Star-Spangled Flag (1806)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 7/2/07, Bapopik at aol.com <Bapopik at aol.com> wrote:
> A check of "star-spangled" in America's Historical Newspapers shows the
> citation we expect, from September 6, 1814. The tune is "Anacreon in  Heaven."
> ...
> However, there's this--
> ...
> ...
> 7 January 1806, The Post-Boy (Vermont), pg. 8:
> CABINET PIECES OF POESY.
> (...)
> TUNE--ANACREON.
> ...
> When the warrior returns from the battle afar,
> To the home and the country he has nobly defended,
[snip]

This was also written by Francis Scott Key.

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http://www.potw.org/archive/potw340.html
Key is best known for writing the The Star-Spangled Banner
in September of 1814. The above poem was written to the same
tune (Anacreon in Heaven) in honor of Stephen Decatur, Jr.
and Charles Stewart on their return from the war with the
Barbary pirates.
It was published in the Boston Independent Chronicle on
December 30, 1805. The version above is from:
# Key, Francis S., Poems of the Late Francis S. Key, Esq..
New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1857.
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--Ben Zimmer

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