![]() Key's patriotic emotions were powerfully stirred by the welcome sight. Had the fort been forced to surrender? But at dawn, when the smoke of the shelling lifted, the flag was again visible. But when the bombardment unexpectedly ceased, the American flag was obscured. During the shelling, the very large stars and stripes flag flying from the fort's ramparts was clearly visible, giving heartening evidence that the fort's defenses had weathered the storm of shot and shell. He watched anxiously as British naval cannon-fire and incendiary bombs and rockets rained onto the American fort. He spent the night on the deck of the flag-of-truce sloop, which gave him a sweeping view of the dramatic scene. To ensure that no military information on the impending attack could be passed to the American defenders, Key too was detained. Key, a young lawyer, and a colleague had gone on board a British ship under a flag of truce to secure the release of an American physician, Dr. "Francis Scott Key's famous patriotic verses were inspired by a shipboard vigil on the night of September 13-14, 1814, when a British naval flotilla bombarded Fort McHenry for hours, prefatory to a planned full-scale assault. Of the eleven copies of the first edition known in 2010, ten were in institutions only one remained in private hands. ![]() ![]() A Pariotic Song, printed from two engraved plates. In 1814 Baltimore music store owner and music publisher Thomas Carr issued American lawyer, author and poet Francis Scott Key's The Star Spangled Banner. ![]()
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