Inspired by these events, Francis Scott Key wrote down a few lines about the attack while still on board the ship and then wrote several more lines after reaching shore. Throughout the long night, he watched the attack on Fort McHenry, fearing its fall, but when morning arrived, the American flag was still flying - the fort had survived the attack. The British then marched to Baltimore, Maryland, and on September 13 began bombarding Fort McHenry.Īt that time, attorney Francis Scott Key was aboard a British ship negotiating the release of a friend. Known as the War of 1812, it lasted until 1815.ĭuring the war, in August 1814, England invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the Capitol, White House, and other government buildings. The British captured American ships on the high seas and forced American sailors ( around 10,000 of them) to fight for England. Follow him on Twitter or visit his Facebook page.On March 3, 1931, an Act of Congress made the Star Spangled Banner America’s national anthem, but the history of that song goes back almost two centuries.įollowing the American Revolution, Americans hoped to live in peace but France and England became engaged in a conflict that drew America back into war. Roth is an award-winning writer and regular contributor to New York Times, Reuters, and CBS as well as a number of newspapers and magazines in the U.S. Leepson’s other works include Desperate Engagement, which details the Battle of the Monocacy, Lafayette: Lessons in Leadership from the Idealist General, Flag: An American Biography and Saving Monticello: The Levy Family’s Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built. Of all of Key’s descendants, only one would achieve literary prominence: the novelist F.
After his death in 1843, his poems were finally compiled and released. The Star Spangled Banner author also wrote other poems for family and friends, but he never wanted his work to be published.
Key only spoke about writing The Star-Spangled-Banner in public on one occasion, and that was 20 years later, Leepson said.ħ. He also represented owners of runaway slaves.Ħ. In some instances, the Maryland-born attorney represented the legal rights of freed African Americans. Throughout his legal career, Key argued more than 100 cases before the U.S. Leepson said that Key and other members of the organization also believed (wrongly) that transplanting African Americans would help end slave trafficking.ĥ. They argued that the West African territory would offer greater freedom for blacks than they could find in the U.S. Other members included John Randolph, Charles Fenton Mercer, Henry Clay and Richard Bland Lee. The group promoted the idea of sending African Americans to the colony of Liberia, which the organization helped found.
FACTS BEHIND THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER SONG FREE
According to Leepson, Key was a member of the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America. Key was part of the Back-to-Africa movement. In fact, it didn’t become the national anthem until Congress passed a resolution making it so on Ma119 years after it was first written!Ĥ. The Star-Spangled-Banner was just one of many patriotic tunes popular in 19 th Century America. 14, 1814, while on an American truce ship anchored in the Patapsco River, Leepson writes.ģ. Key wrote the lyrics on the morning of Sept. Originally entitled The Defence of Fort McHenry, the verses of The Star Spangled Banner were wedded to the popular British ditty The Anacreon in Heaven. Key “borrowed” the melody from a British drinking song. Back in that time period, it was common for people to take lyrics and put them to well-known tunes.”Ģ. “He was not musical and he had never written a song in his life. “Up until relatively recently, historians believed Key was writing a poem that night,” Leepson said in a recent interview. In his new biography What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, A Life, Marc Leepson writes that the song’s author may have actually been tone deaf. Here are some little-known facts about Key and his famous song. 13 to 14, 1814 British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbour. Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the iconic song after watching the Sept. Most critics agree that The Star-Spangled-Banner is difficult to sing.
A contemporary illustration of the British fleet’s attack on Fort McHenry, the inspiration for The Star Spangled Banner, the U.S.
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