Today In History- September 14

While witnessing the shelling of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner, the future national anthem of the United States.  It became a well known patriotic song, first to be commissioned by the navy in 1889, finally to be formally ratified as the national anthem in 1931 by President Herbert Hoover.  Key was a 35 year old amateur poet, whose poem was put to the tune of a popular British song.  The anthem also alluded to the success of American success against the British in the War of 1812.