Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.
The most famous of all American flags would be the huge 30ft. x 42 ft. flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The British Fleet of over 100 warships took positions in Baltimore’s Harbor. The Fort was given the opportunity to surrender and indicate that by lowering the flag, or face the furious bombardment from the entire British fleet, and promise of utter destruction.
Lt. Colonel George Armistead, who was in command at Ft. McHenry, had specifically ordered that large flag so that the British ships could see it at a distance. He refused to lower it, and the British bombardment began. It lasted 25 hours. As the morning mist lifted, Francis Scott Key, 8 miles out in the harbor on a prisoner ship, saw that though it was in tattered and the flagpole at an angle, the flag was still raised! He sensed that it could be nothing other than the Providence of God that it was still there, and was so moved that he penned the words that morning to what became our national anthem.
Remarkably, we still have the remains of that original flag, and to today it has its own museum.
