Star-Spangled Banner (flag)
These words were written by Key and set to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven", a popular song at the time, by John Stafford Smith.
The two additional stars and stripes, approved by the United States Congress's Flag Act of 1794, represent Vermont and Kentucky's entrance into the Union.
[7] A red patch shaped like a chevron, a capital A, or an inverted V "was reportedly sewn onto the flag by Louisa Armistead, widow of the commander of Fort McHenry," according to the Smithsonian.
The flag was sewn by prominent Baltimorean flagmaker Mary Young Pickersgill under a government commission in 1813 at a cost of $405.90 (equivalent to $6,408 in 2023).
[12][13] Pickersgill made the flag with assistance from her daughter, two nieces, and an African American indentured servant, Grace Wisher.
The bombardment turned to Fort McHenry on the morning of September 13, and continuous shelling occurred for 25 hours under heavy rain.
[18] On the morning of September 14, when the flag was seen flying above the ramparts, it was clear that Fort McHenry remained in American hands.
This revelation was famously captured in poetry by Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer and amateur poet.
The poem would be put to the music of a common tune, retitled "The Star-Spangled Banner", and a portion of it would later be adopted as the national anthem of the United States.
In 1907, Eben Appleton lent the flag to the Smithsonian, and it was put on display at the National Museum (now the Arts and Industries Building).
[39][40] During World War II, from 1942 to 1944, the flag, along with many other objects in the Smithsonian's collection, was kept for safekeeping at a warehouse at Shenandoah National Park.
The second phase consisted of the most comprehensive, detailed examination of the condition and construction of the Star-Spangled Banner to date, which provided critical information for later work.
[50][51][52] The National Museum of American History produced an online exhibition in conjunction with the reopening of Flag Hall in 2008.
An interactive component allows site visitors to closely explore features of the flag in detail, download an audio-descriptive tour of the exhibition for the visually-impaired, and hear the song performed on original instruments from the National Museum of American History's collection.
[53] A 2-inch by 5-inch fragment of the flag—white and red, with a seam down the middle—was sold at auction in Dallas, Texas on November 30, 2011, for $38,837: the snippet was, presumably, cut from the famous flag as a souvenir in the mid-19th century.
[54] The framed remnant came with a faded, hand-written note attesting it was "A piece of the Flag which floated over Fort McHenry at the time of the bombardment when Key's [sic] composed the Song of the Star Spangled Banner, presented by Sam Beth Cohen.
