1814 Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics to The Star-Spangled Banner, after witnessing the massive British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812. The three day attack by the British was to retaliate for the US burning of York, now Toronto, and Newark, now Niagara. Key, a US lawyer, watched the siege while under detainment on a British ship and penned the famous words after observing that the US flag over Fort McHenry had survived the 1,800-bomb assault. After circulating as a handbill, the patriotic lyrics were published in a Baltimore newspaper on September 20. Set to the tune of To Anacreon in Heaven, an English drinking song written by the British composer John Stafford Smith, it soon became popular throughout the nation. Throughout the 19th century, The Star-Spangled Banner was regarded as the national anthem by the US armed forces and other groups, but it was not until 1916, and the signing of an executive order by President Woodrow Wilson, that it was formally designated as such. In 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a Congressional act confirming Wilson's presidential order There's a very moving video about this on You Tube that I wish every school should show students.
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