A Bicentennial Remembrance of September 14, 1814 #DidYouKnow A widowed young mother paid the rent on their modest home in Baltimore by sewing. Having learned flag-making from her mother, who made banners, ensigns, and standards in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War, Mary Pickersgill honed her skills and eventually bought that home. It was one of her flags that inspired Frances Scott Key to write In Defence of Fort McHenry, a poem later set to the tune of the London drinking song To Anacreon in Heaven. Today, Americans call it The Star Spangled Banner. In the midst of The War of 1812, Maj. George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry, commissioned 37 year old Mary Pickersgill to create a garrison flag, so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it, and a smaller storm flag. For six weeks throughout July-August 1813, with the help of her daughter, two nieces, and two African-American servants, Mary Pickersgill hand-sewed the two flags. The garrison flag measured 30 x 42, so large that the women borrowed the floor of a local brewery to lay out and finish the flag. For this they used over 400 yards of fabric. Each stripe was two feet high and each of the 15 stars measured two feet from point to point. A year later, 35 year old Maryland lawyer Francis Scott Key was called to help Col. John Skinner negotiate with The Royal Navy in the Chesapeake Bay for the release of American prisoners of war, including one of Keys close friend, Dr. William Beanes. However, negotiations were delayed and the American negotiators were put to sea in boats to watch as the British navy bombarded Fort McHenry for 25 hours in what became known as The Battle of Baltimore. The next morning, Key, a poet by hobby, was inspired by an American flag flying in the midst of the smoke. The large garrison flag had been taken down as the battle ensued and was not raised again until the fight was over. However, the smaller storm flag had remained at full staff and endured the onslaught. So, which of Mary Pickerills two flags inspired Francis Scott Key that dawn of September 14, 1814? After watching the most powerful navy in the world lose its attempt to batter a small fledgling nation into submission, he wrote: Oh, say can you see by the dawns early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, Oer 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. The U.S. Navy began official use of The Star Spangled Banner in 1889, but other songs, such as Hail Columbia and My Country Tis of Thee, were used as national patriotic songs. Over 100 years after Francis Scott Key penned his poem, at the behest of President Woodrow Wilson, The Star Spangled Banner began its regular use at special occasions, but it wasnt until 1931 that Congress, under Pres. Herbert Hoover, finally adopted the song as the official national anthem. As for the garrison flag made by Mary Pickerill, today it is preserved to inspire us still at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. Each time you, as an American, place your right hand over your heart, may you remember this day in our history when we struggled and fought that second war for our liberty, the endurance of America through many subsequent struggles, and the courage we draw from our flag and our national anthem to persevere through those struggles yet to come. And may we think, too, on those individual Americans, like a seamstress named Mary and a lawyer named Francis, each taking his or her place to strengthen and bring pride to this unique republic. Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the wars desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heavn rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: In God is our trust. And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave Oer the land of the free and the home of the brave! ~In Defence of Fort McHenry/The Star Spangled Banner, 4th and last stanza Sources: Maryland Womens Hall of Fame, Maryland War of 1812 Commission and Star-Spangled 200, New World Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, USA Flag Site
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 01:23:34 +0000
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