Birth of Our National Anthem

"Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light …"

On the night of September 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key witnessed the British attack on Ft. McHenry, in Baltimore Harbor. He awoke the next morning to see the country's flag still proudly flying and was inspired to write the verse that became our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," in 1931.

The actual flag that inspired Key is in the collection of the National Museum of American History and is currently undergoing a fascinating restoration.

Source: Lynda Roscoe Hartigan. Made with Passion: The Hemphill Folk Art Collection in the National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C. and London: For the National Museum of American Art by the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990).

Pictured: William H. Johnson, 1901–70, Lift up Thy Voice and Sing, about 1942–44, oil on paperboard, 25 5/8 x 21 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation.