Photo: the large 15-star, 15-stripe "Star-Spangled Banner" flag that inspired Francis Scott Key's poem (which became the lyrics of the U.S. national anthem) when it flew above Fort McHenry in the 1814 Battle of Baltimore. Shown here on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of History and Technology, around 1964. Credit: Smithsonian Institution Archives; Wikimedia Commons.

210th Anniversary of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’

By Jane Cook on September 16, 2024

In this article, Jane Hampton Cook tells the story of how Francis Scott Key’s poem eventually became the U.S. national anthem... (Read More)

Illustration: "Battle of Fort Donelson," by Kurz & Allison. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Civil War Poem by a Federal Patriot

By Tony Pettinato on June 20, 2018

A poem, “The Very Last Ditch,” written during the Civil War by a Union sympathizer and published in 1862, during the war’ second year... (Read More)

Painting: “Happy Christmas” by Johansen Viggo, 1891

Old Holiday Poems, Songs & Hymns in Newspapers

By Mary Harrell-Sesniak on December 4, 2013

Mary Harrell-Sesniak searches old newspapers to find poems, carols and hymns from holidays past, to bring them into this year’s celebrations... (Read More)

Tag: Poetry and Poets