Our National Anthem

 The year 1814 found the Americans and the British once more in the midst of a war.  During an agonizing 24 hour period aboard a British warship, a poem was scribbled on the back of an envelope by a young American lawyer.  The young man, Francis Scott Key, had boarded the British ship under a flag of truce to plead for the release of his friend, Dr. William Beans, whom the British were holding prisoner.  Key was treated kindly, and Beans' release was granted, but the two were forbidden to leave the ship until after the attack on fort McHenry was over.  During the night, the battle raging around them, the two Americans strained their eyes to see if the flag still waved over the fort.  At dawn, as the flag appeared through the mist and smoke of battle, Key wrote down his thoughts on the back of an envelope in the form of a three stanza poem which was later set to the tune of a popular British tune, "To Anacreon in Heaven".  It was not until 117 years later, in 1931, that The Star Spangled Banner became our National Anthem.