Which song's lyrics were written by Francis Scott Key after he saw the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814?

The Star-Spangled Banner's lyrics were written by Francis Scott Key after he saw the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814.

Key, a Maryland lawyer, watched the attack from a vessel in Baltimore Harbor during the War of 1812. At dawn on September 14, 1814, he saw the large American flag still flying over Fort McHenry, inspiring the poem “Defence of Fort M'Henry.”

The poem was set to the melody of a pre-existing English drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heaven.” It became popular as a patriotic song during the nineteenth century, but it was not immediately the country's official anthem.

Congress designated “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem on March 3, 1931. The original flag that inspired Key is preserved at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. A common mix-up is attributing the lyrics to the composer of the melody; Key wrote the words, while the tune was adapted from an older song.