May I Introduce You to Our Guest Blogger, Brenda
August 03, 2010
It must have been a muggy night in the Chesapeake; the air thick with gunpowder that fogged the streaks and bursts of cannonfire fired from the British Royal Navy upon Fort McHenry. Blasts and roaring booms broke taut moments of silence, and American patriot Francis Scott Key watched from a distance, not knowing if the United States had survived the day long offensive. It was September 14, 1814, and the future of the United States was in the gravest of dangers. How could he have felt, knowing that his country, still in its infancy, clung to the hope that the soldiers of Fort McHenry could withstand the brutal onslaught, though they were outnumbered and certainly out-manned?
Suddenly, amidst the defeaning booms and tendrils of thick smoke that permeated the air, he saw a tattered banner waving in the distance high over the Fort. The 30' by 40' Old Glory rippled in the wind, proud though battle-scarred, proving that the Fort had withstood the attack, and the British were being repelled from the bay. I cannot imagine what he felt at that moment of recognition.
I do know that last week, while visiting the National Museum of American History in Washington DC, I actually got teary-eyed standing in front of the actual flag that inspired Key to pen his poem, In Defence of Fort McHenry. Within a year, it would be set to music and renamed The Star Spangled Banner. The flag is kept in a special room under darklight, and can be lowered into a floorsafe in case of emergency to protect it. It's a huge flag, threadbare, tattered and worn. It's THE flag that inspired Key to write THE song about a finest hour. It doesn't have to be the Fourth of July to appreciate heritage, or to know gratitude to live in the land we live in now. Sometimes it can just be a hot humid day at the museum.