Attorney Francis Scott Key witnessed the twenty-five hour attack on Fort McHenry from a British troopship anchored four miles away. He had boarded the ship to negotiate the release of an American civilian imprisoned by the British, and was detained aboard as the attack began. On September 14, 1814, as the dawn’s early light revealed a flag flying over the fort, Key exultantly began jotting down the lines of the poem The Defense of Fort McHenry. to the tune of a popular English Hymn, To Anacreon in Heaven also known as The Anacreontic Song by John Stafford Smith. The famous song became known as The Star-Spangled Banner and was adopted as the national anthem of the United States of America in 1931.
U. S. Armed Forces Choir |
U. S. Marine Corp Band |
Renee Fleming |
Whitney Houston |