new star to be added to the flag on the Fourth of July following the admission of each new state.) Pickersgill spent between six and eight weeks making the flags, and they were delivered to Fort McHenry on August 19, 1813. The additional stars and stripes represent Vermont (1791) and Kentucky (1792) joining the Union. The Star-Spangled Banner has fifteen stars and fifteen stripes as provided for in the second Flag Act approved by Congress on January 13, 1794. The first Flag Act, adopted on June 14, 1777, created the original United States flag of thirteen stars and thirteen stripes. At its original dimensions of 30 by 42 feet, it was larger than the modern garrison flags used today by the United States Army, which have a standard size of 20 by 38 feet. It was intended to fly from a flagpole about ninety feet high and be visible from great distances. The Star-Spangled Banner’s impressive scale (about one-fourth the size of a modern basketball court) reflects its purpose as a garrison flag. Each star is about two feet in diameter, each stripe about 24 inches wide. The larger of these two flags would become known as the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Pickersgill stitched it from a combination of dyed English wool bunting (red and white stripes and blue union) and white cotton (stars). She was hired under a government contract and was assisted by her daughter, two nieces, and an indentured African-American girl. Armistead commissioned Mary Pickersgill, a Baltimore flag maker, to sew two flags for the fort: a smaller storm flag (17 by 25 ft) and a larger garrison flag (30 by 42 ft). In June 1813, Major George Armistead arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, to take command of Fort McHenry, built to guard the water entrance to the city.


Commissioned by Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry.Made in Baltimore, Maryland, in July-August 1813 by flagmaker Mary Pickersgill.Quick Facts about the Star-Spangled Banner Flag The original Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that would become our national anthem, is among the most treasured artifacts in the collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, African Art.
