Francis Scott Key wrote the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner” after watching the 1814 bombardment of Fort McHenry.
Key was a lawyer and amateur poet from Maryland. During the War of 1812, he boarded a British ship to negotiate the release of an American prisoner. The British detained Key and his companions overnight, so they witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry from aboard a vessel in Baltimore Harbor.
At dawn on September 14, 1814, Key saw the large American flag still flying over the fort. He began writing a poem inspired by the sight, and it was published soon afterward as “Defence of Fort M’Henry.” The poem was later set to the melody of a popular English song, “To Anacreon in Heaven.”
Congress made “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem in 1931. Key wrote all four stanzas, but public performances usually use only the first. The anthem’s lyrics and melody therefore have different creators: Key supplied the words, while the tune was adapted from John Stafford Smith’s composition.