Ft. McHenry Flag

[Subdeacon Joe]

This is the first photograph of the original Ft. McHenry Flag that was damaged during the 1814 Battle for Baltimore. This Flag was Francis Scott Key's inspiration to write the Star Spangled Banner. 

Photo/George Preble/1874

 

[Alpo]

I started to say most of, and I'm not sure of that anymore, but certainly a lot of the damage to that flag was done by souvenir hunters.

 

Down there in the bottom left - where the missing flag is so neatly squared off - is where pieces were cut off by scissors. The missing star - removed for a souvenir.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I’ve seen it. It currently is in the Smithsonian I think.

[Ozark Huckleberry]

Parts of the flag are missing because the commander of Fort McHenry cut pieces off to give them to friends as souvenirs. 
 

Seeing the picture is one thing, but seeing the flag in person is the only way to appreciate how large that flag really is.
 

When it was made, the only place in Baltimore large enough to lay it out was a brewery. 
 

So from the War of 1812, we have a flag made in a brewery that inspired our national anthem set to the music of a drinking song. 
 

‘Murica. 

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

I always notice it is a 15-stripe flag

 

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

1 hour ago, Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L said:

I always notice it is a 15-stripe flag

15 stripes for 15 stars?

[Alpo]

2 hours ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

15 stripes for 15 stars?

15 stripes for 15 states. Originally they added a new star and a new stripe for each new state. But after the 15, they decided that the flag would quickly get unwieldy- can you imagine a flag with 50 stripes?

 

So when they got the 16th state, they went back to 13 stripes, and just added a new star for each one.

 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

This has been posted before, but still interesting ~ The Star-Spangled Banner as originally written and performed:

 

 

 

 

     In 1814 when the song was first published, it differed from the anthem we know today in details both small and large. For example, dotted notes were later incorporated into the melody’s rhythm, serving to slow the tempo and lend more gravitas to the song as a statement of national pride and solidarity. In 1814 just after the rather unexpected U.S. victory, Francis Scott Key’s lyric was sung more quickly as a song of celebration. (Before attacking Baltimore, the British faced little resistance in burning most government buildings of Washington, D.C. to the ground. That Baltimore’s fighters reversed the tide of the battle was both a turning point in the war and a big surprise, especially to the British!)

     By far the most obvious difference between the original and the song we know today is the opening three-note gesture. Rather than the emblematic snapped military descent through the opening arpeggio that we know today, Carr’s original uses simple, lilting repeated tonic notes that can be sung more quickly.

[Subdeacon Joe]

I like this version. 

[Capt. James H. Callahan]

8 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

This has been posted before, but still intersting ~ The Star-Spangled Banner as originally written and performed:

 

 

 

 

     In 1814 when the song was first published, it differed from the anthem we know today in details both small and large. For example, dotted notes were later incorporated into the melody’s rhythm, serving to slow the tempo and lend more gravitas to the song as a statement of national pride and solidarity. In 1814 just after the rather unexpected U.S. victory, Francis Scott Key’s lyric was sung more quickly as a song of celebration. (Before attacking Baltimore, the British faced little resistance in burning most government buildings of Washington, D.C. to the ground. That Baltimore’s fighters reversed the tide of the battle was both a turning point in the war and a big surprise, especially to the British!)

     By far the most obvious difference between the original and the song we know today is the opening three-note gesture. Rather than the emblematic snapped military descent through the opening arpeggio that we know today, Carr’s original uses simple, lilting repeated tonic notes that can be sung more quickly.

BRAVO!!!

JHC

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Key’s name for the poem was Defence of Fort McHenry.