Historedia
Episode 3 of 3

Key Composes Poem

When
14 September 1814
Where
Baltimore harbor vicinity
Part of
Battle of Baltimore: North Point and Fort McHenry

Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment and composed the poem that became the national anthem.

Francis Scott Key observed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry. He had been in Baltimore to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes. Witnessing the fort's resistance, Key wrote the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" on September 14, 1814.

Sources

  1. The Star-Spangled Banner Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29
  2. Fort McHenry Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-23
  3. Francis Scott Key Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.