Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.

The American Flag

FLING out the nation’s stripes and stars,

The glorious standard of the free;

The banner borne through Freedom’s wars,

The hallow’d gem of Liberty.

On mountain top, in valley deep,

Wherever dwell the free and brave,

Wherever Freedom’s martyrs sleep,

Columbia’s flag must freely wave.

Raise high the bright, auspicious flag,

From every height and lonely glen:

In forest dell, on jutting crag,

Afar among the haunts of men,

That sparkling banner, wildly flung,

Shall freely wave o’er land and sea;

And Freedom’s anthem, sweetly sung,

Shall swell our country’s jubilee.

O! let the world that flag behold!

That emblem of the brave and free;

The brightest crown of streaming gold,

That decks the goddess Liberty.

Spread out its folds till heaven’s dome

Reverberates the holy sound,

That all oppress’d have found a home

On Freedom’s consecrated ground.

Unfurl that spangled flag of wars,

And let it float along the skies,

Until a freeman’s bleeding scars

Shall bid an angry nation rise.

Then let its tints, its gorgeous folds,

Bedazzle hosts in battle driven,

Till victory’s eagle proudly holds

The glittering ensign up to heaven.

Fling out our country’s banner wide,

Our emblematic, starry gem:

Our Union never shall divide

While floats that silken diadem.

Year after year its brilliant stars

Shall indicate the strength of all:

Let all beware of civil wars,

That curse of monarchs—Freedom’s fall.