"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United
States. The lyrics came from the "Defence of Fort M’Henry", a
poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and
amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment
of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Outer
Baltimore Harbor in the Patapsco River during the Battle of
Baltimore in the War of 1812 (below). Key was inspired by the large
U.S. flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled
Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort during the U.S. victory.        

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by
John Stafford Smith.

Francis Scott Key   (1779 – 1843)

He became a successful lawyer in Maryland and
Washington, D.C., and was later appointed U.S.
attorney for the District of Columbia.

The American flag was flown in battle for the first time on this day
in 1777, during a Revolutionary War skirmish at Cooch’s Bridge, Delaware. Patriot General William Maxwell ordered the stars and
stripes banner raised as a detachment of his infantry and cavalry
met an advance guard of British and Hessian troops.

The rebels were defeated and forced to retreat to General George Washington’s main force near Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania.

Betsy Ross and General George Washington

June 14, 1777: During the American Revolution, the
Continental Congress adopts a resolution stating that
“the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate
stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen
stars, white in a blue field, representing a new
Constellation.” The national flag, which became
known as the “Stars and Stripes,” was based on the
“Grand Union” flag, a banner carried by the Continental
Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white
stripes. According to legend.

Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new
canton for the Stars and Stripes, which consisted of a
circle of 13 stars and a blue background, at the request
of General George Washington. Historians have been
unable to conclusively prove or disprove this legend.