The Early American: The Star-Spangled Banner

A painting depicting Francis Scott Key atop a cannon on a boat in the river with is arm gesturing towards the flag over Fort McHenry.

Percy Moran's painting depicting Francis Scott Key the morning after the bombardment of Fort McHenry. - Library of Congress

On the morning of September 14, 1814, American lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key composed the verses that would become “The Star-Spangled Banner” after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Key observed the attack from a truce vessel in Baltimore Harbor, where he had been temporarily detained after negotiating the release of an American civilian prisoner. Throughout the night, British warships unleashed a relentless barrage of rockets and artillery shells against the fort, intending to force its surrender and open the port of Baltimore to invasion.

As dawn broke after nearly twenty-five hours of bombardment, Key anxiously searched the smoke-filled sky and was moved by the sight of the enormous American garrison flag still flying defiantly above the ramparts. That moment of relief and triumph inspired him to draft a four‑stanza poem titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” capturing both the peril of the night and the symbolic endurance of the young nation.

The poem was quickly circulated in Baltimore as a printed broadside and was first published in the Baltimore Patriot and Evening Advertiser on September 20, 1814. Soon thereafter, the verses were set to the familiar melody of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a popular English song composed by John Stafford Smith. With this pairing of words and music, the song became widely known as “The Star-Spangled Banner” and spread rapidly through newspapers, public gatherings, and military events across the United States.

Throughout the 19th century, the song gained prominence as an unofficial national anthem, frequently performed at patriotic ceremonies and embraced by the U.S. armed forces. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order designating “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the official anthem for military and naval occasions. This formal recognition paved the way for its ultimate national status.

Finally, on March 3, 1931, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution officially declaring “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States, a measure signed into law by President Herbert Hoover. More than a century after its composition, Key’s poem—born of uncertainty, endurance, and hope—was permanently enshrined as the musical symbol of the American nation.