Francis Scott Key's lyrics 's original manuscript copy of his " of Fort M'Henry" poem, now on display at the
Maryland Historical Society " that inspired the poem On August 28, 1814, William Beanes, a physician who resided in
Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was arrested by
British forces in his home after the
Burning of Washington and the
Raid on Alexandria. A friend of Key's, Beanes was accused of aiding the detention of several
British Army stragglers who were ransacking local homesteads in search of food. On September 2, 1814, Key wrote a letter from his home in
Georgetown to his mother, ending with: I am going in the morning to
Baltimore to proceed in a flag-vessel to Genl Ross. Old Dr Beanes of Marlbro' is taken prisoner by the Enemy, who threaten to carry him off – Some of his friends have urged me to apply for a flag & go & try to procure his release. I hope to return in about 8 or 10 days, though [it] is uncertain, as I do not know where to find the fleet. – As soon as I get back I hope I shall be able to set out for Fred[ericksburg] – ... Under sanction from President
Madison, on September 3, Key traveled by land from
Washington, D.C., to
Baltimore, where he arrived on the morning of September 4. He located Col. John Stuart Skinner, an American agent for prisoners of war, who leased a sloop-rigged packet ship belonging to John and Benjamin Ferguson, brothers who owned a cargo and passenger service between Baltimore and Norfolk. The ship had a nine-man crew and was captained by a co-owner, John Ferguson. They sailed from Baltimore the next day (September 5) out through the
Patapsco River and then south, down the
Chesapeake Bay. As recorded in the British ships' logs, on September 6, they had rendezvoused with
HMS Royal Oak and several British
troopships near the mouth of the
Patuxant. There they learned Beanes was aboard
HMS Tonnant further down in the bay. Rear Admiral
Pulteney Malcolm assigned the frigate
Hebrus to escort the American sloop to Tangier Island, where he thought
Tonnant was located. On September 7, around noon, they spotted
Tonnant near the mouth of the
Potomac. The flagship then anchored and brought Key and Skinner aboard. It was aboard
Tonnant, after dinner, that Skinner and Key secured the release of Beanes after conversing with Major-General
Robert Ross and Vice-Admiral
Alexander Cochrane. Ross initially refused to release Beanes, but relented after reading letters, brought by Key, written by wounded British prisoners of war praising American doctors for their kind treatment. Because Key and Skinner had overheard details of the plans for the attack on Baltimore, they were prevented from going ashore until after the battle, several days later. From
Tonnant, Key, Skinner, and Beanes were transferred to the frigate HMS
Surprise on the morning of September 8. The fleet then slowly moved up the Chesapeake toward Baltimore. The truce vessel was in tow with
Surprise. On September 11, off the North Point peninsula, Colonel Skinner insisted that they be transferred back to their own truce vessel, which they were allowed to do, under guard. It was still tethered to
Surprise. Admiral Cochrane then transferred his flag to the shallow-draft
Surprise so he could move in with the bombardment squadron. Having advanced into the Patapsco River, the 16-ship attack force began to fire on Fort McHenry at sunrise on September 13; the bombardment would last 25 hours. During the rainy day and through the night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort's smaller "storm flag" () continued to fly, but once the bomb and
Congreve rocket barrage had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn. On the morning of September 14, the storm flag had been lowered and the large garrison flag () had been raised. Around 1,500 to 1,800 bomb shells and over 700 rockets were fired at the fort but with minimal casualties and damage being done. Four men died and 24 were wounded in the fort. The ships were forced to fire from their maximum range (with minimal accuracy) to stay out of range of the fort's formidable cannon fire. The flag later came to be known as the
Star-Spangled Banner, and is today on display in the
National Museum of American History, a treasure of the
Smithsonian Institution. It was restored in 1914 by
Amelia Fowler, and again in 1998 as part of an ongoing conservation program. Aboard the ship that morning, Key began writing his lyrics on the back of a letter he had kept in his pocket. Late afternoon on September 16, Key, Skinner and Beanes were released from the fleet and they arrived in Baltimore that evening. He completed the poem at the
Indian Queen Hotel, where he was staying. His finished manuscript was untitled and unsigned. When printed as a broadside, the next day, it was given the title " of Fort M'Henry". It was first published nationally in
The Analectic Magazine. Much of the idea of the poem, including the flag imagery and some of the wording, is derived from an earlier song by Key, also set to the tune of "
The Anacreontic Song". The song, known as "When the Warrior Returns", was written in honor of
Stephen Decatur and
Charles Stewart on their return from the
First Barbary War. Since the 1990s, the anthem has become controversial due to perceived
racism in the anthem's lyrics and Key's active support of
slavery. The anthem's third stanza uses the phrase "the hireling and slave", which had been interpreted by several commentators to refer to American slaves who escaped to the
British military during the war, as Britain offered them freedom and the opportunity to join the
Corps of Colonial Marines to fight against U.S. forces. Key was also a slaveholder throughout much of his life. According to
The Nation, Key's "message to the blacks fighting for freedom was unmistakable—we will hunt you down and the search will leave you in terror because, when we find you, your next stop is the gloom of the grave". The reference to slaves, which was perceived as being
racist towards Black Americans, purportedly prevented the song being adopted as the U.S. national anthem for almost a century. Conversely,
University of Michigan professor Mark Clague and Key's biographer has claimed that the poem celebrates the courage of the American soldiers, both black and white, who helped defend the fortress and the city. The controversial phrase, "the hireling and the slave", according to Clague, actually refers to
British armed forces personnel and their American collaborators regardless of race, who are promised either death on the battlefield or,
similarly to
United Empire Loyalists after the
American Revolution, permanent exile once the
British Empire is defeated. This interpretation is consistent with what
Celticist Michael Newton has written about how, during the
American Revolution, "slavery" and "oppression" were routinely used as
Patriot code words for continued "British rule" over the
United States. Also according to Clague, Francis Scott Key freed four of the seven slaves he inherited and was involved in his later years with the
American Colonization Society's practice of buying slaves and setting them free in what is now
Liberia. Key's poem, according to Clague, "in no way glorifies or celebrates
slavery." In 2016,
The New Yorker argued that "[is] 'The Star-Spangled Banner' racist? The short answer is yes, insofar as almost every older piece of American iconography cannot be rid of the stain of slavery."
John Stafford Smith's music in
Gloucester Cathedral in
Gloucester, England Key gave the poem to his brother-in-law Joseph H. Nicholson who saw that the words fit the popular melody "
The Anacreontic Song", by English composer
John Stafford Smith. This was the official song of the
Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century
gentlemen's club of amateur musicians in London. Nicholson took the poem to a printer in Baltimore, who anonymously made the first known
broadside printing on September 17; of these, two known copies survive. On September 20, both the
Baltimore Patriot and
The American printed the song, with the note "Tune: Anacreon in Heaven". The song quickly became popular; it was ultimately printed in 17 newspapers from Georgia to New Hampshire. Soon after, Thomas Carr of the Carr Music Store in Baltimore published the words and music together under the title "The Star Spangled Banner", although it was originally called "Defence of Fort M'Henry". Thomas Carr's arrangement introduced the raised fourth which became the standard deviation from "The Anacreontic Song". The song's popularity increased and its first public performance took place in October when Baltimore actor
Ferdinand Durang sang it at Captain McCauley's
tavern.
Washington Irving, then editor of the
Analectic Magazine in Philadelphia, reprinted the song in November 1814. By the early 20th century, there were various versions of the song in popular use. Seeking a singular, standard version, President
Woodrow Wilson tasked the
U.S. Bureau of Education with providing that official version. In response, the Bureau enlisted the help of five musicians to agree upon an arrangement. Those musicians were
Walter Damrosch,
Will Earhart, Arnold J. Gantvoort,
Oscar Sonneck and
John Philip Sousa. The standardized version that was voted upon by these five musicians premiered at
Carnegie Hall on December 5, 1917, in a program that included
Edward Elgar's
Carillon and
Gabriel Pierné's ''The Children's Crusade''. The concert was put on by the
Oratorio Society of New York and conducted by
Walter Damrosch. An official handwritten version of the final votes of these five men has been found and shows all five men's votes tallied, measure by measure.
National anthem The song gained popularity throughout the 19th century, and bands played it during public events such as
Independence Day celebrations. A plaque displayed at
Fort Meade,
South Dakota, claims that the idea of making "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem began on their parade ground in 1892. Colonel Caleb Carlton, post commander, established the tradition that the song be played "at retreat and at the close of parades and concerts." Carlton explained the custom to Governor Sheldon of South Dakota who "promised me that he would try to have the custom established among the state militia." Carlton wrote that after a similar discussion,
Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont issued an order that it "be played at every Army post every evening at retreat." In 1889, the
U.S. Navy officially adopted "The Star-Spangled Banner". In 1916, President
Woodrow Wilson ordered that "The Star-Spangled Banner" be played at military though evidence shows that the "Star-Spangled Banner" was performed as early as 1897 at
Opening Day ceremonies in
Philadelphia and then more regularly at the
Polo Grounds in
New York City beginning in 1898. The tradition of performing the national anthem before every baseball game began in
World War II. Between 1918 and 1929,
John Charles Linthicum, the
U.S. congressman from
Maryland at the time, introduced a series of six unsuccessful bills to officially recognize "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. In 1927, with the thought that "The Star-Spangled Banner" was unsuited for a national anthem, the
National Federation of Music Clubs sponsored a composition contest to nominate a national anthem. They selected the text of
America The Beautiful; 901 compositions were submitted for the $1,500 prize ().
Frank Damrosch,
Frederick Converse,
Felix Borowski, and
Peter Lutkin judged the compositions but nominated no winner. On November 3, 1929,
Robert Ripley drew a panel in his syndicated cartoon, ''
Ripley's Believe it or Not!'', saying "Believe It or Not, America has no national anthem". in
Washington, D.C., marking the site at 601
Pennsylvania Avenue where "The Star-Spangled Banner" was first publicly sung In 1930,
Veterans of Foreign Wars started a petition for the United States to officially recognize "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. Five million people signed the petition. On the same day, Elsie Jorss-Reilley and Grace Evelyn Boudlin sang the song to the committee to refute the perception that it was too high pitched for a typical person to sing. The committee voted in favor of sending the bill to the House floor for a vote. The
House of Representatives passed the bill later that year.
President Herbert Hoover signed the bill on March 4, 1931, officially adopting "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem of the United States of America. As currently codified, the
United States Code states that "[t]he composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem." Although all four stanzas of the poem officially compose the National Anthem, only the first stanza is generally sung, the other three being much less well known. Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of U.S. officialdom. "
Hail, Columbia" served this purpose at official functions for most of the 19th century. "
My Country, 'Tis of Thee", whose melody is identical to "
God Save the King", the United Kingdom's national anthem, also served as a
de facto national anthem. Following the War of 1812 and subsequent U.S. wars, other songs emerged to compete for popularity at public events, among them "
America the Beautiful", which itself was being considered before 1931 as a candidate to become the national anthem of the United States. In the fourth verse, Key's 1814 published version of the poem is written as, "And this be our motto-"In God is our trust!"" ==Modern history==