On the night of September 13-14, 1814, an artillery soldier named Francis Scott Key watched as the British attacked Fort McHenry. With bombs bursting mid-air, and in dawn's early light, the American flag remained. Key was so inspired by the sight, he wrote the four stanzas of words that were adopted in 1931 as the National Anthem. Decades later, in 1855, another veteran of the War of 1812, Pvt. Thomas Toam, took ownership of 128.5 acres in Hudson, Wisconsin, through a bounty-land warrant signed by President James Buchanan. The United States Government issued these warrants entitling veterans to up to 160 acres of land. Veterans of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, Indian Wars, and Mexican War of 1848 were eligible for warrants before the program was discontinued in 1855. Toam's land encompassed lots 13, 4 & 5 of Sec. 19, Township 32 of Range 15, recorded at Hudson, Wisconsin as Warrant # 24871, making him the first owner of these parcels of land on which these monuments are located.
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