Francis Scott Key

American composer

• Born: August 1, 1779
• Birthplace: Frederick County (now Carroll County), Maryland
• Died: January 11, 1843
• Place of death: Baltimore, Maryland

Key was a successful lawyer throughout his adult life and held several important government posts; however, he is most widely known as the author of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which became the national anthem of the United States in 1931.

Early Life

Francis Scott Key was born on his family’s Maryland estate. He was the son of John Ross Key, who owned a plantation, and Ann Phoebe Charlton. At the age of ten, Key was sent to Annapolis, Maryland, to live with his grandmother, Ann Ross Key. While in the state capital, Key attended St. John’s College, where he received the modern equivalent of a high school and university education at the same institution. Following his graduation from college in 1796, Key decided to become a lawyer. In the days before law schools, students had to find an established attorney who owned a law library. Key found a patron in the form of Judge J. T. Chase and was allowed to read and study the law, as well as be tutored by Judge Chase, until he was prepared to take the bar examination. He succeeded in 1801 and immediately opened his own practice in the town of Frederick, Maryland.

On January 19, 1802, Key married Mary Tayloe Lloyd, the daughter of Colonel Edward Lloyd of Annapolis, Maryland. Shortly thereafter, the newlywed couple moved to Georgetown in the District of Columbia. The Keys remained residents of Georgetown for the next twenty-eight years. During that time they raised eleven children—-six boys and five girls. Key quickly established a successful law practice by specializing in federal court cases. He was also active at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Georgetown and was known for his keen intellect and speaking ability.

Life’s Work

The events that led to Key’s writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” began in 1814 during the War of 1812. The United States and Great Britain had been at war with each other for more than two years when Key was approached with an urgent request for his help. Dr. William Beanes, a popular doctor and town leader from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, had been arrested by the British. Beanes’s friends went to Key to gain his help in securing the doctor’s release.

Beanes’s ordeal began with the British invasion of the Chesapeake Bay area in the summer of 1814. On August 23, the English troops under the command of Major General Robert Ross passed through Upper Marlboro, a town in Maryland located southeast of Washington, D.C. Beanes, one of the few residents who did not evacuate during the invasion, was forced to open his home to Ross and Rear Admiral George Cockburn for an overnight stay. The following day, the British entered Washington, D.C., and Ross ordered his troops to put the nation’s capital to the torch. Beanes responded to the burning of Washington by helping to organize a vigilante group that jailed British soldiers who became separated from the rest of the invasion force. When news of Beanes’s actions reached Ross, the British commander ordered his men to arrest the doctor.

The friends of Dr. Beanes succeeded in retaining Key to attempt to win the doctor’s release. Although Key had no experience with negotiating the release of prisoners of war, he did have experience fighting the British. Key had been involved in the war effort as the aide-de-camp to General Walter Smith, commander of the militia protecting the District of Columbia. When Key agreed to help Beanes, he was granted permission by President James Madison to approach the British. Because Key had no experience in this area of diplomacy, the War Department sent John S. Skinner, an American prisoner-of-war exchange agent, to assist Key in the negotiations.

On September 6, Key and Skinner boarded the HMS Royal Oak. The Americans were told that Beanes, along with Ross and Cockburn, were aboard the HMS Tonnant, a British warship that was anchored off the coast of Tangier Island near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. On the following day, much to the surprise of everyone aboard the Royal Oak, the ship carrying Beanes was spotted heading right for them under full sail. Key and Skinner were transferred to the Tonnant, where they learned that Beanes was to be released. Not long after boarding the British man-of-war, the Americans were also told that the Tonnant was en route to Baltimore, where it would join the rest of the British fleet for a full-scale assault on the largest and most prosperous city in the state of Maryland. In order to keep the operation a secret, Key, Skinner, and Beanes would be held until the end of the invasion. They were transferred to the HMS Surprise, a larger warship, and the fleet headed north for Baltimore.

Clearly, the invasion of Baltimore did not remain a secret for long as the movement of so many enemy vessels in the Chesapeake Bay alarmed residents along the way. Word spread quickly among the people on shore. When the British assault began during the early morning hours of September 13, 1814, the people of Baltimore were prepared. Fort McHenry, the star-shaped fortification guarding Baltimore’s inner harbor, was stocked with fifty-seven cannons and nearly one thousand men.

The British attack on Baltimore began at 5:00 a.m. on September 13, and artillery fire from both U.S. and British guns continued for the next twenty-three hours. The primary target of the enemy’s guns was Fort McHenry because the English warships could not proceed until the heavily fortified arsenal was captured and its guns silenced. Throughout the day, Key, Skinner, and Beanes observed the battle through a spyglass from the deck of the Surprise, which was anchored eight miles away from the fighting. Key and his colleagues knew that as long as Fort McHenry withstood the invasion, Baltimore would not fall into enemy hands. Because they were so far away from the fighting, the only way they could be sure was to see the large red, white, and blue flag of the United States flying over the fort. As the fighting continued after nightfall, Key could see the flag still flying over Fort McHenry through the glare of bombs and rockets exploding in and around the arsenal.

At 4:00 a.m. the following day, the fighting finally ended. The American prisoners aboard the British warship wondered if the assault on Baltimore had succeeded. They anxiously waited until daybreak, only to discover that the heavy haze of smoke from the artillery fire obscured their view. When the smoke cleared, Key and his friends were relieved to see that the U.S. flag was still flying over Fort McHenry. The signal was given for the British fleet to withdraw, thereby ending the battle. Key was so moved by the sight of the flag that he scribbled a few phrases on an envelope that he carried in his pocket.

On the evening of September 16, the British deposited Key, Skinner, and Beanes at Hughes’ Wharf in Baltimore. The men were taken immediately to the Indian Queen Hotel in order to rest and recuperate from their recent ordeal as prisoners of war. Key, however, found it impossible to sleep. The images of the recent battle—the blasts of cannon fire and the shrieking of shells cutting through the dark sky—still swirled in his head. He returned to the series of phrases that he had written on the envelope. Key completed the poem, then borrowed the melody from a popular British drinking song of the day titled “To Anacreon in Heaven” to complete his composition. The next day he showed the song to his family and friends.

Although it is not known exactly who was responsible for releasing the song to the public, someone passed the composition to the publisher of the American and Commercial Daily Advertiser, a small local newspaper produced in Baltimore. The song was printed on handbills under the title “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” and the following week the song appeared in the Baltimore Patriot and Evening Advertiser. On September 27 it became a national sensation after being published in the Daily National Intelligencer of Washington, D.C. Several more weeks passed before the title of the song was changed to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Following the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key resumed his law practice. In 1833, President Andrew Jackson appointed him to negotiate a treaty with the Creek Indians in Alabama. At the time, the Jackson administration was beginning preparations for removal of the remaining Native American tribes from the southeastern United States to areas west of the Mississippi River. In the same year, Key was selected to be the United States district attorney for the District of Columbia, a position he held for eight years. He died from a lung disease called pleurisy on January 11, 1843, at the home of his daughter in Baltimore.

Significance

Key was a successful attorney throughout his life, but he will forever be known as the composer of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Although the song became popular almost immediately after it was written, it did not become the national anthem until Congress passed a resolution in 1931. The original flag that inspired Key to write his song hangs in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Bibliography

Gelb, Norman. “Reluctant Patriot.” Smithsonian 35, no. 6 (September, 2004): 66. A profile of Key, containing information on the War of 1812 and Key’s experiences at Fort McHenry.

Hickey, Donald R. The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989. One of the best sources on the War of 1812. Contains only a few pages on Key, but provides a thorough study of the British operations in the Chesapeake Bay.

Kauffman, Bill. “O Say Can You Sing?” American Enterprise 14, no. 7 (October, 2003): 47. Describes how Key’s poem The Star-Spangled Banner was selected and designated the U.S. national anthem.

Lord, Walter. The Dawn’s Early Light. New York: W. W. Norton, 1972. Lord provides a lengthy and interesting explanation of how Key was inspired to write his song.

Molotsky, Irvin. The Flag, the Poet, and the Song: The Story of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” New York: Dutton, 2001. Popular history of the American flag and the national anthem. Describes Key’s background and how he wrote The Star-Spangled Banner.

Quaife, Milo M., Melvin J. Weig, and Roy E. Appleman. The History of the United States Flag: From the Revolution to the Present. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. Contains information on Key and instructions for the use and display of the U.S. flag.

Tucker, Glenn. Poltroons and Patriots: A Popular Account of 1812. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1954. Tucker’s study provides information on Key as well as the British invasion of the Chesapeake Bay area.