document record
September 1814 · Broadside and lyric
Defence of Fort M’Henry
Francis Scott Key’s poem
Key’s verses circulated as a broadside and song before their first stanza became the United States national anthem more than a century later.
Why this record matters
The document permits the immediate event, nineteenth-century circulation, and later national canonization to be kept distinct.
Follow the evidence
Evidence behind this record
- The Bombardment of Fort McHenryNational Park Service · battle study
Fort McHenry and Baltimore's harbor defenses.
- The Star-Spangled BannerSmithsonian National Museum of American History · object record
Object history, dimensions, material, and conservation.