Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics that became the United States national anthem, a song associated with America250.
Key wrote the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry” on September 14, 1814, after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. He saw the large U.S. flag still flying over the fort after the battle and used that image as the poem’s central inspiration.
The poem was soon adapted to the melody of a British drinking song, “To Anacreon in Heaven,” composed by John Stafford Smith. The words and tune circulated widely for more than a century before Congress officially designated “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem on March 3, 1931.
Key wrote the lyrics, but he did not compose the music. That distinction explains why John Stafford Smith is sometimes incorrectly given as the anthem’s author. The surviving flag that inspired Key is preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.