Although the War of 1812 inspired one of the nation’s most famous patriotic songs, it is a relatively little-known war in American history. The conflict helped establish the credibility of the young United States among other nations and fostered a strong sense of national pride among the American people. Those patriotic feelings are reflected and preserved in the song we know today as the U.S. national anthem, written by Francis Scott Key while on a truce ship negotiating a prisoner release.

Britain’s defeat at the 1781 Battle of Yorktown marked the end of the American Revolution and the beginning of new challenges for a new nation. Not even 30 years after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which formalized Britain’s recognition of the United States of America, the two countries were again in conflict. Resentment for Britain’s interference with American international trade, combined with American expansionist visions, led Congress to declare war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812.

Early on in the war, the American navy scored temporary victories in the Atlantic and on Lake Erie as Britain concentrated military efforts on its ongoing war with France. U.S. Commander Perry famously wrote of the Battle of Lake Erie, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” The International Peace Memorial honors those who fought at Lake Erie. But with Emperor Napoléon’s armies defeated in April 1814, Britain turned its full attention to the war against an ill-prepared United States.

Angered by British interference with American trade, the young United States was intent on reaffirming its recently won independence. Instead, a series of defeats left Americans anxious and demoralized. They were stunned when, on August 24, 1814, British troops marched into Washington, D.C., and set the Capitol building and White House ablaze. With British soldiers bearing down on her home, First Lady Dolly Madison famously saved the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington as she fled.

In the summer of 1813, Mary Pickersgill was contracted to sew two flags for Baltimore’s Fort McHenry; a 30x42–ft. oversized garrison flag that would become the Star-Spangled Banner, and a storm flag. Her daughter, two nieces, and an African American indentured servant made the flags in about seven weeks. They assembled the blue canton and the red and white stripes of the flag from strips of loosely woven English wool bunting that were only 12 or 18 in. wide. Her Baltimore home is now a museum.

America’s future seemed more uncertain than ever as the British set their sights on Baltimore, Maryland, a vital seaport. On September 13, 1814, British warships began firing bombs and rockets on Fort McHenry, which protected the city’s harbor. The bombardment continued for twenty-five hours while the nation awaited news of Fort McHenry's fate.

By the “dawn’s early light” of September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key, aboard a ship several miles distant, could just make out an American flag waving above Fort McHenry. British ships were withdrawing from Baltimore, and Key realized that the United States had survived the battle and stopped the enemy advance. Moved by the sight, he wrote a song celebrating “that star-spangled banner” as a symbol of America’s triumph and endurance. This buoy near the bridge marks Key’s shipboard vantage point.

While Francis Scott Key's song was well known by the end of the Civil War, the flag was largely unknown outside Baltimore. It remained an Armistead family heirloom for the next 90 years, appearing only at special events. In 1873 it was briefly displayed at the Boston Navy Yard. During that near century, the increasing popularity of Key's anthem and the American public's evolving sense of national heritage transformed the Star-Spangled Banner flag from a family keepsake into a national treasure.

Armistead’s grandson Eben Appleton inherited the flag in 1878. The publicity it received in the 1870s transformed it into a national treasure, and it was requested to appear at patriotic celebrations, like Baltimore’s sesquicentennial celebration. Concerned by the flag's deterioration, he kept it in a safe-deposit vault in New York. In 1907 he lent the Star-Spangled Banner to the Smithsonian Institution, and in 1912 he converted the loan to a gift so it could be properly cared-for and displayed.

Hung vertically for three decades, in 1994 the Museum determined that the Star-Spangled Banner required further conservation treatment to remain on public display. Conservation of the large and valuable flag would require several years and specialized equipment and staff. In 1998, a team of conservators, curators and other specialists, moved the flag from its home in Flag Hall to a new conservation laboratory at the museum, where it spent the next decade being studied and preserved.

The new Star-Spangled Banner exhibit opened in 2008. Entering, you are immersed in the Battle of Baltimore that inspired Francis Scott Key to write his famous lyrics. The over 200-year-old, 30-by-34-foot flag is displayed in a special environmentally-controlled chamber. Through tactile digital features and historic artifacts, the story of how Americans have used the Star-Spangled Banner—both the flag and the song—to express individual ideas of patriotism and national identity unfolds.