How The Star -Spangled Banner Became America's National Anthem

[AquaAthena]

17 June 2012 Last updated at 17:52 ET


It was a war against the British that gave America its flag and its national anthem. And today marks the 200th anniversary of the start of the War of 1812.

One battle in particular saw the iconic Star-Spangled Banner gain its place as a symbol of America's national identity.

Alexandra Deutsch, from the Maryland Historical Society, tells the BBC how America got its national anthem.


BBC News - How the Star-Spangled Banner became America's national anthem

 

[PoliticalChic]

17 June 2012 Last updated at 17:52 ET


It was a war against the British that gave America its flag and its national anthem. And today marks the 200th anniversary of the start of the War of 1812.

One battle in particular saw the iconic Star-Spangled Banner gain its place as a symbol of America's national identity.

Alexandra Deutsch, from the Maryland Historical Society, tells the BBC how America got its national anthem.


BBC News - How the Star-Spangled Banner became America's national anthem

I love it.

I love the history....we go over it when we go Washington...'cause we pass through the Fort McHenry Tunnel!
...how the Brits used mortars on barges....'bombs bursting in air...'


Did you know that Francis Scott Key's son was shot and killed, and the killer got off through the use of the first 'insanity defense'?

"Key's son, Philip Barton Key II was shot and killed by then-congressman and future Civil War general Daniel Sickles in 1859 after Sickles discovered that his wife was having an affair with Philip Barton Key.[9] Sickles was acquitted in the first use of the temporary insanity defense."
Francis Scott Key - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia