Happy 200th Birthday, Star-Spangled Banner. (Updated with a correction)

The actual flag, now under restoration at the Smithsonian

Country Celebrates 200th Anniversary Of Our National Anthem  " Vice President Joe Biden, Governor Martin O'Malley and an extensive roster of celebrities and elected officials joined visitors from across the United States as they flocked to Baltimore's famed Inner Harbor and the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine last night to take part in the centerpiece events of the week-long Star-Spangled Spectacular. The celebration of the bicentennial of our National Anthem – which included more than 30 tall ships and U.S. Navy vessels, festivals, living history demonstrations and the Blue Angels – peaked with a two-hour, nationally televised live special on THIRTEEN'S Great Performances on PBS. "  More text and video of this event

Brief History of Forty McHenry   "The Frenchman Jean Foncin designed the fort in 1798, and it was built between 1798 and 1800. The new fort's purpose was to improve the defenses of the increasingly important Port of Baltimore from future enemy attacks.
...
Fort McHenry was named after early American statesman James McHenry (16 November 1753 – 3 May 1816), a Scots-Irish immigrant and surgeon-soldier. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Maryland and a signer of the United States Constitution. Afterwards, he was appointed United States Secretary of War (1796–1800), serving under presidents Presidents George Washington and John Adams.

 

Below: Published on Sep 10, 2014     

"This is a portion of our tour of Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine, the birthplace of the Star-Spangled Banner. The program airs Sunday, September 14, 2014, at 6 & 10pm ET on C-SPAN 3. After it airs you can watch the FULL TOUR HERE: http://bit.ly/1rH91bY" 

More photos

Old Fort Flies 1812 Flag For National Anthem's 200th Anniversary (VIDEO)   "A special replica flag is being flown in honor of our National Anthem's 200th anniversary at the Old Fort." ...
 

 The Preservation Project   "In 1994 the Museum determined that the Star-Spangled Banner required further conservation treatment to remain on public display. Conservation of the large and valuable flag would require several years and specialized equipment and staff." ...

Star Spangled Banner Myths Debunked  plus 6 People Who Should Have Lip-Synced the National Anthem. And no, that does not include this person

The source of the melody of "The Star=Spangled Banner" :  The Anacreon Song . Here again in different form

The following correction to statements in the above post were sent me by Jon Hodges, a friend:

While researching the history of the Battle of Baltimore, I ran into more than one narrative that was cut from whole cloth, where the story was greatly exaggerated.  This describes the “Star Spangled Banner As You’ve Never Heard It” link in your blog post.

We can start with this:  Key was NOT the official negotiator, and not the one with whom Vice Admiral Cochrane would be speaking.  In fact, his total contribution to freeing Dr. Beanes was returning the soldiers that Dr. Beanes had arrested in the first place, but that did NOT trigger the freedom of Dr. Beanes.  It was the government’s official agent for POW exchanges, Colonel John S. Skinner,  who brought along letters from British prisoners from the recent battle of North Point indicating how well they and their injuries were treated under the Americans that finally made the generals relent and agree to let Dr. Beanes go.   

The part about “You can’t shell that fort, there are women and children there!” is bogus.  They were very aware that the fort would come under fire, and an evacuation of civilians would be the norm.  However, I read two accounts of women being there.  One said a woman delivering supplies to the soldiers was cut in half by a bomb, and the other said that Mrs. Armisted gave birth during the bombardment.  That is not, however, supported in Major Armisted’s official report. 

Next; it could have been the entire British Navy there, but they only had 16 ships doing any firing.  An article on Wikipedia (battle of Baltimore) lists the rocket and bomb ships by name.  They listed only six.  In addition, there were only 10 light war ships that could get that close.  The waters in the channel were shallow, which precluded sending in the heaviest ships.  Perhaps that is the reason for the Baltimore Clipper design that has a relatively flat bottom and a shallow draft. 

They did not watch the bombardment from the prison barge, they watched it from the truce ship or the small boat they came on (which one is a matter of dispute).  There would be no prisoners below-decks that Key could talk to. 

After the shelling stopped, Key did NOT get to go to the fort to “see what happened.”  The official toll was four killed, 24 wounded out of about 1,000 soldiers posted there.  And as nice as it sounds that soldiers manually held the flagpole in place, it was 90’ high!  No amount of soldiers could make any difference to that flagpole. 

Otherwise, your post is good.

Well said, Jon; thank you.