ON the night of September 15, 1814, whilst the British fleet, under the
command of the English Admiral Cochrane, were bombarding Fort M’Henry,
at the city of Baltimore, FRANCIS S. KEY, was divinely inspired with
the sublime sight of the glorious Banner of the Union still waving over
the Fort, and a thousand times reflected, multiplying and increasing
in splendor, in every stream of fire throughout the skies, every
glare meeting every leaping wave of the billowy Chesapeake Bay, the
heavens and waters together joined, each wave glaring with new admired
light; but, when the Fort resisted all the efforts of the British
ships-of-war, and forced the Admiral to retire, amidst the joyous
exultation, the great shouts of the countless hosts of freemen, “_Sing
ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously!_” “_The Flag of
the Union still triumphs!_” Who? Oh! Who can imagine the feelings of
Francis S. Key, as o’er his head the flying bombs sang terribly, spent
their force in air, and roused all the internal powers of his poetic
spirit, his inspired soul to sing still louder?
“Oh! 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 thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets red glare, and bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ 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?
CHORUS—Oh! say, does the 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 midst 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, oh! long may it wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
CHORUS—Oh! say, does the star spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
’Mid the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country they’d leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footsteps’ 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.
CHORUS—Oh! say, does the star spangled banner yet 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 victory and peace, may the heaven rescued land,
Praise the Power that 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.
CHORUS—And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
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Transcriber’s Note: Obvious punctuation errors repaired.