Battle of Baltimore Navy inspired Francis Scott Key to compose the poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", which later became the lyrics for "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States of America. Future President James Buchanan served as Private in the defense of Baltimore. Until April 1814, Great Britain was at war with Napoleonic France, which limited British war aims in America. During this time the British primarily used a defensive strategy and repelled American invasions of the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. However, the Americans gained naval control over Lake Erie in 1813, and seized parts of western Ontario.
HMS Tonnant Chesapeake Bay during the simultaneous War of 1812 with the United States. On 13–14 September 1814 Francis Scott Key and John Stuart Skinner were dining aboard the ship after negotiations to release some captured prisoners, during the Battle of Baltimore. Key went on to write what later became the words to the American national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" after watching the British attack on Baltimore's Fort McHenry. "Tonnant" was broken up in 1821. "Tonnant" fought in the battles of Genoa on 14 March 1795 and The Nile on 1 August 1798 under Aristide Aubert Du Petit Thouars. During the