Who designed and sewed the Star-Spangled Banner displayed over Fort McHenry in 1814?

Mary Pickersgill designed and sewed the Star-Spangled Banner displayed over Fort McHenry in 1814.

Pickersgill was a professional flag maker in Baltimore, Maryland. She worked with her daughter, Caroline, and assistants to produce the enormous garrison flag commissioned for Fort McHenry. The flag measured about 30 by 42 feet and contained 15 stars and 15 stripes, representing the states and the original colonies at that time.

The flag flew during the British attack on Baltimore in September 1814, part of the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key saw the flag after spending the night aboard a British ship while negotiating the release of prisoners. Its continued appearance inspired him to write the poem that became “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The flag is often confused with the Betsy Ross flag story, but Ross is associated with a traditional account about an earlier national flag. Pickersgill’s work is supported by records connected to the Baltimore commission and the surviving artifact.