No Room at the Rally for Our National Anthem

by Gina L. Diorio

Zach Bencal was supposed to sing the National Anthem at an Obama campaign rally in Londonderry, NH on Thursday. Instead, he received a message from the campaign that his services would no longer be needed – not because another singer had been selected but because the campaign had scratched the Anthem from the program to make room for another speaker.

Obama’s Manchester campaign office communications director Sandra Abrevaya noted, “We regret the miscommunication with Zach about today’s event but we are pleased that several other New Hampshire residents were able to speak at today’s event, where thousands of voters in both parties gathered to hear Sen. Obama discuss his plan to bring the change we need to Washington.”

First of all, let’s get one thing straight. This was no “miscommunication.” Ms. Abrevaya confirmed the decision had been a last-minute one. A miscommunication is a failure to communicate clearly (and if you don’t believe me, just ask Merriam-Webster). The Obama campaign clearly communicated an invitation to sing then changed its mind and clearly communicated a revocation of that invitation.

But beyond that, what was it the Obama campaign really rejected – was it only a song? I beg to say no.

Nearly 200 years ago, America was at war. An often-forgotten war, the War of 1812 was actually labeled by many as the Second American War for Independence. After more than two years of fighting, the British burned Washington, DC, forcing President Madison to flee the White House. In short, American victory was hardly certain.

Strategically situated approximately 40 miles northeast of Washington in Baltimore Harbor, Ft. McHenry was a prime target for the British, and American forces knew an attack was not a matter of “if” but “when.” In preparation for the battle, the fort’s Commanding Officer, Major George Armistead, wanted “a flag so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance.” So, in June of 1813, Armistead commissioned Mary Pickersgill, a Baltimore flagmaker, to make two flags for the fort. The smaller flag, which measured 17 feet by 25 feet, was known as the “storm flag,” while the larger, which, at 30 feet by 42 feet would become the largest battle flag ever flown, was the “Great Garrison Flag.”

Now, as the British forces left Washington, they took as prisoner one Dr. William Beanes, an elderly Maryland physician who also was a close friend of Francis Scott Key, a Georgetown attorney. Residents of Dr. Beanes’ hometown of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, appealed to Key for aid in securing Dr. Beanes’ release. Key agreed, and along with Colonel John Skinner, an American agent who worked in prisoner exchange, set out for Baltimore.

The British agreed to Beanes’ release with the stipulation that none of the three would be freed until after the bombardment of Ft. McHenry.

So, the three Americans were placed under guard, first on a British ship and then on an American ship behind the British fleet, and at 7:00 a.m. on September 13, 1814, the battle began. For 25 hours, the rockets flew, and then, before daybreak on the morning of September 14, all became silent.

Not knowing the meaning of the silence, Key anxiously peered through the darkness towards the fort – Whose colors would be flying?

And then, by the dawn’s early light, he saw it – the Great Garrison Flag. After the long night, after the relentless battle, catching the morning’s light, our flag was still there.

Unsuccessful in their attacks, the British had ordered a retreat.

On the deck of his ship, Key began to scribble the now famous words, “Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?” Later, in his Baltimore hotel room, he finished the four verses of the “Defence of Fort McHenry.” Instantly popular, the poem was later set to music and renamed “The Star Spangled Banner,” and in 1931, it became our nation’s National Anthem. One song, born in battle and symbolizing the courage, perseverance, and faith of a nation.

Two years of war, twenty-five hours of bombardment; one long night of uncertainty, and the man who would be our next president could not even spend two minutes to remember.

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For those of us who would like to remember, here is the complete text of our National Anthem:

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave'
From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that 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.

Additional resources:

The Story of the Star Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key (from the National Park Service)
Great Garrison Flag (from the National Park Service)

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Gina L. Diorio is a full-time freelance writer. Please visit her site at www.LibertyWritingSolutions.com.

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