Francis Scott Key is famous for having written the words to the Star Spangled Banner. He was a lawyer from Georgetown who was negotiating the release of a prisoner during the War of 1812. He observed the British assault on Fort McHenry, and while returning to Baltimore he wrote a poem called The Defence of Fort McHenry. It later became known as The Star Spangled Banner. In 1931 it became the American national anthem by a Congressional resolution.
