The Star-Spangled Banner

February 15, 2011

Do you know our National Anthem?
O say can you see, by the
dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at
the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright
stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d
were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s 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?
Defining Vocabulary
 bombardment- attack by cannons
 gallantly- honorably
 hail- to praise
 o’er- over
 perilous- very dangerous
 privateering- A ship privately owned and crewed but
authorized by a government during wartime to attack and
capture enemy vessels.
 ramparts- the walls a fort
“By George”
“On Tuesday morning about sunrise, the
enemy commenced the attack from his
 http://www.umbc.ed
five bomb vessels, at the distance about
two miles, when finding that his shells
u/che/tahlessons/pl
reached us, he anchored and kept an ayer.php?media=3
incessant and well directed
bombardment.”

“The only means we had of directing our

guns, was by the blaze of their rockets
and the flashes of their guns. Had they
ventured to the same situation in the
day time, not a man would have
escaped.”

“The bombardment continued on the

part of the enemy until 7 o'clock on
Wednesday morning, when it ceased…
During the bombardment which lasted
25 hours, from fifteen to eighteen
hundred shells were thrown by the
enemy.”
What viewpoint was this painting drawn
from?
What viewpoint was this painting drawn
from?
“Congreve Rocket of the
type fired on Fort McHenry.
Bombshells that exploded
into deadly fragments were
Britain's most formidable
weapon against Fort
McHenry. Seamen launched
the bombs from ships
known as bomb vessels
using mortars with a range
of about 2.5 mi.”
 Is “The Star-Spangled Banner” an
accurate account of what happened?

Write an exit slip with 3-5 sentences telling me what you think
and why.