Photo from the American Battlefield Trust
Defenders' Day in Maryland commemorates the successful defense of the Port City of Baltimore from Fort McHenry on September 12 - 14, 1814 from an invading British force during the War of 1812, after they had burned Washington, D.C. Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the poem "The Defence of Fort McHenry" that later became "The Star-Spangled Banner" after witnessing the two days' attack with two companions from an American truce ship anchored and guarded along the sidelines of the enemy fleet. The poem that Key wrote was set to a popular musical tune, and then later renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and became the National Anthem of the United States in 1931 when President Herbert Hoover signed a bill passed by Congress into law.
Photo of Fort McHenry from the National Park Service
Lion in the Bay: The British Invasion of the Chesapeake, 1813-14 by 
Musical Maryland: A History of Song and Performance From the Colonial Period to the Age of Radio by 
Star-Spangled Banner: The unlikely story of America's national anthem by 
The Star Spangled Banner: Conductor score and parts by 
Through the Perilous Fight: Six weeks that saved the nation by 
War in the Chesapeake: The British campaigns to control the Bay, 1813-14 by 
The War of 1812: Writings from America's second war of independence by 
What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, a life by
Mon - Thurs: 8 am - 8 pm
Friday: 8 am - 4:30 pm
Saturday: 10 am - 2 PM
Sunday: Closed
March 23 - 29: Closed (Spring Break)
Photo of the Garrison Flag from Smithsonian National Museum of American History
This video, A Stitch in Time from CBS Sunday Morning, discusses the history of the flag and the song, and shows a 2013 project by the Maryland Historical Society to sew a replica.
You will need your HCC user name and password to access this video from Alexander Street Press.
The Star-Spangled Banner
O 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 through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O 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 through the mists 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 discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
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.
(From the National Museum of American History.)
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HCC Library has been a Federal Depository Library since 1967. |
| Contact Info: |
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Andie Craley Technical Services & Government Information Librarian |
| acraley@harford.edu |
| 443-412-2042 |
