The Orange CT Lions Club is constantly working on new projects to improve our local
communities here and around the world. We're always working on our next local
project or fund raiser, doing all we can to improve the lives of those in need.
Community Volunteer Work That Makes A Difference
Orange CT Lions Club
On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William
Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington, DC. The release was secured, but Key was detained
on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, he was
so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion.
First published under the title “Defense of Fort M'Henry,” the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the
tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The origin of this tune is obscure, but it may have been written by John Stafford
Smith, a British composer born in 1750. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the national anthem by
Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the army and the navy.
