Every American is familiar with the words of Francis Scott Key's epic poem-turned song-turned national anthem. "Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?" As we stand there, listening to the words while waiting for our football or baseball game to start, it likely doesn't occur to us just how miraculous it was for the broad stripes and bright stars to still be gallantly streaming that morning in September 1814....
The War of 1812 – The Siege of Fort McHenry
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