Star-Spangled Banner

Mary Pickersgill, a professional flag maker in Baltimore, made the Star-Spangled Banner in the summer of 1813. Four teenaged girls—her daughter, two nieces, and an African American indentured servant named Grace Wisher—helped piece together its “broad stripes and bright stars.”

On September 14, 1814, U.S. soldiers at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry raised a huge American flag to celebrate a crucial victory over British forces during the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key, who was aboard a ship several miles distant, could just make out an American flag waving above Fort McHenry. British ships were withdrawing from Baltimore, and Key realized that the United States had survived the battle and stopped the enemy advance. Moved by the sight, of those “broad stripes and bright stars” he wrote a song celebrating “that star-spangled banner” as a symbol of America’s triumph and endurance. A song that eventually became the United States national anthem.

Key’s words gave new significance to a national symbol and started a tradition in which generations of Americans have invested the flag with their own meanings and memories.

The Star-Spangled Banner came to the Smithsonian Institution in 1907 from George Armistead’s grandson, Eben Appleton. For over a century, the Smithsonian has continued to display and care for the flag, ensuring its survival for generations to come.

Mary Pickersgill, a professional flag maker in Baltimore, made the Star-Spangled Banner in the summer of 1813. Four teenaged girls—her daughter, two nieces, and an African American indentured servant named Grace Wisher—helped piece together its “broad stripes and bright stars.”

On September 14, 1814, U.S. soldiers at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry raised a huge American flag to celebrate a crucial victory over British forces during the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key, who was aboard a ship several miles distant, could just make out an American flag waving above Fort McHenry. British ships were withdrawing from Baltimore, and Key realized that the United States had survived the battle and stopped the enemy advance. Moved by the sight, of those “broad stripes and bright stars” he wrote a song celebrating “that star-spangled banner” as a symbol of America’s triumph and endurance. A song that eventually became the United States national anthem.

Key’s words gave new significance to a national symbol and started a tradition in which generations of Americans have invested the flag with their own meanings and memories.

The Star-Spangled Banner came to the Smithsonian Institution in 1907 from George Armistead’s grandson, Eben Appleton. For over a century, the Smithsonian has continued to display and care for the flag, ensuring its survival for generations to come.