What Battle Inspired the Star Spangled Banner?

The rockets were glaring red and the bombs were bursting in air as the British relentlessly attacked Baltimore's Fort McHenry on the night of Sept. 13-14, 1814, the last year of the War of 1812. When Francis Scott Key spotted, by the dawn's early light, that his 15-starred flag was still there yet waving over the fort, he was inspired to write a poem honoring the victory. Later put to music, Key's ode was decreed the official national anthem of the United States in 1931. The actual "star-spangled banner" from Fort McHenry is at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

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