When the sun rose in the morning, American soldiers hoisted a 42-foot-by-30-foot American flag, known as the star-spangled banner, over the fort as the British beat a grudging retreat. For 25 hours, the formidable British navy lobbed bombs and artillery at Fort McHenry trying to force a surrender that never came. As the 4,500 redcoats advanced on the city, they were met by 15,000 American citizens manning an unexpectedly impressive defensive earthworks. With these high stakes, the citizens of Baltimore threw their might against the British, banning together to reinforce the harbor and the city. With the Brits closing in from Canada, inching warships into the Patapsco River toward Baltimore’s Fort McHenry and marching 4,500 highly-trained soldiers to the city, the nation looked as though it would soon be back under British control. If Baltimore fell, there would be no hope for America’s survival. Bankrupt, obliterated and with its government on the run from advancing British troops, the struggling republic toppled towards dissolution. The young nation, only recently liberated from Britain after the Revolutionary War, found itself on the brink of a royal thrumming by the war powers of England. to Baltimore in the late summer of 1814, as the “War of 1812”-a trade skirmish that escalated into full-blown war-waged into its third year. If you can imagine that scene, then you know exactly what British troops left behind them as they marched from D.C. The lane between the two a soot-choked corridor of smoldering federal buildings. The Capitol collapsing into smoke and char. Imagine the White House burned to cinder. Currently this is one of only ten copies known to exist, and is housed in the Library of Congress. This 1814 copy of “The Star-Spangled Banner” was the first printed edition to combine the words and sheet music. Now gallantly streaming on Spotify and Amazon Prime, America’s national anthem is a relatively new idea that found its legal place in our national identity as late as 1931.
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