The Star-Spangled Banner’s Birth: When Was It Written?
The British bombardment of Fort McHenry in September 1814 was no ordinary military engagement—it was the crucible where a poem would be forged into America’s national anthem. As shells screamed through the night sky over Baltimore’s harbor, Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, watched from a truce-negotiating ship. What he witnessed would … Read more
