The Stars and Stripes Forever
- Shayna
- Jul 4, 2024
- 3 min read
I love our flag. I get excited when I see them start to pop up around the neighborhood around Memorial day. I want to see it wave all year. I want my kids to know why it’s important, what it represents and why we love and honor it.
One of the first things I think when I see a flag waving are the words penned by Francis Scott Key.
"…and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."
So if you know the background story it will give you chills to see how important it was that our flag was still waving even amidst an attack from the enemy. It represents our perseverance, our faith and our trust in God over our country.
Wee Sing America
We grew up with the cassette tape (yes, cassette tape) for these songs playing in our car pretty much constantly. I know every song, every word! Every once in a while one of these songs will come to mind and they bring me joy.
This one is called There are many flags.
You’re a grand old flag was one of my very favorites as a kid!
Three cheers for the red, white, and blue
Betsy Ross
Betsy Ross is attributed to be the woman who sewed the first flag for the United States. There were 13 colonies so the flag was designed with 13 stripes and 13 stars. They called it the Stars and Stripes.
Apparently, as legend tells it, George Washington himself was the one to ask Betsy to undertake the task (although there is no definitive proof one way or the other).
Betsy was born Elizabeth Griscom in 1752 in Baltimore, Maryland. Betsy (as we was called) became a seamstress. At the age of twenty-one she married John Ross. John’s father was on the committee with General Washington and supposedly that is how she became involved.
Betsy was living in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania at the time. Also according to legend, Betsy was the one who suggested the stars be placed in a circle on the original flag.
Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner.
It was September 13, 1814 and the United States was at war with Great Britain (again). This time the American people were upset because Britain was interfering with their international and maritime trade.
Francis Scott Key, an attorney from Baltimore, Maryland along with another, witnessed the twenty-five hour bombardment (bombing) of Fort McHenry in Maryland. He was aboard a British troopship anchored some four miles away.
Key had boarded the ship to negotiate the release of an American civilian imprisoned by the British. Once Key knew was happening, the British detained him aboard the ship as the bombardment began. It was by the dawns early light on the morning of September 14th that Francis took an envelope from his pocket and penned his famous lines after seeing the Stars and Stripes still waving in the breeze. Key knew that the British had not succeeded in their attack and "the flag was still there."
This poem would later become our National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner.
"O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave"
ACTIVITIES AND IDEAS
A coloring page of Betsy and George Washington: print here
This is a fun website to learn more about this story and the flag. It lets you read some of the history and then answer questions to see what you know in order to get 14 stars! C lick here
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