SUNDAY PRAISE FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY

An eerie silence fell across the early morning darkness and the young Baltimore attorney breathed a sigh of relief. It was after 1 A.M. on the morning of September 14, 1814 and it was the first time in more than 18 hours that things had been quiet.

Since 7 A.M. of the previous day more than 1,800 bombs, cannonballs, and rockets had lit the sky and shattered the peaceful harbor. From the deck of his sloop behind the enemy fleet a young Baltimore attorney breathed a sigh of relief. "Did you see it still there?" he asked his friend Dr. Beanes.

Dr. Beanes knew what Francis Key was referring to.

Both men had strained their eyes through the darkness of night for the last several hours to glimpse the American flag that flew from Fort McHenry.

During daylight it was hard to miss, even at this distance. The flag was 30' high and 40' feet wide. But as darkness had fallen, the only time the flag could be seen was during those seconds when it was momentarily lit by bombs the enemy hurled at the small fort.

As long as the two men and their third companion Colonel John Skinner could see the flag flying, they knew there was still hope that their Nation had survived.

Now the bombardment had stopped and there were no flashes to light the sky and reveal that flag still waving proudly. Perhaps, in fact, that flag no longer waved. Maybe the reason for the silence was the unthinkable fact that Fort McHenry had fallen to the British, its defenders dead, and Baltimore vulnerable to the same fate that had already befallen our Nation's Capitol.

The stillness dragged on for hours. Despite the fact that Mr. Key had not slept in close to 36 hours, the present quiet afforded no respite.

With his companions he strained his eyes towards the fort, willing them to pierce the darkness and find the red, white and blue banner still waving proudly over Fort McHenry. He prayed for the rays of dawn to pierce the sky and reveal the sight that would signal the survival of his countrymen, perhaps indeed of his Country itself.

Slowly the hours dragged on. Then, at 4 A.M. as daylight seemed near, the fusillade of deadly rockets began anew. In a sense it was a welcome sound. Mr. Key knew that as long as the battle still raged, Americans still survived and resisted at Fort McHenry.

The three hour lull had simply afforded the British ground troops opportunity to position themselves for one final, crushing assault. Now and then a brief flicker of light from an exploding rocket would reveal what Mr. Key thought might be that huge flag still flying proudly over Fort McHenry.

Maybe he even caught himself anticipating, even hoping for, another brilliant flash of light from the enemy rockets. Then he stopped himself, realizing that the same explosions that lit the skies to reveal the flag and allay his fears, simultaneously rained death on the men who fought to keep that flag flying.

So intense was the final bombardment that the early morning dawn was filled with smoke and the odor of burnt gunpowder. So thick was the curtain of smoke, that by 8 A.M. even the morning sunshine could not reveal whether or not the flag still waved.

Then quiet returned. Mr. Key watched as the British ships began to withdraw. Had the fort, badly weakened by the enemy naval bombardment, finally fallen to the British ground troops?

His sloop alone in the bay, Francis Scott Key looked fearfully towards the shoreline. A breeze began to move across the water's surface and the smoke of battle began to shift ever so slightly to reveal patches of blue sky.

And then, in the distant blue there appeared new colors....red and white....brief glimpses of the two-feet wide stripes of the Star Spangled Banner. Then a star appeared in the daytime sky, then another....then fifteen stars in the daytime.

What a welcomed site they were. Mr. Key's heart swelled with hope, and pride in the men who had so valiantly fought through the night to keep that flag flying. Reaching into his pocket he withdrew an envelope and began to write his thoughts:



The Star Spangled Banner (Our National Anthem)
Francis Scott Key and John Stafford Smith

O SAY, CAN YOU SEE BY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT
WHAT SO PROUDLY WE HAILED AT THE TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEEMING.
WHOSE BROAD STRIPES AND BRIGHT STARS THROUGH THE PERELOUS FIGHT
O’RE THE RAMPARTS WE WATCHED WERE SO GALENTLY STREAMING

AND THE ROCKET’S RED GLARE THE BOMBS BURSTING IN AIR
GAVE PROOF THROUGH THE NIGHT THAT OUR FLAG WAS STILL THERE
O SAY DOES THAT STAR SPANGLE BANNER YET WAVE
O’RE THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE.

O THUS BE IT EVER WHEN FREE MEN SHALL STAND
BETWEEN THEIR LOVED HOMES AND THE WAR'S DESOLATION;
BLEST WITH VICT'RY AND PEACE, MAY THE HEAV'N-RESCUED LAND
PRAISE THE POW'R THT HATH MADE AND PRESERVED 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.

AND STILL WE CAN SEE AS THE YEARS HAVE GONE BY
THERE’S A DREAM IN OUR LAND LIKE FLAME THAT KEEPS BURNING.
AND THE LANTERN OF HOPE FROM THE HARBOR STILL SHINES
THOSE WHO SEEK FREEDOM’S DREAM TO ITS LIGHT ARE STILL TURNING

NOW WE LOOK TO THE SKIES AND WE LIFT UP OUR EYES
FOR WE KNOW WITH THE DAWN WE WILL SEE OUR FLAG RISE
AND THIS IS OUR STAR-SPANGLED BANNER UNFURLED
AS A SIGN TO THE FREE AND A HOPE TO THE WORLD.

O SAY, DOES THAT STAR-SPANGLE BANNER YET WAVE
O’ER THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE.

II Chronicles 7:19