It Started Here

The bronze credits the idea to the post commander's wife and never gives her name. Colonel Caleb Carlton of the 8th Cavalry ordered the song played here at retreat in 1892 and kept it as the band's closing number until he retired in 1897. The Navy had made it the official tune for raising the flag in July 1889, so this parade ground's claim is one of several. Woodrow Wilson ordered it played at military occasions in 1916; Congress made it the anthem on March 3, 1931.

What the plaque says

It Started Here On this parade ground in 1892 "The Star Spangled Banner" got its impetus to become the National Anthem. Colonel Caleb Carlton of the Eighth Cavalry was Post Commander and with his wife discussed the need for a National Air. At her suggestion he concluded that it should be "The Star Spangled Banner" whereupon he required that it should be played at retreat and at the close of parades and concerts. General Carlton wrote in 1914: "When Governor Sheldon of South Dakota visited Fort Meade, our custom was explained to him. Later I attended a reception given by Governor Hastings of Pennsylvania at the Governor's mansion in Harrisburg and he promised me that he would try to have the custom established among the state militia. "Not long afterward I had an interview on the subject with the Secretary of War, Daniel E. Lamont, and my impression is that it was but a few months later that he issued an order requiring "The Star Spangled Banner" to be played at every Army post every evening at retreat. "In addition to this I tried to enforce respect for our national flag by having every one rise and remove their hats when the colors passed them." The Adjutant General designated it as "The National Air", and in 1931 Congress declared it "The National Anthem". Erected 1976 by the Ft. Meade V.A. Hospital and the South Dakota State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bear Butte — 4.2 mi
  Mato Paha to the Lakota and Noahvose to the Cheyenne, a lone mountain off the plains where both nations still come to fast and pray.
• Mount Moriah Cemetery — 13 mi
  The hillside where Deadwood moved its dead: Wild Bill and Calamity Jane side by side, Seth Bullock looking at his friend's tower, and the Chinese burner of 1908.
• Deadwood Historic District — 13 mi
  A gold-rush town on treaty land, rebuilt in brick after the 1879 fire and rescued a century later by a vote to let casinos pay for its preservation.
• Homestake Open Cut & Sanford Lab Visitor Center — 15 mi
  A 1,250-foot pit on Lead's Main Street, the visible top of a gold mine that went down 8,000 feet in 125 years and is a physics laboratory now.

More markers nearby

• Civilian Conservation Corps Camp - Ft. Meade — 0.6 mi
• Bear Butte (Mato Paha) Indian Camp — 0.6 mi
• Charles Nolin — 1.1 mi
• Bear Butte — 1.5 mi