Happy Anniversary

Today is the 75th anniversary of the day that the “Star Spangled Banner” was declared our national anthem. I personally know a great many people who don’t particularly care for the song, mostly because it’s difficult to dance to. So let me tell you why I like it.

First a little history lesson; taken from
here

On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington, DC. The release was secured, but Key was detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, he was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title “Defense of Fort M'Henry,” the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The origin of this tune is obscure, but it may have been written by John Stafford Smith, a British composer born in 1750. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the army and the navy.

For information on the original tune, see
here

The date is Sept 13th, 1814 (192 years and 1 day before I was born) and you’re a 35 year old lawyer in the newly formed United States of America. You’ve been sent by your superiors to retrieve a prisoner of war from the enemy through diplomatic means (this was back when America’s enemies had honor) and bring him back to his family. You’re a bit shaken because when you were a boy your father (a revolutionary officer in the battle for independence) told you stories of the horrors of war with the British. Now and for the last 2 years you find that your country, your home, your very way of life are once more threatened by the forces of tyranny. As district attorney for the District of Columbia it is your civic duty to get into a boat unarmed, and paddle out to a British Man of War that contains the British Admiral, his officers, and no less than 200 enemy sailors and marines bent on one thing…taking over your country.

Once you secure the release of Dr. Beanes you are told to return to your vessel and go no further. You will be under guard throughout the night and will be fired upon if you try to flee. You see, the British are going to attack your compatriots tonight, and it wouldn’t do to have them forewarned.

So there you sit, on a tiny ship in the harbor knowing that in a matter of hours (or maybe minutes?) the British fleet is going to open up with every cannon they’ve got, sending thousands of rounds of cannon balls and rockets screaming across the harbor directly toward American soldiers. Yes, they had rockets back then too.

How could you sleep on a night like this? Knowing that tomorrow you may not be going back to your home and friends, but straight to a newly acquired British stockade to await a trial or perhaps even an execution. In your troubled state you sit in a small wooden chair looking out a window that faces Ft. McHenry, the guardian of your hope to remain free…to remain American. Since you live in an age where oration is revered above all else in man, you are somewhat of a poet. Writing brings you peace and allows for a creativity not often found in a law practice. Needing this peace now more than ever, you shuffle through your papers and find a clean bit of parchment, your quill and your ink well. You write through the night, occasionally stopping when the bombardment renders you breathless, unable to write because your hands are shaking. At some point you break down and fall into a deep but troubled sleep.

For the first few moments after you awake you forget where you are. Then it hits you. You’re still in the ship off the coast of what you can only hope is still the United States. Breathlessly you squint through the bright sunlight streaming through your window, trying to find any sign of the battle's outcome. And then you see it. A stiff morning breeze is blowing in from the harbor, rippling the torn but resilient flag atop Ft. McHenry. Through the clearing smoke and fog you see it shining brightly over a drab and battle worn landscape…Red, White, and Blue. A thousand feelings rush through you all at once. It’s as if you’ve been set free from a hundred years of imprisonment; truly reborn to your senses. With no other outlet but to yell and dance, you grab your quill and with renewed fervor you set down words to recall your night, your morning, and your feelings at knowing for another day that you will live free. From this point on in your life the sight of the American flag will draw you up straight and bring feelings of pride, happiness, and gratitude to your heart.

Though we live in the most powerful military and industrial country in the world, we came from humble beginnings. Francis Scott Key lived in a time where freedom was not guaranteed. He and every other citizen of the newly formed United States knew that at any moment another country could invade and have a fair chance of winning a prolonged war. These were people who understood that freedom was not free. Key looked out the window one morning and saw a sign, a sign that told him he was still free. The majority of us take the flag for granted, seeing it day in and day out. To us it means little more than “that must be a government building” or “hey, the flag is half-staff, I wonder who died”. Odd how that changes when you’re in danger of being denied the rights it symbolizes. If you ever want to see the look on Francis Scott Key’s face as he gazed at the flag over Ft. McHenry that September morning, go back and look at the videos of the Kuwaitis cheering as the U.S. Army and Marine convoys pulled into Kuwait city in 1991. Just like Key, they saw the American flag and they KNEW what it meant for them. It meant that freedom, the freedom that had been taken from them, was once more theirs. I’m willing to bet that you would find the same look on the faces of thousands if not millions of Iraqis after Sadam was taken out of power, though you'd be hard pressed to find it on the news.

Because we live in a free country we are not forced to respect our flag. We are not forced to sing the Star Spangled Banner. We’re not forced to display the flag, or even to follow the rules of handling it (never let it touch the ground). But no matter how you treat or mistreat the flag, it still stands for your freedom.

I like the Star Spangled Banner because it’s a song about all that I’ve written here. It’s not something I jam to in the car, its not something I put on at parties, it’s something I hold dear. Its played at sporting events, celebrations and even funerals to remind us that we in America are born free. That gift is our birth-right. Better men and women than me have died defending that song and that flag and all that they represent. Far be it from me to speak ill of them. But, if you don’t like the song, or the flag, or both, that’s fine. If you are an American you have that freedom. If you’re not American then chances are your dislike is a bit more pursuant to the rest of the sheep in Europe and the middle east, or just simple envy.

Either way I hope this brings a little more light to a subject that now gets little more than a hazy glossing over in our public schools.

God bless Francis Scott Key for turning an English drinking song into so much more.

Cheers,


Captain.