Quickstep
08-26-2011, 08:39 AM
There's a good article on this site about the National Hymn Committee that was formed during the war to select an official national anthem (which they never got around to, obviously):
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/the-star-spangled-bummer/#more-103129
Interesting side note from the story--the Union General at Ft. McHenry who imprisoned the grandson of Francis Scott Key as a Southern sympathizer was also serving on the National Hymn Committee, which had rejected The Star Spangled Banner as "too hard to sing."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/the-star-spangled-bummer/#more-103129
Interesting side note from the story--the Union General at Ft. McHenry who imprisoned the grandson of Francis Scott Key as a Southern sympathizer was also serving on the National Hymn Committee, which had rejected The Star Spangled Banner as "too hard to sing."