"And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave."
In the cemetery of Mt. Olivet, near Frederick, Md., there is a spot where the flag of our country is never lowered. It is keeping watch by night as by day over the grave of Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star Spangled Banner." He was born in Frederick County, Md., August 1, 1779, and died in Baltimore, January 11, 1843.
The Congress of the United States has never formally adopted "The Star Spangled Banner" as a national anthem, but it has become such through the recognition {331} given to it by the army and navy. It is played on all state occasions at home or abroad and is the response of our bands at all international gatherings. In the theatre, at a public meeting, or at a banquet--whenever it is played, the people rise and remain standing to the end as a tribute to the flag of our country.
The poem itself is descriptive of what the author saw and felt on the night of September 13, 1814, as he watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British during the War of 1812. The city of Washington had been sacked, bombarded, and burned by the British, and now in their march of destruction, they were bombarding the fort to gain entrance to Baltimore's harbor, in which city they had purposed to spend the winter. We can well imagine the joy of Key's heart, the son of a Revolutionary patriot, held in custody on a British battle-ship, to see in the morning "that our flag was still there," and to know, therefore, that there was still hope for our country.
"Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, 'In God is our Trust'."
The Birth of New States
The history of the fifty-six years between 1789 and 1845 is marked by the development of new states formed out of the territorial settlement of the wilderness. The people of our country have always been pioneering, going ahead of civilization, so to speak, but always taking it with them. Scouts they have been in every sense of the word. Following the rivers, clearing the forests, fording the streams, braving the dangers, living the wild life--brave men and women!
The first state to come into the Union of the thirteen original states was Vermont, the "Green Mountain" state (1791); next came Kentucky (1792), the "Blue Grass" state, the home of Daniel Boone, the great hunter and pioneer. Four years later, (1796) came Tennessee, the "Volunteer" state, receiving this name because of its large number of volunteer soldiers for the Seminole war and the War of 1812; next comes Ohio (1803), the "Buckeye," so called because of the large number of buckeye trees, the nut of which bears some resemblance to a buck's eye. This is the first state to be formed out of the public domain, known at this time as the "Northwest Territory." The land ordinance bill of 1785 and the homestead act of 1862 {332} relate to the development and settlement of the public domain, the first being a plan of survey applied to all public lands owned by the United States government; the other being a law by which the possession of these lands was made possible to settlers.
Following Ohio into the Union came Louisiana (1812), the "Creole" state whose people were descendants of the original French and Spanish settlers. This was the first state to be formed west of the Mississippi, and New Orleans, its chief city, known as the "Crescent City," is one of the oldest in our country and full of historic interest.
After the War of 1812 the new states began to come in rapidly. The admission of Indiana (1816), "The Hoosier"; Mississippi (1817), the "Bayou"; Illinois, the "Prairie" (1818); Alabama (1819), the "Cotton," show that the pioneer settlements of our people had been closing in along the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers.