The Star-Spangled Banner: 1814 Fort McHenry history and 36 U.S.C. § 301
The Star-Spangled Banner originated on September 14, 1814, during the War of 1812, when Maryland lawyer Francis Scott Key witnessed a 30-by-42-foot, 15-star American flag flying over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor after a day-and-night British naval bombardment. Key's poem, 'The Defence of Fort M'Henry,' was set to a popular 18th-century melody and officially designated as the United States national anthem by Congress on March 3, 1931, now codified in 36 U.S.C. § 301.
The Star-Spangled Banner: 1814 Fort McHenry history and 36 U.S.C. § 301 tool
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The War of 1812 and the defense of Fort McHenry
The story of the United States national anthem begins during the darkest weeks of the War of 1812. To see how the 1814 Fort McHenry banner fits into the broader evolution of the Stars and Stripes, visit our American flag history and symbols guide. In August 1814, British forces routed American militia at Bladensburg, marched into Washington, D.C., and burned the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and other federal buildings.
Following the raid on Washington, British commanders turned their attention northward to Baltimore, Maryland. Guarding the entrance to Baltimore Harbor stood Fort McHenry, a low citadel and star fort commanded by Major George Armistead where American defenders prepared to hold the city against a combined British land and naval attack.
A year before the British fleet arrived, in 1813, Major Armistead ordered a new garrison flag for the fort along with a smaller storm flag. Armistead commissioned Baltimore ship and signal flag maker Mary Pickersgill to sew the two banners:
- The great garrison flag: Measuring 30 feet by 42 feet, this enormous banner featured 15 white stars and 15 alternating red and white stripes (authorized under the January 1794 flag resolution after Vermont and Kentucky joined the Union). Each star measured two feet from point to point, and each stripe was two feet wide.
- The storm flag: A smaller 17-by-25-foot banner.
Working in her Baltimore home at Albemarle and Pratt Streets and spreading the loosely woven English wool bunting panels across the expansive malt house floor of a nearby brewery for assembly, Mary Pickersgill labored for seven weeks with the help of her 13-year-old daughter Caroline, her nieces 13-year-old Eliza Young and 15-year-old Margaret Young, a 13-year-old African American indentured servant named Grace Wisher, and possibly her mother Rebecca Young, who had taught her the trade. Pickersgill was paid $405.90 for her services on the garrison flag, which was delivered to Fort McHenry on August 19, 1813.
Francis Scott Key and the dawn of September 14, 1814
After capturing Washington, D.C., British troops returning to their ships passed through Upper Marlboro, Maryland, where 65-year-old physician Dr. William Beanes helped local citizens arrest stragglers for looting. British forces arrested Dr. Beanes and held him aboard a Royal Navy ship. With the approval of President James Madison and Brigadier General John Mason, Georgetown lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key sailed out from Baltimore aboard a truce ship with U.S. Prisoner Exchange Agent John Stuart Skinner to seek Beanes’s release.
Key and Skinner boarded Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane’s flagship HMS Tonnant, where Major General Robert Ross and senior British naval officers agreed to release Dr. Beanes after reading letters from wounded British soldiers praising the medical treatment they had received at Bladensburg. However, because the Americans had become privy to British plans to attack Baltimore, the truce party was detained under guard—first transferred to the frigate HMS Surprise and then returned to their truce boat—until the battle concluded.
On September 12, 1814, the detained Americans heard the guns of the Battle of North Point, and on a gloomy, rainy September 13, 1814, they watched the British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry:
- All day and into the stormy night of September 13, and through the early morning hours of September 14, British warships fired a barrage of rockets and bombs at the fort.
- From the truce boat, Key and his companions watched the perilous fight through the darkness as rockets and exploding shells illuminated the harbor.
- At dawn on September 14, 1814, the British stopped their bombardment, an eerie quiet settled over the harbor, and the British fleet began retiring.
When the 30-by-42-foot garrison flag was raised over Fort McHenry at 9 a.m. on September 14, Key, Skinner, and Dr. Beanes saw the giant American banner flying over the fort.
From “Defence of Fort M’Henry” to the first verse lyrics
Moved by the survival of the fort and the city, Key pulled a letter from his pocket and began jotting down lines of verse, then completed all four stanzas that evening at the Indian Queen Hotel in downtown Baltimore after the British fleet sailed away and released the truce party.
Key wrote his manuscript, originally titled “The Defence of Fort M’Henry,” to be sung to “The Anacreontic Song” or “To Anacreon in Heaven,” an 18th-century English club song that was already popular across the United States. By September 17, 1814, printed handbills of the piece were being distributed to the men at the fort and citizens in Baltimore, and within weeks it was published under the title “The Star-Spangled Banner” in seventeen newspapers across the East Coast. On October 19, 1814, a performer named Mr. Harding sang the new lyrics on stage at the Holliday Street Theatre in Baltimore.
The public-domain first verse, which is the stanza universally sung as the national anthem today, captures Key’s anxious vigil and morning relief:
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?
Today, Francis Scott Key’s original 1814 handwritten manuscript is on display at the Maryland Center for History and Culture, early printings are held by the Library of Congress, and Mary Pickersgill’s 30-by-42-foot garrison flag is preserved on permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, where the Armistead family first loaned it in 1907 and donated it permanently on December 19, 1912.
The 1931 national anthem law (36 U.S.C. § 301)
Although bands played “The Star-Spangled Banner” regularly during the Civil War and throughout the 19th century, more than a century passed before Congress made it the official national anthem by statute:
- 1889 Navy adoption: In 1889, the U.S. Navy made “The Star-Spangled Banner” an official part of its flag ceremonies.
- World War I military order: During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson ordered that “The Star-Spangled Banner” be played for military ceremonies.
- Public campaign for an official anthem: After the popular Ripley’s Believe It or Not cartoon series pointed out that the United States had no official national anthem and composer John Philip Sousa published his opinion that Key’s “soul-stirring” lyrics should become the national anthem, a nationwide campaign gained momentum.
- The March 3, 1931 Act of Congress: President Herbert Hoover signed an act of Congress (46 Stat. 1508) on March 3, 1931, officially making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States.
Today, that statutory designation is codified in 36 U.S.C. § 301(a), which states simply: “The composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem.”
Proper conduct during the national anthem (36 U.S.C. § 301(b))
In addition to naming the anthem, federal law in 36 U.S.C. § 301(b) sets forth the official guidelines for how military personnel, veterans, and civilians should stand and show respect when “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played. These rules mirror the customs of the U.S. Flag Code and the Pledge of Allegiance.
When the American flag is displayed
Under 36 U.S.C. § 301(b)(1), when the flag is visible during a rendition of the national anthem:
- Individuals in uniform: Should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note (36 U.S.C. § 301(b)(1)(A)).
- Service members out of uniform and veterans: Following an amendment enacted in October 2008 (Public Law 110-417, § 595, the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009), members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform (36 U.S.C. § 301(b)(1)(B)).
- Civilians: All other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart (36 U.S.C. § 301(b)(1)(C)).
When the flag is not displayed
Under 36 U.S.C. § 301(b)(2), if the national anthem is played when no American flag is displayed, all present should face toward the music (or the performer/conductor) and act in the exact same manner they would if the flag were displayed—standing at attention with the right hand over the heart or rendering the military salute as applicable.
Like Title 4 of the United States Code, 36 U.S.C. § 301 uses advisory language (“should”) and carries no civil or criminal penalties for civilians, as expressive conduct is protected by the First Amendment. For complete details on flag display at ballparks, parades, and home porches, see our guide to flag etiquette.
Celebrating the Star-Spangled Banner on patriotic occasions
From ballparks and town greens on the Fourth of July to solemn wreath-laying ceremonies on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, “The Star-Spangled Banner” links modern Americans directly to the defenders of Fort McHenry in 1814. If you are dressing for a community concert, parade, or holiday cookout, browse our collection of American flag shirts and American flag hats crafted for comfortable everyday wear.
Frequently asked questions
Who wrote 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and what inspired it?
Francis Scott Key, a Georgetown lawyer and amateur poet, wrote the lyrics in September 1814 during the War of 1812. While detained under guard aboard a truce boat during the Battle for Baltimore, Key watched British warships bombard Fort McHenry through the day and night of September 13–14. Seeing the massive 15-star American garrison flag flying over the fort on the morning of September 14 inspired his poem, originally titled 'The Defence of Fort M'Henry.'
How many stars and stripes were on the original Star-Spangled Banner at Fort McHenry?
The original Fort McHenry garrison flag featured 15 white stars and 15 alternating red and white stripes. Following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky, Congress adopted a resolution in January 1794 expanding the flag from 13 to 15 stars and stripes. It remained the official U.S. flag from 1795 until the Flag Act of 1818 restored the stripe count to 13.
Who sewed the Fort McHenry flag and where is it today?
Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry, commissioned Baltimore flag maker Mary Pickersgill in 1813 to sew the 30-by-42-foot garrison flag along with a 17-by-25-foot storm flag. Pickersgill labored for seven weeks with her daughter Caroline, nieces Eliza and Margaret Young, African American indentured servant Grace Wisher, and possibly her mother Rebecca Young. Today, the garrison flag is preserved at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
When did 'The Star-Spangled Banner' officially become the national anthem?
Although the U.S. Navy made the song an official part of its flag ceremonies in 1889 and President Woodrow Wilson ordered it played for military ceremonies during World War I, 'The Star-Spangled Banner' did not become the official national anthem by statute until March 3, 1931, when President Herbert Hoover signed an act of Congress codified today in 36 U.S.C. § 301.
What is the proper etiquette during the playing of the national anthem?
Under 36 U.S.C. § 301(b), when the flag is displayed during the national anthem, civilians should stand at attention facing the flag with their right hand over their heart. Men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Uniformed military personnel, out-of-uniform service members, and veterans may render the military salute from the first note to the last.
Where did the melody for 'The Star-Spangled Banner' come from?
Francis Scott Key wrote his 1814 verses to be sung to 'The Anacreontic Song' or 'To Anacreon in Heaven,' an 18th-century English club song that was already popular across the United States. An amateur poet, Key had witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry and wrote the four stanzas to fit the familiar melody, which quickly spread in printed handbills and newspapers in 1814.