Which battle inspired 'The Star-Spangled Banner'?

The Battle of Baltimore inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The battle took place from September 12 to 14, 1814, during the War of 1812. British forces attacked Baltimore by land and sea, but American defenses held at North Point, Hampstead Hill, and especially Fort McHenry, which guarded the entrance to Baltimore Harbor.

Francis Scott Key watched the bombardment from a truce vessel because he had helped negotiate the release of an American prisoner. After seeing the large American flag still flying over Fort McHenry at dawn on September 14, he began writing a poem titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” Its words were later fitted to the British melody “To Anacreon in Heaven.”

The battle is often shortened in popular accounts to “the attack on Fort McHenry,” but Fort McHenry was one part of the broader Battle of Baltimore. Congress officially made the song the national anthem in 1931. The flag Key saw had 15 stars and 15 stripes, reflecting the Union’s composition at the time.