
Their objective was to secure the exchange of prisoners, one of whom was Dr.

On September 3, 1814, following the Burning of Washington and the Raid on Alexandria, Francis Scott Key and John Stuart Skinner set sail from Baltimore aboard the ship HMS Minden, flying a flag of truce on a mission approved by President James Madison. It is now on display at the Maryland Historical Society.

With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being difficult to sing. Set to Key's poem and renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", it would soon become a well-known American patriotic song.

"The Anacreontic Song" (or " To Anacreon in Heaven"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. " The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States.
