The sound of patriotism

This Memorial Day weekend as we remove our hats and faithfully place a hand over our hearts to sing “The Star Spangled Banner,” it is appropriate to remember the veterans of 209 years ago who inspired the song.

Francis Scott Key, a lawyer from Washington, D.C. first penned the words to a poem he composed while watching the Naval Forces of Great Britain bombard Fort McHenry, at Baltimore, in September 1814 during the War of 1812.

Key’s friend, William Beanes, an elderly doctor and neighbor in the nation’s capital city, had been captured by the British and Key chartered a boat to meet with Admiral Alexander Cochrane to negotiate a prisoner release.

Cochrane, instead, fearing Key to be a spy, confiscated Key’s vessel and tied it to a British ship to prevent an escape. Now essentially a prisoner himself, Key peered over the edge of the sloop through the night and was inspired by the fierce defense put up by the U.S. Army to prevent occupation of the nearby fortress.

When the British retreated, the four stanzas which legend says were scribbled on the back of an envelope, was titled “The Defense of Fort McHenry” and published immediately after the battle as a rallying cry for the three-and-a-half-decade-young country.

When written, Key visualized the stanzas of the poem to be adapted into a song performed to the tune of “Anachreon in Heaven,” a melody about the Greek poet, Anachreon, which became a popular medley in British pubs during the time of the American Revolution.

Key’s words, which start out with “Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,” referred to the flag which was staffed high atop a 90-foot-tall pole in the center of the fort. As he looked out over the edge of the ship, he glanced toward the shore and found that the 15-star banner remained valiantly over the fortress, where it remained, untouched by the enemy.

Key, and the doctor, were freed after the British withdrew from the harbor. The fort remains standing today as a national historic shrine, appearing much the way it did 209 years ago when it shone gloriously beneath the rocket’s red glare.

As a sidelight, the author of this column is proud to relate that he had the opportunity to view the inspiring site for himself in a re-enactment of that battle complete with a flotilla of tall ships and black powder cannons. I was accorded the honor to raise and lower the fifteen star flag to the top and back down again of the pole at the center of the fortress. It was an emotional moment and I am humbled to have the flag in my personal collection of cherished American historical artifacts.

The original flag itself, the “Star Spangled Banner” that inspired Key to pen his iconic poem, hangs now after a 10-year, $18 million restoration in the early 2000s, at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The paper on which Key hand scribbled the notes of what he saw (and heard) that night, is in the collections of the Maryland Historical Society.

The words he scrunched onto that parchment did not immediately become the national anthem, however. Within a few years, its title was altered to “The Star Spangled Banner,” but it retained the same tune, which to many, with its varied low and high pitches, was difficult to sing and master. As such, while popular, the rallying cry of the War of 1812 remained as a reminder of heroism, but not an officially sanctioned symbol of it.

Other songs, including “America,” sung to the tune of “God Save the Queen,” and “Columbia,” in recognition of Christopher Columbus, who didn’t actually see the land that become the home of the free, were frequently performed as patriotic fare, but were never formally adopted or sanctioned by the nation’s governmental bodies.

It was not until 1929, when John Linthincum, a native of Baltimore and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, introduced a bill into the House Judiciary Committee to designate an official national anthem.

As the nation plummeted into a severe economic depression, the concept gained strength as a means of instilling hope and pride in the principles for which it stood, and more than 5 million signatures poured into members’ offices from across the country, most supporting the War of 1812 poem with its British drinking tune, as an official ode to America.

Although some argued that Linthincum had his own self interest in mind (as a national song, it was certain to bring glory and tourist dollars to Maryland), nonetheless, the bill passed in the House of Representatives the following year and was endorsed by the Senate that spring.

After receiving much lobbying through letters and telegrams sent by the public who were ready for a ditty that would serve as a source of encouragement as the nation’s economic woes deepened, Resolution 14 was signed by President Herbert Hoover in 1931 designating “The Star Spangled Banner” as the official national anthem of the United States.

This year, as we attempt to reach the 19 semitones of its widely varying pitches and stretch the short words to match it in tribute to our veterans of 1812 and beyond, let us not forget that it was born of a brave and daring mission to save a friend and signed by a president from the state of Iowa.

David V. Wendell is a Marion historian, author and special events coordinator specializing in American history.