Mary Pickersgill was an American seamstress who is known as the maker of the Star-Spangled Banner hoisted over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. The daughter of another n
Mary Pickersgill
The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House
Pickersgill's Star Spangled Banner Flag displayed in 1873 at the Boston Navy Yard
Impartial Female Humane Society's home, opened under Pickersgill's presidency
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, a
Mary Young Pickersgill
…Francis Scott Key could see the flag while negotiating a prisoner exchange aboard a British vessel and was inspired to pen the words that became the United States National Anthem in 1931. Pickersgill, widowed at age 29, became successful enough in her flag-making business that in 1820 she was able to buy the house that she had…
Francis Scott Key's original manuscript copy of his "Defence of Fort M'Henry" poem, now on display at the Maryland Historical Society
An artist's rendering of the battle at Fort McHenry
The 15-star, 15-stripe "Star-Spangled Banner" that inspired the poem
A memorial to John Stafford Smith in Gloucester Cathedral in Gloucester, England