he's looking through a spyglass, and then he sees the giant american flag going over the fort and realizest the americans held out, the americans won, and that inspired him to write the poem the "defence of fort mchenry." >> ♪ what so proudly we hailed ♪ at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ through the perilous fight >> when francis scott key wrote his poem, there were only 15 stars and 15 stripes on the american flag. >> ♪ o'er the ramparts we watched ♪ ♪ were so gallantly streaming? >> so, what exactly are the ramparts? >> the ramparts are the brick walls surrounding the fort, and "ramparts" is another name for a wall. so, when key says, "o'er the ramparts," "o'er" is another word for "over," so he's saying, "we watched over the ramparts for the flag." >> ♪ and the rockets' red glare ♪ ♪ the bombs bursting in air >> during the battle, a bomb crashed straight through the roof of our powder magazine. if it had actually exploded, it would have blown the fort sky-high. >> ♪ gave proof through the night ♪ ♪ that our flag was still there ♪ >> the british