"The Star-Spangled Banner"

by Francis Scott Key

Oh! 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, thro' 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.
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 mist 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 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!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed 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.

Oh! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved 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.

Story of the Star Spangled Banner

On September 11, 1814, Francis Scott Key, a Baltimore lawyer, went aboard a British war ship to negotiate the release of his friend Doctor William Beans. Key's mission was negotiated successfully but its implementation was delayed. The British were planning an attack on Baltimore, Maryland that very evening. They did not want Keys or Beans to carry any information to Baltimore so the Americans were held on board a small sloop the "Minden," until after the attack. This location, dangerous as it was, provided a ringside seat to watch the battle. The bomb bursting in air and rockets' red glare was frightful as well as inspiring. The Americans placed their hope in the fact that at dawn they could see the U. S. Flag in all of glory still flying over Fort McHenry.

Francis Scott Keyfelt inspired to write down his feelings. On the only paper he had in his position, the back of an envelope, he penned those immortal words that were to become "The Star Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States.

With a touch of irony his words were later combined with the music of a popular drinking song "Anacreon in Heaven" written by the British composer John Stafford Smith. Smith had created the music for the Anacreonic Society of London. Anacreon was a Greek poet who wrote poems of love and wine.

It took until 1931 for congress to make the "Star Spangled Banner" the National Anthem of the United States.

The United States flag of 1814 consisted of fifteen white five pointed stars, on a blue field. There was also fifteen stripes eight red and seven white. It wasn't until 1818 that the number of stripes was fixed at thirteen and only the number of stars would increase with each new state.

THE STORY OF "TAPS"

It all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia.
The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land.
During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moan of a soldier who lay mortally wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention.
Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead.
The captain lit a lantern. Suddenly he caught his breath and went numb with shock.
In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, he enlisted in the Confederate Army. The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial despite his enemy status. His request was partially granted.
The captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge of the son at the funeral. That request was turned down since the soldier was a confederate. Out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician. The captain chose a bugler.
He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform. This wish was granted. This music was the haunting melody we now know as "Taps" used at military funerals.

Information provided by Lt Colonel Lewis Kirkpatrict, AUS (Ret) ROA
Department of Europe editor; contained in the Reserve Officers Association "THE OFFICER" magazine, May 98 issue.

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