On this day, 206 years ago, Francis Scott Key composed the poem that would eventually become the words to our national anthem.
The War of 1812 was a conflict between the United States and Great Britain which grew out of American outrage at the British practice of “impressment,” capturing sailors from neutral countries (including many Americans) and forcing them to join the chronically undermanned Royal Navy.
Since Britain had the Royal Navy, one of the most dominant branches of military service in the history of the world, it was expected that the U.S. would do well on the land, and the British would dominate the seas. As it turned out, however, the U.S. navy acquitted itself magnificently, while U.S. land forces under-performed pitifully, two half-hearted attempts to invade Canada having embarrassingly fizzled out. Two of the bright spots for the U.S. were Andrew Jackson’s victory below New Orleans and the successful defense of Ft. McHenry.
It was the latter engagement that gave birth to our national anthem.
In September, 1814, Francis Scott Key, who was then 35 years old, and John Stuart Skinner, both prominent Maryland lawyers, were sent on a diplomatic mission to arrange a prisoner exchange, the main purpose of which was to secure the release of William Beanes, a well-liked town physician in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Key and Skinner set sail from Baltimore aboard the HMS Minden a “cartel ship” (a ship being used for diplomatic purposes and flying a flag of truce). Key and Skinner were taken aboard the HMS Tonnant, the flagship of Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane, and spoke with Major General Ross over dinner in the Captain’s cabin.
Romanticized Painting of Francis Scott Key looking out at Ft. McHenry
At first, Ross and Cochrane refused to release Beanes but relented after Key and Skinner showed them letters written by wounded British prisoners praising Beanes and other Americans for their kind treatment. Although the Americans were successful in securing the release of Dr. Beanes, at dinner they overheard Ross and Cochrane discussing plans to attack Fort McHenry, at the mouth of the Baltimore harbor, so the British decided to hold them until after the attack.
During the night of September 13, from the deck of the Tonnant, Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry. He observed “the rockets red glare”—Congreve rockets launched from ships—and “the bombs bursting in air” —exploding mortar shells likely launched from the HMS Terror and HMS Meteor, two British ships that had been fitted out with heavy mortars.
The American flag stayed aloft. Once the barrage had stopped—there being no more rockets’ red glare nor bombs bursting in air—Key could not see the Fort and did not learn how the battle turned out until dawn the next morning.
On the morning of September 14, the storm flag had been lowered and the larger flag had been raised. This flag, made by Mary Young Pickersgill, came to be known as the Star-Spangled Banner.
The Star-Spangled Banner “whose broad stripes and bright stars”
Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the very large flag flying triumphantly above the fort. Still aboard HMS Tonnant, Key wrote a poem on the back of a letter he had kept in his pocket.
O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
At twilight on September 16, Key and Skinner were released, and Key completed the poem at the Indian Queen Hotel in Baltimore, where he was staying. He titled it "Defence of Fort M'Henry".
The poem has four stanzas, and although only the first stanza became the words of the national anthem, the fourth stanza contains the line “In God is our trust,” which, slightly modified, was to become the national motto, printed on our money:
O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Key’s brother-in-law, Joseph H. Nicholson, set the poem to a popular tune, “The Anacreontic Song,” which was the theme song of a late 18th Century gentleman’s supper club in London, and had been written by John Stafford Smith. And so, ironically, the American national anthem, which arose out of a battle with Britain, is sung to a tune written by an Englishman.
The “Star-Spangled Banner” grew in popularity and became one of our most important patriotic songs. It began to be played at World Series baseball games in 1918, but did not officially become the national anthem until 1931.
I recently learned, from Brian Kilmeade’s excellent short history of the Texas Revolution, “Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers,” that in later life Francis Scott Key represented Sam Houston in a criminal case brought against the future “father of Texas” in 1832.
Houston had lived with the Cherokee as a young man and represented the Cherokee in Andrew Jackson’s Washington. An Ohio Congressman named William Stanbery slanderously accused Houston, from the floor of the House of Representatives, of corruptly rigging contracts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Houston was looking to get even.
One morning, as Houston was leaving his boarding house on Pennsylvania Avenue, he saw Stanbery walking down the street. Houston confronted him and a brawl ensued, with Houston beating Stanbery with a hickory walking stick. In self-defense, Stanbery pulled a pistol, put it to Houston’s chest, and pulled the trigger, but it misfired (not uncommon with early 19th Century firearms); apparently, Providence yet had important work for Houston, and spared his life.
Congress ordered the arrest of Sam Houston, charging him with assault and demeaning a Member of Congress. Houston was tried before Congress; the trial lasted for a month. Francis Scott Key must have done an excellent job in his defense, because Houston, who probably should have been imprisoned, was let off with a $500.00 fine (and given a year to pay the fine). Rather than pay the fine, Houston fled to Texas (then part of Mexico) and the rest is history.