The actual flag Key saw — the Star-Spangled Banner — is now housed in a climate-controlled, light-protected chamber at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

June 14 is Flag Day, commemorating Congress’ adoption of the red-white-and-blue flag with 13 stars on June 14, 1777. President Harry S. Truman designated the day as National Flag Day in 1949.

A 1914 photo of the Star-Spangled Banner undergoing conservation in the Smithsonian Castle Smithsonian Institution Archives On a rainy September 13, 1814, British warships sent a downpour of ...

American Francis Scott Key awoke on the morning of Sept. 14, 1814, to find that "our flag was still there" after horrific 25-hour British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

The Fort McHenry Flag. Tom McMillan, an award winning author of several works in American history, with ties to the Antietam Institute, the Gettysburg Foundation, and the Friends of Flight 93 National ...