O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light?
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Everyone recognizes those words as the opening lines of our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. Most people know the story behind the song. But what of the flag itself? What is the story of the original star-spangled banner? That’s a part of history most Americans do not know about. But to us, it illustrates an important and underrated point about our country.
The year was 1813. The United States was once again at war with Great Britain. England had imposed a naval blockade on most of the country’s ports, so the troops of Fort McHenry, guarding the entrance to the Port of Baltimore, prepared themselves for an inevitable British attack. By the start of summer, everything was ready— except for one thing. The fort lacked a flag.
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
In a letter to his superior, the fort’s commander, Major George Armistead, wrote,“We are ready at Fort McHenry to defend Baltimore against invading by the enemy. That is to say, we are ready except that we have no suitable ensign to display over the fort, and it is my desire to have a flag so large that the British will have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.”1 His goal was to show the British they were not afraid of an attack. But where to get a flag that large?
Enter Mary Young Pickersgill.
Born the same year the U.S. declared independence from Great Britain, Mary was a seamstress who specialized in flag-making. (Her mother, Rebecca Young, had made flags for the Continental Army during the Revolution.) She had often made flags for the government. But when Armistead visited her home, the job he proposed was on an entirely different scale than anything she had ever done before. For one thing, Armistead wanted two flags. The first was large, but nothing out of the ordinary, measuring 17 by 25 feet. But the second was a monster, stretching 30 by 42 feet. (Remember, this was done in an era when everything had to be made by hand.) To put it in perspective, if a normal-sized person were to stand next to the flag, their head would just barely reach the second red stripe. (I’ve included a link below to a picture that illustrates this.2)
To make matters worse, there was no telling when the fort would be attacked. So, Mary not only had to make a gigantic flag— she had to make it quickly. It was a daunting task. Mary could have said no, or “That’s impossible.” She could have demanded more time. She could have named a price so large that it would make the flag seem small. Instead, she said yes…and got to work.
Of course, it was not a job one person could do on their own. So, Mary enlisted her daughter, two nieces, a 13-year-old girl Grace, several neighbors, a few other local tailors…and her 74-year-old mother to help make the flag. After a few weeks, the flag grew so large that they had to move it out of the house to finish it. There was only one building with enough space: A local brewery, which allowed Mary to spread the flag out on their malting floor provided she work in the evening after closing. Night after night, Mary and her team would stitch, dye, and sew, often until midnight.
By August, they were done. The final product contained over 400 yards of fabric and weighed fifty pounds. It took eleven men to raise it up the fort’s 90-foot flagpole, where it could be seen for miles.
In just six weeks, Mary Young Pickersgill had delivered the largest battle flag ever flown.
As luck would have it, the British did not attack the fort until the following year — but Mary’s hard work and diligence paid off, nonetheless. As her daughter later wrote in a letter to Major Armistead’s daughter: “After the completion the flag, she [Mary] superintended the topping of it, having it fastened in the most secure manner to prevent its being torn away by cannon balls. The wisdom of her precaution was shown during the engagement: many shots piercing it, but it still remained firm to the staff.”3
When the British finally attacked Fort McHenry on September 13, 1814, it was probably the smaller “storm” flag flying due to rain and fierce winds. For over 25 hours, the British fired a constant barrage of more than 1,500 cannonballs, but both fort and flag stayed up.
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
And the next morning, after the firing stopped, when night had lifted and dawn had broke, a young poet named Francis Scott Key looked out across the bay and saw Mary’s giant flag rising over the fort. The stars and stripes rippling in the wind. He was so moved by the sight, he decided to put pen to paper. These were the words:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
After the war, Mary used the money she earned from her flag business to become an advocate for helping impoverished women find jobs and their children attend school. She also helped open a home for elderly women. The flag, meanwhile, was kept by the Armistead family before being donated to the Smithsonian Institute, which called it the greatest treasure in their possession.
We love this story, because it illustrates somethingI love about our country. While the history books understandably focus on presidents, statesmen, and military leaders, it is so often the contributions of ordinary Americans that shape our national identity. Every generation contains so many people working to better our nation and preserve our freedom. The work may be large, or it may be small. It may go on behind the scenes, completely unheralded. But it’s important all the same. That’s why, when we celebrate Independence Day each year, we’re not just celebrating the flag. We’re celebrating the people who created that flag and everything it stands for.
We’re celebrating each other and this great nation.
On behalf of everyone on our team, we wish you a very happy Independence Day!
