Did you know? The USA’s national anthem was inspired by a fierce battle where prayerful dependence on God yielded a powerful moment of resilience!
During the War of 1812, sometimes called “The Second War for Independence”, British forces captured more than 10,000 American sailors, invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the White House and much of the city. Then, British forces began marching overland and using rivers to sail their powerful naval vessels deeper into the heartland, in an attempt to divide and cripple our nation’s defenses.
On the night of September 13-14, 1814, Christian lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key found himself aboard a British ship in the Patapsco River, negotiating the release of American prisoners. Negotiations went very well, but when it came time for Key and the Americans to disembark, the British officers had a sudden change of tune. Alleging that Key and the others had “seen too much” of the British battle plan, they refused to let the Americans go. The British promised that once they had taken Fort McHenry and raided the city of Baltimore, they would release Key and the American prisoners.
Helpless, Key watched as British forces bombarded Fort McHenry, just outside Baltimore and the American naval shipyards. All night, and throughout the next day and night, rockets and bombs lit up the sky, and it seemed uncertain whether the fort—and the young nation—would stand.
“It seemed as though mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone,” Key later recorded. For 25 hours, the British continued the assult. The smoke from the canons and munitions was so thick that Key and others couldn’t see the fort, the flag, or anything at all. Against the night sky, only the red blaze of fire cut through the battle’s fog. There was little hope that the American forces could withstand such heavy fire. If this battle was lost, it could signal a final defeat for the Americans in the War, and our young republic could be re-subjugated to British rule. As they watched and waited, Key and the other Americans prayed fervently to the God of Heaven.
Miraculously as dawn broke, the American flag still waved proudly over the fort! Moved by the sight, Key penned a poem, originally titled “Defense of Fort M’Henry.” Later, it was set to the tune of a popular melody and became The Star-Spangled Banner. In 1931, it was officially declared the U.S. national anthem.
Most people know the first verse, but the anthem doesn’t end there. The final verse declares a powerful truth—victory and peace come from God, who has preserved our nation:
“O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto—’In God is our trust,’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
From the beginning, our nation’s anthem has been a testimony to faith, freedom, and the power of God to sustain us. May we never loose sight of the Lord’s hand in preserving our nation.
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