This Day, Sept. 13: 'Star-Spangled Banner' written amid British attack

Sept. 13 marks several notable historical moments, including 1814 when Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” during a British attack on Fort McHenry in Maryland. The timeline also recalls the 1940 German Blitz that destroyed the chapel at Buckingham Palace, the 1948 election of Margaret Chase Smith to the U.S. Senate as the first woman to serve in both chambers of Congress, and the 1971 Attica prison raid that left 43 people dead. Other entries include the 1993 White House declaration of principles for Palestinian self-rule signed by Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, and 2024, when Jane’s Addiction abruptly ended a Boston concert after an on-stage scuffle.