Star-Spangled Banner Born: Baltimore Holds the Fort
Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old lawyer, was aboard the British truce ship HMS Tonnant in Baltimore Harbor on the night of September 13-14, 1814, negotiating the release of an American prisoner. He watched as British warships fired roughly 1,500 cannonballs, rockets, and mortar shells at Fort McHenry over 25 hours. When dawn broke, the fort's enormous 30-by-42-foot garrison flag was still flying, meaning the bombardment had failed and Baltimore was safe. Key wrote his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" on the back of a letter. It was published in a newspaper within days, set to the tune of the British song "To Anacreon in Heaven," and adopted as the national anthem by Congress in 1931.
September 13, 1814
212 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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