Who wrote the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a national symbol carried into America250?

Francis Scott Key wrote the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a national symbol carried into America250.

Key wrote the poem “Defence of Fort M'Henry” in 1814 after witnessing the American flag flying over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor. He had been aboard a British ship during the bombardment and saw the flag after the battle.

The poem was later set to the melody of “Anacreon in Heaven,” an English club song. It became increasingly popular as a patriotic song and was designated the national anthem of the United States in 1931.

Key wrote four stanzas, but public performances usually use only the first. The flag that inspired him was the large 15-star, 15-stripe garrison flag made by Mary Young Pickersgill and her assistants. That flag is preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.