In 1814, a Fleet of British warships with sails attacked Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland. Six bombarded the fort. This fort was built in the shape of a star with many opportunities for the U.S. defenders to fight off the invaders. That is what they did. In this War of 1812 between the U.S. and England, they burned Washington, D.C., the capital since 1800. Even the Library was damaged severely. President James Madison had enough of Great Britain’s impressment of U.S. sailors to fight on English ships. A U.S. flag was made for the fort 42 feet x 30 feet to make sure the enemy could see our flag. The stripes were 23 inches wide and the stars were two feet apart. Francis Scott Key, an American, was detained on a British ship. Here he wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.” Later, put to music, and in 1931, Congress approved it as the national anthem.

The Star Spangled Banner

O say can you see by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

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Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

At 248 years old, our country now has 50 stars and 13 stripes in our flag.

God bless America. 

Lew LaChance

Greenfield