Star-spangled Banner

Today is our Independence Day. Shown here is the Star-spangled Banner flown on the schooner Pride of Baltimore II in Gloucester Harbor during the Schooner Festival in September, 2007.

The Star Spangled Banner is a 15 star, 15 bar ancestor of our 50 star, 13 strip flag. The fourteenth and fifteenth star and strip represent Vermont and Kentucky, the next two states to join the Union.



The Star Spangled Banner was flown over Fort McHenry when 5,000 British soldiers and a fleet of 19 ships attacked Baltimore on September 12, 1814. The bombardment turned to Fort McHenry on the evening of September 13, and continued for 25 hours under heavy rain. The British ships were unable to pass the fort and penetrate the harbor and the attack ceased on the morning of September 14.

The battered flag still flew above the ramparts signifying that Fort McHenry remained in American hands. Francis Scott Key, an American Lawmaker and then-amateur poet, was inspired to write about the battle aboard a British ship in the Patapsco River. His poem was originally titled Defense of Fort McHenry. The poem was later put to the melody of The Anacreontic Song and titled The Star-Spangled Banner.

The schooner Pride of Baltimore II in Gloucester Harbor