Francis Scott Key: The Star Spangled Banner

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Francis Scott Key The Star Spangled Banner

• Oh, 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 thru 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.
• Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
• O'er the land of the free and the home of the
  brave?
• On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the
  deep,
• Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence
  reposes,
• What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering
  steep,
• As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half
  discloses?
• Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first
  beam,
• In full glory reflected now shines in the stream.
• 'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it
  wave
• O'er the land of the free and the home of the
  brave!
• And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

Francis Scott Key born in Frederick county,
Md., 9 Aug., 1780 died in Baltimore, Md., 11
Jan., 1843, was the son of John Ross Key, a
Revolutionary officer.  He was educated at St.
John's college, studied law in the office of his
uncle, Philip Barton Key, and began to practice
law in Frederick City, Md., but subsequently
removed to Washington, where he was district
attorney for the District of Columbia. When the
British invaded Washington in 1814, Ross and
Cockburn with their staff officers made their
headquarters in Upper Marlboro, Md., at the
residence of a planter, Dr. William Beanes, whom
they subsequently seized as a prisoner. Upon
hearing of his friend's capture, Key resolved to
release him, and was aided by President Madison,
who ordered that a vessel that had been used as a
cartel should be placed at his service, and that
John S. Skinner, agent for the exchange of
prisoners, should accompany him. Gen. Ross
finally consented to Dr. Beanes's release, but
said that the party must be detained during the
attack on Baltimore. Key and Skinner were
transferred to the frigate "Surprise," commanded
by the admiral's son, Sir Thomas Cockburn, and
soon afterward returned under guard of British
sailors to their own vessel, whence they
witnessed the engagement. Owing to their position
the flag at Fort McHenry was distinctly seen
through the night by the glare of the battle, but
before dawn the firing ceased, and the prisoners
anxiously watched to see which colors floated on
the ramparts. Key's feelings when he found that
the stars and stripes had not been hauled down
found expression in "The Star-Spangled Banner,"
which gained for him a lasting reputation. On
arriving in Baltimore he finished the lines which
he had hastily written on the back of a letter,
and gave them to Capt. Benjamin Eades, of the
27th Baltimore regiment, who had participated in
the battle of North Point. Seizing a copy from
the press, Eades hastened to the old tavern next
to the Holliday Street Theatre, where the actors
were accustomed to assemble. Mr. Key had directed
Eades to print above the poem the direction that
it was to be sung to the air "Anacreon in
Heaven." The verses were first read aloud by the
printer, and then, on being appealed to by the
crowd, Ferdinand Durang mounted a chair and sang
them for the first time. In a short period they
were familiar throughout the United States.
(http//www.francisscottkey.org/)