Francis Scott Key - Watches the Battle for Baltimore

This image depicts Francis Scott Key, aboard a British ship, where he was detained during the Battle for Baltimore and Fort McHenry in September of 1814. As dawn lit the morning sky, Key and his fellow Americans saw that their flag still flew above Fort McHenry.

It was this battle, and the realization that the British had retreated, which inspired Key to write The Star-Spangled Banner.