Description: Defence [sic] of Fort M'Henry [sic]

Defence [sic] of Fort M'Henry [sic]

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Bibliographic Details
Contributors:	Key, Francis Scott, 1779-1843., Sands, Samuel, 1800-1891., Murphy, Thomas, 1780-1860.
Language:	English
Subjects and Genres:	1811-1820; United States > History > War of 1812; Star-spangled banner (Song); Fort McHenry (Baltimore, Md.); Key, Francis Scott 1779-1843; Broadside poems; Text;
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Summary:	Printed broadside of the Defence [sic] of Fort M'Henry [sic], 1814. First printed version of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the song by Francis Scott Key. Typeset by Samuel Sands (1800-1891); printed by Thomas Murphy (1780-1860). Sands was a publisher and journalist who typeset "The Star-Spangled Banner" at age fourteen. He only had three years' experience when he was called upon to print the poem for Key. In 1821, Sands bought a printing establishment which he operated himself. He acquired The American Farmer in 1834, the pioneer agricultural journal founded by John Steuart Skinner. This printed version contains fourteen explanatory lines, one line referring to the tune, and thirty-two lines of verse. The explanatory paragraph states: "The annexed song was composed under the following circumstances--A gentleman had left Baltimore, in a flag of truce for the purpose of getting released from the British fleet, a friend of his who had been captured at Marlborough.--He went as far as the mouth of the Patuxent, and was not permitted to return lest the intended attack on Baltimore should be disclosed. He was therefore brought up the Bay to the mouth of the Patapsco, where the flag vessel was kept under the guns of a frigate, and he was compelled to witness the bombardment of Fort M'Henry [sic], which the Admiral had boasted that he would carry in a few hours, and that the city must fall. He watched the flag at the Fort through the whole day with an anxiety that can be better felt than described, until the night prevented him from seeing it. In the night he watched the Bomb Shells, and at early dawn his eye was again greeted by the proudly waving flag of his country."
Item Description:	Photocopy reproduction of 1 broadside, 32 x 20 cm.

Summary:

Printed broadside of the Defence [sic] of Fort M'Henry [sic], 1814. First printed version of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the song by Francis Scott Key. Typeset by Samuel Sands (1800-1891); printed by Thomas Murphy (1780-1860). Sands was a publisher and journalist who typeset "The Star-Spangled Banner" at age fourteen. He only had three years' experience when he was called upon to print the poem for Key. In 1821, Sands bought a printing establishment which he operated himself. He acquired The American Farmer in 1834, the pioneer agricultural journal founded by John Steuart Skinner. This printed version contains fourteen explanatory lines, one line referring to the tune, and thirty-two lines of verse. The explanatory paragraph states: "The annexed song was composed under the following circumstances--A gentleman had left Baltimore, in a flag of truce for the purpose of getting released from the British fleet, a friend of his who had been captured at Marlborough.--He went as far as the mouth of the Patuxent, and was not permitted to return lest the intended attack on Baltimore should be disclosed. He was therefore brought up the Bay to the mouth of the Patapsco, where the flag vessel was kept under the guns of a frigate, and he was compelled to witness the bombardment of Fort M'Henry [sic], which the Admiral had boasted that he would carry in a few hours, and that the city must fall. He watched the flag at the Fort through the whole day with an anxiety that can be better felt than described, until the night prevented him from seeing it. In the night he watched the Bomb Shells, and at early dawn his eye was again greeted by the proudly waving flag of his country."

Item Description:

Photocopy reproduction of 1 broadside, 32 x 20 cm.

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