A little gem from Townsend Harris journal as first consul to Japan 1856. While on his way to Japan on the ship the Saint Jacinto the captain docked in the port of Hong Kong. Moored nearby was the English seventy-four-gun vessel the Minden, now used as a hospital ship. Footnotes mention, “It was on board this ship that the words of, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ were composed.”
Francis Scott Key, an American Lawyer, was a prisoner held on this ship during the siege of Ft. McHenry. Consequently, he witnessed the bombardment of it. Fort McHenry, a large star-shaped citadel built in 1800 to protect Baltimore, Maryland’s inner harbor. The United States declared war against the British on June 18, 1812, which officially did not end until February 17, 1815. The British felt that Baltimore was more important than Washington, D.C. and laid siege for twenty-seven hours shooting more than 1,500 cannonballs, shells, and rockets to no avail. Francis Scott Key thought that the Americans had lost, however, on the morning of September 14, 1814, he saw the fort raise its garrison flag (a 30 ft X 42 ft flag). This inspired him to write a poem, “Defense of Fort McHenry,” which later was set to the tune of, “To Anacreon in Heaven,” and became the national anthem of the United States in 1931, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The flag was commissioned by the fort’s commander one year prior from Mary Pickersgill, a local flag maker. She benefited from the notoriety of the flag by becoming a very successful businesswoman. She was also a slave owner.
Eclecticwriter 