Origin
In 1814, following the burning of Washington, a British force commanded by Major General Robert Ross landed north of Baltimore and began an advance on the city. He was met almost immediately by a detachment from the Baltimore garrison led by American General John Stricker, commencing the Battle of North Point. The resulting halt of the larger British force allowed Baltimore to organize its defenses against a later attempted naval invasion. It was during this conflict, the Battle of Baltimore, that Fort McHenry was shelled by the British but refused to surrender, and an inspired Maryland lawyer named Francis Scott Key composed the words to what would later become "The Star-Spangled Banner", eventually proclaimed the national anthem of the United States.
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Famous quotes containing the word origin:
“For, though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, each word was at first a stroke of genius, and obtained currency, because for the moment it symbolized the world to the first speaker and to the hearer. The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed,—a, to me, equally mysterious origin for it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Art is good when it springs from necessity. This kind of origin is the guarantee of its value; there is no other.”
—Neal Cassady (1926–1968)