Fort McHenry Stamp-- Part 5: "The Star-Spangled Banner"

Maryland native Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old lawyer, witnessed the massive display of firepower from the deck of an American flag-of-truce vessel.  he had just completed negotiations with the British for the release of an American prisoner confined aboard a ship in the British fleet.

On the morning of September 14, Key realized that the bombardment had been a failure when he saw the British squadron withdrawing downriver.  The garrison flag was run up over the fort at 9:00 a.m., confirming the post was still in American hands.

Key was so moved that he wrote "The Defence of Fort McHenry" to the tune of an old English song, and it quickly gained wider recognition under the title "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Actually, I always heard he was on a British vessel during the battle and that he wrote it as a poem that someone put to the tune.

--Brock-Perry