Francis Scott Key (1779– 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet, who wrote the lyrics to the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore.
Francis Scott Key was a Georgetown attorney. In the lead-up to the Battle of Bladensburg, Key had carefully and efficiently evacuated his family, and then returned to Washington to help the war effort. He met Secretary of War John Armstrong after Washington had been evacuated. Having lost faith the in General William Winder, Armstrong tasked Key with going to Washington during the night of August 24/25, 1814, to ascertain whether or not Captain Sam Houston had succeeded in defending the Capitol Building.
Upon determining that the Capitol did stand, Key sent a report to Armstrong, then composed a poem celebrating the victory. He was moderately frustrated at times, lamenting the lack of a flag, which lent itself to some of the words he wanted to use more than the building, but he was finally satisfied with the result.
