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From Ensign to Icon: The Star-Spangled Banner Flag
At 9am, on September 14, 1814, soldiers at Fort McHenry replaced their rain-soaked battle flag with a 30 by 42 foot garrison flag. British sailors, in the midst of withdrawing after their bombardment failed, took note. So did Francis Scott Key, a Maryland-born lawyer and amateur poet who nervously watched the barrage from a truce ship.
Both flags were the handi-work of Baltimore's Mary Pickersgill, who was assisted by her daughter, two nieces, mother, and an African American indentured servant named Grace Wisher. Ordered in 1813 by the fort's commander, Major George Armistead, the 15-star garrison flag was pieced together in seven weeks from from [sic] cotton and dyed English wool bunting.
A Flag Making Family:
Mary Pickersgill learned her craft from her mother, Rebecca Young. The Philadelphia native moved to Baltimore in 1807, following her husband's death. She supported her household by designing and sewing signal flags, and silk standards for merchants and the military.
Must-See American Icon:
The Star-Spangled banner, one of the National Museum of American History's most sought-after objects, is seen by more than four million people a year. |