The Super Bowl, Lady Gaga and Fort McHenry?

UPDATE:

What a beautiful combination: Super Bowl 50, Lady Gaga and the Battle of Fort McHenry!

I have to say, while I haven't really been a big fan of Lady Gaga in the past, I think that her performance of the Star Spangled Banner at Super Bowl 50 was one of the best and most honorable renditions of our National Anthem performed by a Pop Star that I remember.

To watch the video go to 

https://youtu.be/cU72TkJ51fY

(Original post )

What an interesting combination: Super Bowl 50, Lady Gaga and the Battle of Fort McHenry

If you haven't heard yet, Grammy Award winning pop singer, Lady Gaga, is performing the National Anthem at this year's Super Bowl. When I heard that, my first reaction was.., well... um... this will be... interesting....

The NFL Network broadcast an interview of Lady Gaga with Nate Burleson, a former NFL player turned NFL broadcaster, Nate asked her about her performance, "Will there be any surprises?" 

- @ladygaga on singing #SB50 National Anthemhttps://t.co/YqilZKeFzm

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) February 6, 2016

She answered, “I have to live up to a song that stands the test of time. I think the best way to do that is kind of forget about yourself and just focus on what it means. You know if you listen to the lyrics of this song…. you know it’s just such a beautifully written song. And I think that I will be thinking about what it means.” She added, “I’m really singing it from the heart, and I’m also singing it really very true to the way that it was written, because I think that’s when it sounds its most majestic.”

I have to say I was actually quite surprised and rather inspired by her answer and actually look forward to her rendition.


While most Americans are very familiar with the “Star Spangled Banner”, many don’t know about the history leading up to Francis Scott Key penning those infamous lyrics while witnessing the Battle of Fort McHenry.

Honor Guard at Fort McHenry, Maryland
Photo: National Park Service

We go back to the War of 1812, which for the first couple of years, US forces were somewhat successful in many of the scattered skirmishes. However, after the British defeated Napoléon in April 1814, they concentrated their efforts on the war against the newly independent United States. On August 24, 1814, the British took control of Washington D.C. and set the US Capitol Building and White House on fire. The British’s next target was the strategic port of Baltimore, Maryland.

As the British were advancing towards Baltimore, a series of rather unexpected events set into motion the strange circumstances where Francis Scott Key, a young American lawyer in Washington DC, witnessed the attack from behind enemy lines in the midst of the mighty British Naval fleet.

On August 28 an elderly Dr. William Beanes was wrongfully arrested by the British as a prisoner of war. Several of his patients persuaded Key to help get Dr. Beanes released. After getting diplomatic status from President James Madison, Key and his companion, John S. Skinner, a prisoner exchange officer, approached the British Fleet under a flag of truce on September 7, 1814. There they met with British Major General Robert Ross, who agreed to release Dr. Beanes. However, since the three Americans were then aware of the British’s attack on Baltimore, General Ross ordered that they be detained so that they couldn’t alert the U.S. forces. So the three Americans were being held captive behind enemy lines in the midst of the massive British fleet of over 50 ships.

On September 12, the British launched a ground attack on the East side of the harbor where, Major General Ross, who Key and Skinner had met with just days before, was mortally wounded. Later that day 16 British warships moved to within firing distance of Fort McHenry.

Arial Photo of Fort McHenry protecting the Baltimore Harbor.
Photo: National Park Service

Then at 6:00 am on September 13, British cannons, mortars, and rocket launchers opened assault on Fort McHenry. The battled raged all day and well into the night where rockets and exploding bombs lit up the smoky dark sky. At about 1:00 am under a blanket of night, the British unsuccessfully attempted a ground attack on the west. Throughout the night, the British continued firing at the fort. Despite the British launching an estimated 1,500 – 1,800 shells, mortars and rockets aimed directly at Fort McHenry, U.S. casualties were relatively small with only four deaths and twenty-four injuries out of approximately 1,000 defenders.

Before dawn, the fighting had ended signaling that the battle was over, but Key and his companions didn’t know who had won. Then as told through the immortalized words he wrote “O, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,” Key experienced great elation which “Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there”.

Key, Skinner and Beanes were released from British detainment two days later. Key spent that first night of freedom in a quiet hotel room in Baltimore, editing the lyrics he wrote while aboard the enemy ship. The next day, on September 17, 1814, the Defense of Fort M’Henry was first published and distributed in Baltimore in the form of a handbill. Over the next few weeks, it was published in numerous US newspapers and was on its way to becoming one of America’s most beloved patriotic songs.

And that’s how a young American lawyer while being held behind enemy lines, witnessed and was inspired by one of the greatest battles in US History, to write our National Anthem. So the next time you hear or sing the Star Spangled Banner, whether while watching the Super Bowl 50 or even a hometown high school game, perhaps you may know a little bit more about its history and better understand the meaning and significance behind those familiar words.

Fort McHenry National Historical Site is one of the attractions featured in the educational game, Snapshots Across America. 

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