^Ml
%SWi*
■yH^nHHi
^W^^B
RJnffl^^Mfl
^KHmfwM
|H
fl|fci|MURm
l^jU
UHH
jWW^Wffl
m^m
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
ODDDSDflia??
^--<>^
•^0
5^
.-i^^
^^•^^^
•••'- "C^. .O"^ .» -o ^^
OK
0" ♦
> • i
4^ o**"** ^ O^ .^
3V
-^0^
A 9^
* •;^
^Mr.^
• A p.
i4>
^0 «y. *Gi
One Hundred
Years
Copyright 1914
BY
Allan Sutherland
AUG -I 1914
iiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^^
The Centenary
of the
Star-Spangled Banner
(Illustrated)
By
Allan Sutherland
Author of
"Famous Hymns of the World"
Advertisers Publishing Co.
1336 Cherry Street
Philadelphia
t 3o .
tf s^ C^S^rSSo^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^H
^^^^^^^^^Bj
'A^E ' !^^M ^bI^^^F ^^^a^^^^^^^^^^^l^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l^l
aK ** '^' .^^H^I^^^^H
■^^^i^^^^H
^k."*^^^^^!
^^^^^BS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^-'^-'
/»
Ur
aA378332
One Hundredth Anniversary '-
of the Writing of the
"Star-Spangled Banner"
AMERICA is doing honor to one
who, while his soul was throbbing
with anxiety for the fate of his
country and a devoted city, gave ex-
pression to his intense patriotism in the
song of a battle from which the Stars
and Stripes emerged victoriously: in the
gray dawn of a September morning, one
hundred years ago. That song has be-
come famous and is now known far and
wide as the "Star-Spangled Banner."
The one hundredth anniversary of
the inspired poem is being celebrated rn
Baltimore with intense enthusiasm,
which reaches its climax September
14th, the actual anniversary of the
writing of the poem. During this
Centennial Week the President and
many other notable men of the country
assemble to pay homage to the author,
Francis Scott Key.
One Hundredth Anniversary
The Mayor of Baltimore, in his desire
to make this a national celebration, has
requested the chief executives of every
city in the land to order flags to be
unfurled from all staffs under municipal
control from September 6th to 13th,
and to request that the Stars and
Stripes shall wave over business institu-
tions and residences everywhere.
The events connected with the writing
of this song form one of the most inter-
esting chapters in the annals of our
country, and the tlirilling story should
be familiar to every one to whom Old
Glory is an inspiration to worthier liv-
ing.
The hymn had its inception in the
fierce tumult of a battle, upon the issue
of which depended the fate of a devoted
city; and its birth-throes, in the gray
dawning of an autumn morning, were in
the breast of a noble patriot whose heart '
was filled with anxiety over the doubt-
ful termination of the fight.
Early in the fall of 1814 the British
The Star-Spcmglecl Banijer
troops and ships met with little oppo-
sition in their attack on the city of
Washington, in which they were suc-
cessful in destroying the Capitol, White
House and many important documents.
With a similar intent on the city of
Baltimore, Admiral Sir Alexander
Cochrane, in command of the British
naval forces, and General Ross, in com-
BIRTHPLACE OF FRAXCIS SCOTT KEY
mand of the land forces, set sail for that
city. With the fleet went Dr. William
Beanes of Upper Marlborough, an
American prisoner on board one of the
ships. If Dr. Beanes had been free at
that time the "Star-Spangled Banner"
never would have been written.
One Hundredth Anniversary
The doctor's capture was due to a
peculiar circumstance. He had enter-
tained several English officers in his
home and had made the best of the en-
forced situation. In the fortunes of
war Dr. Beanes acted as. a gentleman
should, and in spite of his patriotism
was an agreeable host.
When the British withdrew from
Washington they were beset by a terrific
storm which gave their withdrawal much
the appearance of a retreat. Dr.
Beanes and several of his friends im-
mediately started to celebrate what they
thought to be an American victory.
Three British soldiers straggling along
after the main force were apprehended
by the doctor and his friends and
placed in jail. One of these men having
escaped, met a body of English horse-
men, and the latter returned to the
rescue, arresting the doctor. For a
time things looked serious for the
American, and there were even hints of
a "hanging at the yard-arm." The news
reached Washington, and a brilliant
3^oung attorney of Georgetown, Francis
Scott Key, and a friend, John S. Skin-
ner, commissioner in the exchange of
prisoners, set out to release Dr. Beanes.
The Star-Spangled Banner
Being a leading citizen in the section,
it was determined to save him if at all
possible.
The young lawyer obtained permis-
sion of President Madison to use a small
cartel-ship, the ]\Iinden, and with Mr.
Skinner, hastened to Baltimore. They
were soon on their way down the Chesa-
peake Bay in search of the British fleet,
which they found at the mouth of the
Potomac River preparing for an attack
on Baltimore.
When they were received by Admiral
Cochrane, Key and Skinner were in-
formed that it had been the intention
of the commander to use the aforemen-
tioned yard-arm in connection with Dr.
Beanes, until it was learned that the
doctor had not only been an admirable
host, but had also attended the wounds
of several British officers who were in-
jured in the Battle of Bladensburg, one
of the fights in the vicinity of Wash-
ington.
Admiral Cochrane granted the re-
quest of Skinner and Key, but refused
to allow them to return to Baltimore.
It was his intention to attack tlie city
and he wanted no warning given before
One Hundredth Anniversary
the approach of his ships ; therefore,
the three Americans were compelled to
stand idly on the deck of their ship
watching the walls of Fort ^NIcHenry,
on the Patapsco River, appear through
the distance as it became more and more
evident that it was the intention of the
fleet to attack this key to Baltimore.
After landing General Ross and his
forces at North Point, the fleet formed
in a semicircle across the river for the
attack on the fort, about two and a
half miles away, which is thus described
in Admiral Cochrane's report to the
British Admiralty : "I hoisted my flag
on the Surprise, and with the remainder
of the frigates, bomb sloops, and the
rocket ship, passed further up the
river. At daybreak the next morning,
September 13th, the bomb ships having
taken their stations within shell range,
supported by the Surprise, with the
other frigates and sloops, opened their
fire upon the fort tliat protected the
harbor."
The destruction of the fleet with
modern coast artillery would have been
but a matter of moments, but iij those
days Fort ]\IcHenry was not so
equipped. Its forty-two-pounders were
The Star-Spangled Banner
incapable of reaching the fleet. The
low-lying, squatty-looking little brick-
and-earth fort seemed insignificant, and
it has been stated that on this account
its commander, Lieutenant Colonel
George Armistead, had received orders
not to attempt defense against the
attack of the British fleet. Doubtless
he fought more heroically, knowing that
a court martial would await him for dis-
obeying orders if he failed.
Just before the opening of the battle,
the three Americans were placed on
board of their own ship, under guard
of marines to prevent their landing, and
the boat was anchored in a position
which commanded an excellent view of
the engagement.
At sunset the flag was still waving
from the ramparts. Then began the
long night vigil of the three friends.
The strain of anxious waiting was tre-
mendous. Now and then a shell burst
near the fort, showing by its glare that
our flag was still flying. Sleep was,
of course, out of the question. There
was nothing to do but wait.
About midnight the firing ceased ; but
an hour later the ships, having moved
closer, opened a terrific fire which was
"OLD GLORY"
The Star-Spangled Banner
continued for some time. Then again
the firing ceased. Torn with anxiety,
fearing lest the cessation of fire meant
that the fort had been taken, they
sought to learn the all-important thing,
• — was the flag still flying?
The supreme moment of their lives
came when, through "the mists of the
d^wri, the flag was discovered "gallantly
streaming" , in all jts peerless beauty
over the rah^parts >'o.f the fort. The
hymn, which had been forming in Key's
mind as he watched for the flag, burst
forth in the moment of his great joy,
and found its birthplace on the back of
an old envelope.
Key and his friends were then allowed
to land. It developed that the land
forces had been defeated and that Gen-
eral Ross had been killed. It was the
receipt of this news that had caused
Admiral Cochrane to turn loose on the
fort all the fury of his armament at one
o'clock in the morning.
Key completed his poem on the way
to the shore, and the following morn-
ing showed it to his brother-in-law.
Judge Nicholson, who realizing its rare
merits, took it at once to a Baltimore
printer, who published it as a small
XED BANNER"
saw "O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming," in the
THE ORIGINAL "STA
rhis flag now in the National Museum at Washington, is the one which Fran
it oeptember 14. 1814 anri wKl^K Ir^cr^ir^J „.— „»»: ^_i i -tl. a
One Hundredth Anniversary
handbill. In a short time that handbill
had become the prized possession of
thousands. It was set to the tune of an
old hymn, "Anachreon in Heaven," by
John Stafford Smith, and was first sung
in the Hollidav Street Theatre, Balti-
more, by Ferdinand Durang, after which
its popularity spread throughout the
length and breadth of the nation. It
played an important part in the Battle
of New Orleans, which was fought more
than two weeks after the signing of the
treaty of peace in Ghent, in December,
18U.
In every respect Key was worthy of
the honor of having his anthem adopted
as the national hymn. He was, in the
full sense of the word, a Christian gen-
tleman, and although he wrote several
poems of merit, and was remarkable as
a lawyer and statesman, is known almost
entirely to-day as the author of the
"Star-Spangled Banner." He was born
on his father's estate. Terra Rubra, in
Frederick, Maryland, on August 1st,
1779. After graduating from St. John's
College, Annapolis, he practised law for
some time in Frederick. Later he re-
The Star-Spangled Banner
moved to Georgetown, D. C. For three
terms he was district attorney of the
District of Columbia. He died in Balti-
more, January 11th, 1843. Every Me-
morial Day the flag which constantly
floats over his grave in Mt. Olivet Ceme-
tery, Frederick, is renewed by loving
hands.
The first monument in memory of the
poet was erected in what w^as not even
United States territory at the time of
the attack on Baltimore, or, in fact, for
many years afterward. Golden Gate
Park, San Francisco, is the home of the
first statue to Francis Scott Key. On
the one liundred and eighteenth anni-
versary of his birth, August 9th, 1898,
a beautiful monument was erected in
Frederick, ^Maryland, by the people of
that town.
Physically he was described as being
"tall, erect and of admirable propor-
tions. There dwelt usually upon his
handsome and winning features a soft
and touching pensiveness of expression,
almost bordering on sadness, but which,
in moments of special excitement, or
when anything occurred to aw^aken the
dormant heroism of his nature, or to
One Hundredth Anniversary
call into action the higher power of
vigorous and well-cultivated intellect,
gave place to a bright ethereality of
aspect and noble audacity of tone
which pleased while it dazzled the be-
holder."
A few years before his death, Mr.
Key thus spoke, at a banquet, of the
attack on Baltimore: "I witnessed the
preparation for the assault, and saw
the array of enemies as they advanced
to the attack. I heard the sound of
battle, the noise of the conflict fell upon
my listening ear and told me that the
brave and the free had met the invaders.
Then did I remember that Maryland
had called her sons to the defense of the
flag, and that they were the sons of
sires who had left their crimson foot-
prints on the snows of the North, and
poured out the blood of patriots, like
water, on the sands of the South.
Then did I remember that there were
gathered around that banner, among its
defenders, men who had heard and an-
swered the call of their country, from
these mountainsides and from this beau-
tiful valley and from this fair city of
my native country ; and though I walked
The Star-Spangled Banner
upon a deck surrounded by a hostile
fleet, yet was my step firm and my heart
strong as these recollections came upon
me. Through the clouds of war, the
stars of that banner still shone in my
view, and I saw the discomfited host of
the assailants driven back in ignominy
to their ships. Then, in that hour of
deliverance and joyful triumph, the
heart spoke ; and do not such a country
and such defenders of their country de-
serve a song? was the question. With it
came an inspiration not to be resisted ;
and if it had been a hanging matter to
make a song, I must have made it. Let
the praise then, if any be due, be given
not to me, who did what I could not
help doing, but to the inspirers of the
song !"
The flag which floated from Fort
McHenry during the attack by the
British was in itself interesting, and
the greater portion of it still remains
preserved in the National Museum at
Washington. A reproduction from a
photograph taken at Washington is
shown on another page.
One Hundredth Anniversary
Its proportions were large, measuring
thirty by forty feet, originally. It was
made by Mrs. Mary Pickersgill, for-
merly Mary Young, a Philadelphia girl,
born in the year of Independence, Feb-
ruary 12th, 1776. It was in the days
when a stripe as well as a star was added
to the flag for each new state. When it
was found to be growing larger, with a
prospect of soon being unshapely, the
addition of new stripes was abandoned,
the flag was returned to its original pro-
portions and the thirteen stripes repre-
senting the original states were made
permanent.
]Mary Pickersgill's flag liad fifteen
stripes, each two feet wide, and fifteen
stars, each two feet in diameter. The
blue field rested on the ninth stripe, a
red one, instead of the eighth and white
stripe as in the present flag.
A piece cut out from one of its cor-
ners is said to be buried with one of the
old defenders of the fort, who made a
dying request that a bit of the flag be
placed over his dead heart.
During the battle the flag was struck
eleven times, one shell cutting out one
of the stars.
The Star-Spangled Banner
The flag floated over the tent that
slieltered General Lafayette when he
was entertained at Fort McHenry, Sep-
tember 14th, 1824; and was carried in
tile funeral procession of Colonel Armi-
stead, who died April 25th, 1818, and
was buried in the old St. Paul burying
ground, Baltimore. It was exhibited
at the Centennial Exhibition, Phila-
delphia, 1876, and at the Old South
Church, Boston, June 1-itli, 1877, the
centennial of the adoption of the flag
by Congress. At the Peace Festival
in Boston, June 15th, 1869, the "Star-
Spangled Banner" was sung by ten
thousand voices, with full orchestra,
drum corps, chiming bells and artillery
accompaniments. The effect was elec-
trical, and the greatest enthusiasm pre-
vailed.
It is not generally known that Dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes added a verse
to the poem at the outbreak of the Civil
War. It is as follows :
"When our land is illumined with Liberty's smile.
If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory»
Down, down with the traitor who dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story :
One Hundredth Anniversary
By the millions of unchained when our birthright
was gained,
We will keep her bright blazon for ever un-
stained :
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall
wave
While the land of the free is the home of the
brave."
In a Flag Day address before the
clerks of his department, June 14th,
1914, Secretary Franklin K. Lane, of
the Interior Department, Washington,
D. C, imagines our country's flag
speaking as follows :
"I am whatever you make me, nothing
more. I am 3^our belief in yourself,
your dream of what a people may be-
come. I live a changing life, a life of
moods and passions, of heart-breaks
and tired muscles. Sometimes I am
strong with pride, when men do an
honest w^ork, fitting the rails together
truly; sometimes I droop, for then pur-
pose has gone from me, and cynically
I play the coward. Sometimes I am
loud, garish and full of that ego which
blasts judgment; but always I am all
that you hope to be and have the cour-
age to try for. I am song and fear,
struggle and panic, and ennobling hope.
The Star-Spangled Banner
I am the day's work of the weakest man,
and the largest dream of the most far-
ing". ... I am no more than you
believe me to be, and I am all that you
believe I can be. I am what you make
me, nothing more. I swing before you
as a bright gleam of color, a symbol
of yourself, the pictured suggestion of
that big thing which makes this nation.
My stars and my stripes are your
dreams and your labors. They are
bright with cheer, brilliant with courage,
firm with faith, because you have made
them so out of your hearts, for you are
the makers of the flag, and it is weP
that you glory in the making !"
It is eminently fitting that the mem-
ory of the author of "The Star Span-
gled Banner" should be honored. Al-
though Congress has not seen fit to na-
tionalize his famous lines, they are en-
shrined in the hearts of over 100,000,-
000 patriotic Americans whose proudest
possession is the Stars and Stripes. May
they wave forever !
The Star-Spangled Banner
Oh say ! can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's
last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the
perilous fight.
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly
streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting
in air.
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was
still there.
Oh say ! does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave ?
On the shore, dimly seen thro' the midst of the
deep
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence
reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering
steep
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half dis-
closes ?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first
beam.
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream ;
'Tis the star-spangled banner, oh! long may it
wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave !
Oh ! thus be it e'er when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's deso-
lation ;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-
rescued land
Praise the pow'r that hath made and preserv'd
us a nation f
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just.
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall
- wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave.
89 w
'C'^ 'o.l* ,0
I i
o
S o
.^'**
» •
• «
WE^T BOOKBJ
A' ^
=o
• * „♦< „ M^^:-
"^^ % Q
