| While Francis Scott Key's song was known to most Americans by the end of the
Civil War, the flag that inspired it remained an Armistead family
keepsake. It was exhibited occasionally at patriotic gatherings
in Baltimore but largely unknown outside of that city until
the 1870s. The flag remained the private property of Lieutenant
Colonel Armistead's widow, Louisa Armistead, his daughter Georgiana
Armistead Appleton, and his grandson Eben Appleton for 90 years.
During that time, the increasing popularity of Key's anthem
and the American public's developing sense of national heritage
transformed the Star-Spangled Banner from a family keepsake
into a national treasure. |
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 Louisa Hughes Armistead
For about 40 years, George Armistead's widow guarded the Star-Spangled Banner as a family heirloom, lending it only for special occasions. |
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Georgiana Armistead Appleton
George and Louisa Armistead's daughter Georgiana corresponded
with historians and came to recognize the flag's place in American
history. |
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Eben Appleton
After years of wrestling with requests for displaying the Star-Spangled
Banner, Armistead grandson Eben Appleton entrusted the flag
to the Smithsonian. |
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Maj.
George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry during the
Battle of Baltimore, 1814. Illustration by Benson J. Lossing
for his book, The Pictorial Fieldbook of the War of
1812, published 1868.
Courtesy National Park Service |
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