Who wrote the lyrics that became the U.S. national anthem?

Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics that became the U.S. national anthem.

Key wrote the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry” in September 1814 after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Seeing the American flag still flying at dawn inspired the poem’s central image. The words were soon published under the title “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The lyrics were set to the melody of “The Anacreontic Song,” an earlier English club song composed by John Stafford Smith. That melody was not written by Key. The song became increasingly popular during the nineteenth century, although “Hail, Columbia” and “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” also served as widely used patriotic songs.

Congress officially designated “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem on March 3, 1931. The anthem has four verses, but public performances almost always use only the first. The original flag that inspired Key is preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.