In the summer of 2023, we took a road trip that started at our home in Missouri, went north to Canada, and then made the trek along the East Coast. As the journey neared the final stretch, we found ourselves stopping in Baltimore for a night before heading into a three-night stay in D.C. One attraction we definitely wanted to see was Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, home of the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem, “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” that would one day become our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Written September 4, 1814, after the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812, the poem was soon set to the tune of a famous British song, “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a melody we would recognize today as our national anthem, though arrangements over the years have varied slightly. Because of the battle…