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The Van Buskirk family saga continues with the exploration
of the Louisiana Territory and the War of 1812.
Held captive by the British aboard the warship
HMS Surprise,
American lawyer, Francis Scott Key, witnessed the British
bombardment of American Fort McHenry through the long, rainy
night of September 13th and 14th, 1814.
As the sun rose the following morning, illuminating the
American flag, still flying, he wrote these words on the
back of an envelope:
O! 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 through 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.
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
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