Francis Scott Key’s poem, inspired by the sight of the flag defiantly flying over Fort McHenry after the British attack in September 1814, was set to the 1770s melody “To Anacreon in Heaven” by John Stafford Smith. The tune was composed for the Anacreontic Society, ironically a British music club that held its meetings at the Crow n and Anchor Tavern in the Strand. Not until 1931 was “The Star-Spangled Banner” declared the nation’s official anthem by an act of Congress. Quite notably, patriotic is misspelled in the subtitle of this first edition, one of only a handful of surviving copies.