Symbols of a New Nation This feature requires Javascript to function. Soprano Francis Alda, By the early s the Star-Spangled Banner was a fixture at public ceremonies and celebrations. National Museum of American History Admission is free. 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. The hours passed slowly, but in the clearing smoke of "the dawn's early light" on September 14, he saw the American flag —not the British Union Jack—flying over the fort, announcing an American victory.
Key put his thoughts on paper while still on board the ship, setting his words to the tune of a popular English song. Nearly two centuries later, the flag that inspired Key still survives, though fragile and worn by the years. And when the museum reopens in summer , the Star-Spangled Banner will be its centerpiece, displayed in its own state-of-the-art gallery.
Glass, the museum's director. Started in , the Star-Spangled Banner preservation project—which includes the flag's conservation and the creation of its new display in the renovated museum—was planned with the help of historians, conservators, curators, engineers and organic scientists.
With the construction of the conservation lab completed in , conservators began their work. Over the next several years, they clipped 1. Finally, they added a sheer polyester backing to help support the flag. The intent was never to make the flag look as it did when it first flew over Fort McHenry, she says.
Those marks tell the flag's story. While the conservators worked, the public looked on. Over the years, more than 12 million people peered into the museum's glass conservation lab, watching the progress.
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To join or renew as a Member, please visit our Membership page. To make a donation in memory of someone, please visit our Memorial Donation page. William Beanes, who had been captured in an earlier battle. As a condition of the release, the British ordered the Americans not to return to shore during the attack on Baltimore.
Back in Baltimore, he continued working until he had completed four verses only one of which is commonly known today. Written around by John Stafford Smith, the song honored the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, a lover of wine. The Anacreontic Song, as it was known, had a track record of popularity in the United States by Key himself had even used the tune before, as accompaniment for verses he wrote in commemorating American naval victories in the Barbary War.
After the war of , Key continued his thriving law career. He did speak out against the cruelties of the institution of slavery, but did not see abolition as the solution. Instead, Key became a leader of the colonization movement, which advocated the relocation of black slaves to Africa and eventually resulted in the modern nation of Liberia.
By the s, the U. S military had adopted the song for ceremonial purposes, playing it to accompany the raising and lowering of the colors.
The practice soon spread across major league baseball, and into other sports, and eventually became a widely accepted pregame tradition.
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