When the smoke cleared, Key could see the American flag still aloft over Fort McHenry. “He was really taken when he saw the flag was still flying,” Kummerow says. “It was one of those incredible, magnetic moments.”Key wrote the poem that became The Star-Spangled Banner the night he was released, Kummerow says.”He obviously had it well in mind,” Kummerow says, noting the original sheet of paper has just two cross-outs.

via O see the poem that became the Star-Spangled Banner – USATODAY.com.