The Phunny Farm: "What I saw at Fort McHenry"

What I saw at Fort McHenry

The night had been a restless one, no one could sleep. Francis Scott Key, Dr. Beanes, Colonel Skinner, and I had been captured, and we were all very anxious for we had nearly no way of seeing who was winning the battle. We were all very tense, very quiet. There was no point in speaking, it was so loud from the 1,800 rounds of ammunition that were shot that night. At first, I was certain we were going to win this battle, but as the night wore on, we were gradually losing hope. Finally, it began to get light again. Francis Scott Key grabbed some field glasses to try to see the American flag at Fort McHenry, 2-1/2 miles away. He suddenly reached into his pocket, and started to scribble something on a piece of paper. As the mist and fog cleared, we could all see the proud and victorious flag of our great country. You can imagine the excitement, our country hadn't surrendered! Because the men had persevered God had intervened and helped us defeat the greatest army and navy in the world. I soon found out that, what Francis Scott Key had scribbled on the paper was the beginning of a poem named "The Defense of Fort McHenry." People liked it alot, everyone knew it because it had been put in the newspaper. They sang it to the tune of an old English drinking song. What we did not know then though, was that in 1931 a President named H. Hoover was to sign a paper, or law, making that 'poem' into our national anthem. There was one slight change to it though, the name was changed to "The Star-Spangled Banner."