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More than a century separates the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner in 1814 and its adoption as the national anthem in 1931. This curious gap makes sense as it is relived in this soul-stirring chronicle of the joys and struggles of a freedom-loving city and nation in its early years. Fresh research and new findings packed in this well-documented and untold account meld Baltimore, which came to be known as the Monumental City, and the legendary Baltimore defense and defenders of 1814, with the Star-Spangled Banner and its adoption as the national anthem.

For the first time the gap between the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner in 1814 and its adoption as the national anthem in 1931 is understood as a causal sequence, a tapestry of the soul and culture of long ago Baltimore. The combatants repulsing the British invaders fresh from the defeat of Napoleon, the Defenders of Baltimore, as they were called, inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner. Key intended the Star-Spangled Banner song for the Defenders of Baltimore, the brave of his lyrics, to have as their own to sing. Monuments were built by the citizens and municipality over the next decades to immortalize the same battle events which inspired Key, earning Baltimore the moniker The Monumental City.

The Old Defenders formed an Association as the Star-Spangled Banner spirit and remembrance of the events of 1814 were threatened. Their battle anniversary celebrations endeared them to the city and gave Baltimore its municipal identity. With the long dreaded inevitable passing of the Old Defenders a serious void remained. . One suggestion was to build yet another monument to that ＂Eventful Day＂ in September of 1814. Many restoration and celebratory measures were likewise put into place. A monumental remembrance was achieved through the efforts of two descendants of the Brave, who unceasingly advanced legislation from 1918 until 1931, making the Star-Spangled Banner the National Anthem. Under this official stature the Star-Spangled Banner song was thereafter anointed, taking its place even on the world stage