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The story behind the flag that inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner" cbs-mornings
CBS ^ | Jul 4, 2023 | Christina Ruffini

Posted on 07/05/2023 6:37:27 AM PDT by Milagros

In the murky waters of Baltimore's harbor, between the Chesapeake Bay and a decommissioned fort, a red, white and blue buoy marks the spot where Francis Scott Key observed the British bombarding Fort McHenry for a 24-hour period. With the War of 1812 raging, the British had already marched on Washington and set fire to the White House when they set their sights — and ammunition — on the last defense of the United States' industrial port.

Key was aboard a ship in the harbor and squinted through smoke to see who had won, as the sun began to break. A large American flag was raised. Key saw it and wrote a poem that became the national anthem.

The actual flag Key saw — the Star-Spangled Banner — is now housed in a climate-controlled, light-protected chamber at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: 1812; starspangledbanner; us

1 posted on 07/05/2023 6:37:27 AM PDT by Milagros
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To: Milagros

It was an honor and privilege to watch this precious flag unfurled …….
I saw this years ago…..I heard they don’t do it anymore ( I don’t know) because the flag is so old and fragile.


2 posted on 07/05/2023 6:42:48 AM PDT by Guenevere (“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”)
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To: Milagros

CBS pisses on the flag on a daily basis


3 posted on 07/05/2023 6:44:48 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
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To: Guenevere

Really touching. Was there.


4 posted on 07/05/2023 6:44:48 AM PDT by Milagros (Y)
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To: Vaquero

I miss Rush on the lame stream media


5 posted on 07/05/2023 6:45:51 AM PDT by Milagros (Y)
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To: Milagros

It always was a special treat to visit DC…..
…the museums are true treasures

Sadly I don’t know if I’ll ever go back…..
..perhaps when Trump is there for the long run he can and will restore the joy and respect of all that town has to offer


6 posted on 07/05/2023 6:46:21 AM PDT by Guenevere (“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”)
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To: Guenevere

The mpst powerful weapon the Democrats have, os the abortion issue. Using scare tactics .


7 posted on 07/05/2023 6:49:35 AM PDT by Milagros (Y)
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To: Guenevere

The most powerful weapon the Democrats have, is the abortion issue. Using scare tactics .


8 posted on 07/05/2023 6:50:06 AM PDT by Milagros (Y)
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To: Milagros
Key was aboard a ship in the harbor and squinted through smoke to see who had won, as the sun began to break. A large American flag was raised. Key saw it and wrote a poem that became the national anthem.

Which is why the National Anthem should be sung and played bright and cheery, as a celebration - not as a funeral dirge.

I hate 99% of the performances of our Anthem. People don't know how to sing it or play it (plus they have to throw in their own embellishments to show their skills - which usually suck - thereby detracting from the song).

9 posted on 07/05/2023 7:07:18 AM PDT by grobdriver (The CDC can KMA!)
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To: grobdriver

Zooey Deschanel sang one of the best renditions back in 2011(?) - full of feeling and with no embellishments.

It was great!


10 posted on 07/05/2023 7:14:42 AM PDT by ByteMercenary (Cho Bi Dung and KamalHo are not my leaders.)
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To: Milagros

I got to see the flag when I was six years old. That was in 1980. We got into the Smithsonian museum and the first thing I saw was that ENORMOUS flag on the far wall. It certainly made an impression on me.


11 posted on 07/05/2023 7:21:00 AM PDT by Ciaphas Cain (#notmypedophile)
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To: ByteMercenary

One of my favorite singings of the anthem is Whitney Houston at the Super Bowl in the early 90’s.


12 posted on 07/05/2023 7:27:36 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: ByteMercenary

No audio?


13 posted on 07/05/2023 7:32:51 AM PDT by stanne
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To: Milagros

This wonderful flag, made by hand, huge (so that there would be no possibility of British not seeing it), is intertwined with American Patriot history. George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry. His brother, Walker was Chief Engineer of the US Navy for many years.

Walker’s son, Lewis Armistead (close friends for years with Winfield Scott Hancock when both were out West in the US Army, both West Point USMA grads). When Secession came, Armistead joined the CSA and was a Brigadier Gen. leading troops under Johnston Pettigrew in the tragic last charge of the CSA (Pickett’s charge). Armistead fell mortally wounded at the central part of the Union line on the wall, a short distance from where Hancock had been severely wounded- and neither could meet thereafter from their wounds, Armistead dying two days later on July 5th, 1863.

The National Anthem- “The Star Spangled Banner” composed by Francis Scott Key in 1812. Another intermingling of history, is that Key’s son, Phillip (said to be the most handsome man in Washington) had an affair with Cong. Dan Sickle’s wife (a no-no cuckolding of the time, even as Sickles whored around on this same wife the standards of the time). Sickles, in public confronted Key on the street and shot him fatally. The trial resulted in acquittal on the basis of “temporary insanity”- the very first time this legal plea was made and accepted in the US! And future Secretary of War Stanton was one of his six attorneys.

Sickles became a Union major general before Gettysburg, and possibly responsible, against orders, for the failure of the final charge on July 3 of the CSA. Sickles went on to become Minister to Spain (and a huge scandal affair with former Queen Isabella- said to be a nymphomaniac!).

But the last of these interlinking people- Sickles returned to Congress and was largely responsible for establishing the Gettysburg National Military Park. A lifetime scoundrel, political crook (who, after 34 years weaseled the Medal of Honor for himself) Sickles a whacky ambitious, one could say crazy person who did some real good in the creation of the Gettysburg memorial which bound up many wounds in the Nation.

Only to have political animals of today re-visit them and pour salt to create divisions which they themselves created.
Ironic— all of this. Coffee recital over. Happy Independence Day!


14 posted on 07/05/2023 8:00:30 AM PDT by John S Mosby (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: grobdriver
This glorification of the singers or instrumentalists was not ever a mode of honoring our National Symbol until well after the Korean War.

Thinking back, I believe that corruption of the theme of Holy Freedom accompanied the time in the 1960s. of the Vietnam conflict, and the forcing by riotous anarchy of Blackicity on an unwilling public, and the emergence of public school teachers greatly influenced in their college days by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS; for "Democrat" read "Marxist").

I, too, hate the manipulation of the focus from our Flag to the self-serving narcissistic performers of the written score..

15 posted on 07/05/2023 8:28:02 AM PDT by imardmd1 (To learn is to live. To live is to teach another. Fiat Lux!)
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To: Milagros

I saw it years ago hanging on a wall in the museum and it would be uncovered for a few minutes each hour. So beautiful.


16 posted on 07/05/2023 8:29:20 AM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: Milagros
The "Star Spangled Banner" in a black and white photo taken in 1873 at the Boston Navy Yard. The flag was spread out and hung from third story windows for the picture that went into a book about the history of America's flags written by Admiral George Preble called "History of the Flag of the United States of America."


17 posted on 07/05/2023 6:31:51 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Leftniks chase illusions of motherships at the end of the pier.)
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To: jonrick46

God bless America!


18 posted on 07/05/2023 6:53:53 PM PDT by Milagros (Y)
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