The song’s lyrics were actually a poem written by Francis Scott Key who saw the punishing British attack on the City of Baltimore in 1814. The music was from a drinking song in England, written nearly 150 years before it became the U.S. national anthem.

A colored engraving of the British bombardment of Fort McHenry: The caption reads "A VIEW of the BOMBARDMENT of Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, by the British fleet taken from the Observatory under the Command of Admirals Cochrane & Cockburn on the morning of the 13th of Sept 1814 which lasted 24 hours & thrown from 1500 to 1800 shells in the Night attempted to land by forcing a passage up the ferry branch but were repulsed with great loss."

On this day in 1931, the U.S. chose The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.

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