Who wrote the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner” after seeing the 1814 Battle of Baltimore?

Francis Scott Key wrote the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner” after seeing the 1814 Battle of Baltimore.

Key was a lawyer and amateur poet who watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry from a British ship during the War of 1812. At dawn on September 14, 1814, he saw the large American flag still flying over the fort. The sight inspired a poem titled “Defence of Fort M'Henry.”

The poem was printed in newspapers and soon paired with the melody of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” an English song associated with John Stafford Smith. Key did not compose that tune. This distinction explains why Francis Scott Key is credited with the lyrics, while the melody predates the American anthem.

Congress made “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem on March 3, 1931. The original flag that inspired Key is preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The anthem’s familiar first stanza describes the flag’s survival through the night bombardment.