by chrisb01 Wed Dec 28, 2011 3:43 amDuring the war of 1812, the ship Francis Scott Key was on, was detained from leaving the waters near Baltimore. Looking across the bay in the Baltimore harbor, he could see Fort McHenry in the distance. It was September 13, 1814. As the night fell and light waned, suddenly the smoke of cannons and the burst of bombs lit the sky.
The screams of the war's dying filled the night. Francis Scott Key could hear the shouts of the victims and the howl of missiles piercing the air, but no sound gave a clue as to who was winning and who was losing. Only the morning light would reveal the battle's outcome.
As darkness gave way to light. Francis Scott Key wrote on the back of an envelope.
"Oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, o'er 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:
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
The screams of the war's dying filled the night. Francis Scott Key could hear the shouts of the victims and the howl of missiles piercing the air, but no sound gave a clue as to who was winning and who was losing. Only the morning light would reveal the battle's outcome.
As darkness gave way to light. Francis Scott Key wrote on the back of an envelope.
"Oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, o'er 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:
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"