"Our Flag Was Still There: The Star Spangled Banner that Survived the British and 200 Years―And the Armistead Family Who Saved It" — Tom McMillan

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Proceeds benefit the work of the non-profit organization, The Pursuit of History


Hard cover (336 pages), brand new, author, Tom McMillan, just published by Knox in 2023.

Our Flag Was Still There details the improbable two-hundred-year journey of the original Star-Spangled Banner—from Fort McHenry in 1814, when Francis Scott Key first saw it, to the Smithsonian in 2023—and the enduring family who defended, kept, hid, and ultimately donated the most famous flag in American history.

Francis Scott Key saw the original Star-Spangled Banner flying over Baltimore’s Fort McHenry on September 14, 1814, following a twenty-five-hour bombardment by the British Navy, inspiring him to write the words to our national anthem. Torn and tattered over the years, reduced in size to appease souvenir-hunters, stuffed away in a New York City vault for the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the flag’s mere existence after two hundred years is an improbable story of dedication, perseverance, patriotism, angst, inner-family squabbles, and, yes, more than a little luck.

About the author

A lifelong student of history, Tom McMillan has served on the board of trustees of Pittsburgh’s Heinz History Center, the board of directors of the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial, and the marketing committee of the Gettysburg Foundation. He has written three previous books, including Flight 93: The Story, The Aftermath, and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11.

McMillan recently retired after a forty-three-year career in sports communications, which included twenty-five years as VP/Communications for the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. He has a journalism degree from Point Park University and resides with his family in Pittsburgh.

A note regarding shipping: Your book will probably be shipped via Media Mail. USPS regulations for Media Mail restrict any correspondence, so while I'd normally include a note of thanks, doing so, in this case, would violate USPS regulations.

Proceeds benefit the work of the non-profit organization, The Pursuit of History


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