EARLY, FULL PRINTING OF THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.


The Yankee, vol II, no 41. Boston: Rowe & Hooper, October 7, 1814. 4 pp. Folio (495 x 330 mm). Disbound. Mild toning.Page 4, column one, under the banner "Poetry," features the text of "The Star-Spangled Banner," with the following explanation: "The annexed song was composed under the following circumstances--A gentleman had left Baltimore in a flag of truce, for the purpose of getting released from the British fleet, a friend of his who had been captured at Marlborough. He went as far as the mouth of the Patuxent and was not permitted to return lest the intended attack on Baltimore should be disclosed. He was therefore bro't up the Bay to the mouth of the Patapsco, where the flag vessel was kept under the guns of a frigate and he was compelled to watch the bombardment of Fort McHenry, which the Admiral had boasted that he would carry in a few hours and that the city must fall. He watched the flag at the Fort through the whole day with an anxiety that can be better felt than described, until the night prevented him from seeing it. In the night he watched the Bomb Shells, and at early dawn his eye was again greeted by the proudly waving flag of his country." The text of the song follows, with a note to sing it to the tune of "Anacreon in Heaven."Page 1 features news of the recent victory on Lake Champlain and other war news.