How Francis Scott Key ended up on that British ship

Most Americans have heard about how Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star- Spangled Banner” while onboard a British ship during the shelling of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. (Technically, he was on an American truce ship tethered to a British ship)

The poem went on to become our national anthem after being set to the tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a popular British drinking song. Congress officially adopted the anthem in 1931.

Much less known is how and why Key was on that ship in the first place.

After burning Washington, D.C. — the low-point for America in the war — the British marched through Upper Marlboro, Maryland. A couple of drunk stragglers came through and raised a ruckus.

This upset one of the town’s leaders, Dr. William Beanes, so much that he made a citizen’s arrest and locked the men up. One of the men escaped and literally came back with an army. The promptly took Beanes into custody onboard a ship in Chesapeake Bay.

Ironically, Beanes had been an opponent of the war and had welcomed the British troops to town initially.

Beanes’ needed a lawyer, so his friend Key came out to the ship to negotiate his release.

The woman who sewed the Fort McHenry flag was Mary Pickersgill of Baltimore. Her mother has sewn flags for George Washington.

Key had also used the same tune years earlier in a song to honor Stephen Decatur Jr. and Charles Stewart for their heroics in the Tripoli War.

Sources:

The Greatest Stories Never Told by Rick Beyer

patch.com/maryland

constitutioncenter.org