Inspiring, memorable visuals
illustrating the performance by a U.S. Army chorus of the United States of America's national anthem, The
Star-Spangled Banner ... written as a poem by Francis Scott Key
on September 13, 1814 ... after witnessing
the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British Royal Navy
ships in Baltimore Harbor during the War of 1812.
Video by USA Patriotism!
Francis Scott Key's inspiration for
this iconic poem was ... seeing the large American flag,
the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above Fort
Henry during the American victory after .
The Star-Spangled Banner became the
official national anthem nearly 217 years later ... by a
congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 and then
signed by President Herbert Hoover.
While The Star-Spangled Banner has four stanzas ... only the first is commonly sung
including in the video.
Lyrics
O say can you see, by the
dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd at the
twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and
bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the
ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming? And
the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still
there, O 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 through the mists 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 in the stream, 'Tis the star-spangled
banner - O 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 the havoc of war and
the battle's confusion A home and a Country should
leave us no more? Their blood has wash'd 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.
O thus be it ever when freemen
shall stand Between their lov'd home and the war's
desolation! Blest with vict'ry and peace may the
heav'n rescued land Praise the power that hath made
and preserv'd 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.
