On This Day.........

The original Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that would become our national anthem, is among the most treasured artifacts in the collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

“By the dawn’s early light” of September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key, elated that the American flag still flew from the battlements of Fort McHenry, composed a poem to commemorate the battle with the British. Put to music, Key’s poem was first publicly performed in October of that year; however, it was not until 1931 that “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the official anthem for the United States. Like this if you proud to be an American, “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Check out more of what happen on this day and check out the Smithsonian website, click link below:

http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmah/starflag.htm