Song Analysis: The Star Spangled Banner

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The Star Spangled Banner represents freedom. The writer of the Star Spangled Banner was Francis Scott Key. The Star Spangled Banner was written during the Battle of Fort McHenry and was written for the Garrison Flag. The book, Rush Revere and the Star Spangled Banner by Rush Limbaugh, talks about the Star Spangled Banner and how it came to be. The song was written by Francis Scott Key, while he was on a British warship, trying to free his friend. His friend was named an American Doctor named Beanes who was arrested by the British (Limbaugh, 2015, p. 180). The Star Spangled Banner is one of the most well known and loved songs ever written.
Francis Scott Key was a 35 year old American lawyer and a poet who wrote the Star Spangled Banner. Key …show more content…

The battle was fought on September 12th to September 15th, 1814. The weather was raining when the British Warships attacked Fort McHenry. The British had 5,000 men and 19 ships fighting for them and the US had 1,000 men and 20 guns fighting for them. The British commanders were Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and Colonel Arthur Brooke. The US commanders were Major General Samuel Smith and Major Greg Armistead. The British attack ships had 5 bomb ketches and 10 smaller warships. On September 12, 1814 Ross landed with 4,500 men on the tip of North Point. They began advancing northwest towards Baltimore. At 6:30 a.m. the British were in position and opened fire on Fort McHenry. The British ships struck the fort with heavy mortar shells. Major Armistead had 1,000 troops tried to fire back, but they couldn’t because the ships were too far away from the guns to reach. The British made a mistake of sending 1,200 men to go and try to enter the fort in small boats. A shell was fired as a warning shot, but the light had given away their position. They got into intense crossfires between Covington and Babcock. By dawn, the British had fired between 1,500 and 1,800 rounds at Fort McHenry. The aftermath of the battle for the US was 4 killed and 24 wounded. The British had about 330 killed, wounded and captured. The flag that the Star Spangled …show more content…

When Key made his song, he did not give a title for it so it was first called “Defense at Fort McHenry.” A Baltimore music store printed the song with the title the Star Spangled Banner. Only about a dozen of the original 1814 sheet music of the Star Spangled Banner have survived. Although the war inspired the National Anthem, it is a little-known war in American History. It fostered a strong sense of National Pride among the American people. The Star Spangled Banner didn’t become the National Anthem until more than a century after it was written. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson made the Star Spangled Banner the National Anthem. On March 3, 1931, after 40 previous attempts the Star Spangled Banner became the National Anthem. The 19th century is when the Star Spangled Banner became one of the most loved patriotic songs. In 1861, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. added a verse of the National Anthem. During the war, people would turn to music to express their feelings about the flag and the ideals and values it represents. By the 1890’s, the military had adopted the song for ceremonial purposes, the navy later adopted it for the same reason. Requiring it to be played during the lowering and raising of the

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