Chapter 46:
Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key was born in 1779 to John and Ann Key in the state of Maryland on his parent’s plantation called Terra Rubra. The name, Terra Rubra, carries the meaning of red earth in the Latin language. Francis had several siblings with only three of them making it to adulthood including himself. He was particularly close to his sister, Ann, for whom he wrote a poem called, To My Sister, reflecting their meaningful childhood together.
It is in Maryland where Francis met his wife, Mary Lloyd. They had eleven children with four passing on during childhood, a devastating loss for the family members of the Key family.
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and the British on American soil. The President of the United States during this time was James Madison, our fourth president. He declared war against the British in 1812, bringing the name, War of 1812. Unofficially, this war was called the second American Revolutionary War.
President Madison declared this war because tensions between the Americans and the British had grown too tense to ignore. Basically, the tensions came from the British by not treating America as if it was a real country. For instance, when the British captured American soldiers, they made them become British soldiers, and then they made them fight against their own country of America. This happened to thousands of American soldiers which is called impressment. Also, the British interfered with the trade of America. They would steal the goods of the Americans from their ships, and then sold these products as theirs.
The British won a battle during the War of 1812. The battle they won was called the Battle of Bladensburg which took place in the state of Maryland. This victory led the British to make their way to Washington D.C., where they occupied the White House and burned it down to the ground. The White House in Washington D.C. had only existed for fourteen years at this time and had been the home for three presidents. These three presidents were: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Besides the burning of the White House, the British also burned down other government buildings. This act was called the Burning of Washington.
Dolley Madison, the First Lady during this time, ordered the portrait of George Washington to be saved as she did not want it to fall into the hands of the British soldiers as she was concerned, they would burn it along with everything else. So, by order of Dolley, George Washington’s portrait was placed in the back of a wagon. The horses pulled this wagon with George’s portrait to a nearby farm and placed in their barn to keep it safe. His portrait stayed there for about three years before being returned to the White house.
After burning the White House in Washington D.C., the British wanted to take over Baltimore next. Baltimore was located about forty miles from Washington D.C., and the British began their goal of taking over Baltimore by attacking Fort McHenry.
Fort McHenry was constructed during the years of 1798 to 1803. It was built to protect the Port of Baltimore. Fort McHenry took five years to build, and it was built as a fortress in a five-point star shape. It was constructed in a way to help make this fortress impenetrable, building up walls around it made up of packed earth and rocks. These built-up impenetrable walls were called ramparts. Ramparts which could absorb canon fire. This was the purpose of the ramparts; to protect Fort McHenry.
An American flag was commissioned to be made specifically for Fort McHenry. It was created, or hand-sewn, by a woman named Mary.
Mary Young.
Chapter 47
Mary Young and the Flag of Fort McHenry
Mary Young was born to William and Rebecca Young during the year of 1776 in the colony of Pennsylvania. She was the youngest of their six children. When Mary was born, she was born as a subject of the British Monarchy. She was born the same year the Declaration of Independence was signed during the year 1776. Because the Declaration of Independence was signed while she was still a little baby, she became an American citizen at that time. Mary didn’t understand her transformation from being a British subject to an American citizen, but her parents did. Mary’s father died when she was two years of age, leaving her to grow up without a father. Mary’s mother, Rebecca, was a well-known flag maker and she taught Mary the skill of flag making.
Because of Mary’s skill of making flags, she was asked by the U.S. Government to make a flag for Fort McHenry. Mary was asked to make this flag very large. So large that the British military could not miss it. Because of this request, Mary made a flag that was 30 feet wide by 42 feet long, or about two giraffes high and four giraffes long.
This kind of large flag, which is larger than a regular-sized flag, is known as a garrison flag. Mary was tasked to make this garrison flag which needed to be made at a local brewery, because there was enough open space on the floor to lay it out more fully before stitching it together. In this way, she was able to create the garrison flag she was asked to make, specifically for the important military post called Fort McHenry.
It took Mary, her daughter, and some helpers about two months to hand-sew this flag. One of the helpers was an enslaved woman who helped hand-sew this important flag. Her name was Grace Wisher. Together, they created this large flag, completely hand-sewn with needle and thread. One stitch at a time.
This hand-stitched garrison flag would become extremely important when a certain lawyer was watching Fort McHenry being bombed by many British ships.
Francis Scott Key, now a lawyer, was representing an American citizen being unlawfully held by the British. He needed to present his case to an Admiral on a ship sitting just outside Fort McHenry.
Chapter 48
Frances Scott Key and the Truce Boat
Frances Scott Key was a lawyer during the year of 1814. He was representing an American citizen who was wrongfully imprisoned by the British during the War of 1812. The imprisoned man’s name was Dr. William Beanes who was imprisoned for detaining British soldiers when they were caught looting houses after they had burned the White House down to the ground. Frances was tasked to argue for the release of Dr. Beanes from imprisonment and needed to present his case to a man named Admiral Alexander Cochrane.
Admiral Alexander Cochrane was on a British ship where Dr. Beane was being held. This ship was called the HMS Tonnant. The word Tonnant, in the French language, meant thundering, and was a warship armed with 80-guns which was docked outside Fort McHenry. It was one of the most powerful warships in the British Royal Navy during this time and was sitting outside of Fort McHenry with several other British ships.
On September 5, 1814, Frances took a small truce boat out to the HMS Tonnant. His truce boat carried a white flag on it to signify that it was not a threat to the British, so they would not bomb his boat. The truce boat was used for the purpose of Frances sailing out to meet with this Admiral on the HMS Tonnant to argue the case of Dr. Beanes. Frances was successful in arguing the case of Dr. Beanes in securing his release.
After Frances secured the release of Dr. Beane, they were allowed to return to the truce boat, but not allowed to go ashore by order of the British. They were not allowed to take the truce boat back to shore because the British were planning to attack Fort McHenry, and they feared Frances had overheard the plans of their attack while he was on the Tonnant.
Consequently, Francis sat in his truce boat when the attack began, until the attack was over. The length of time he sat on his truce boat was about twenty-five hours as this was the length of time of the attack. During this time, all Francis could do was observe the continual bombing of Fort McHenry and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.
Frances had a clear understanding of which flag brought him his freedoms. His freedoms were attached to the American flag guaranteed to him by the Constitution of the United States. His freedoms were not guaranteed to him by the British flag.
Because of this knowledge, he only had one question on his mind during this bombing: Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?
Chapter 49:
Does that Star-Spangled Banner yet Wave?
Frances observed the bombing of Fort McHenry throughout the entire attack. If he saw the American flag flying above Fort McHenry, then he knew he still had his freedoms. However, if he saw the British flag flying over Fort McHenry, he understood his freedoms were on the way out and America would be ruled by the British Monarchy once again. To thrive in their system, one needed to have royal blood flowing through their veins. If one did not carry royal blood in their veins, then life may not turn out so great for them.
All of this was based on the flag Frances saw flying over Fort McHenry. So, as he watched the bombs from the British ships being slammed into Fort McHenry for twenty-five hours. He kept his eye on the American flag, which he “so proudly hail’d” the evening his truce boat traveled out to the Tonnant “at twilights last gleaming” at the end of the day.
Frances saw the “bombs burst in air”, and these bombs gave off a “red flare” so it was during these moments that Frances could see “that our flag was still there”. This sight brought him great relief as he could see our flag with “broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight” which meant he still had his freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
Frances could see the American flag was still flying “over the ramparts” of Fort McHenry. It was not just flying, it “was so gallantly streaming”, giving Frances “proof through the night that our flag was still there”.
Then, the British stopped bombing Fort McHenry. just before the sun came up. They stopped because the British ships could not get close enough to Fort McHenry or they would be hit by the canon fire coming to them from the cannons of Fort McHenry. This kept the British ships too far out in the waters for their bombs to reach Fort McHenry.
They stopped bombing just before the sun came up.
All was quiet and dark.
Frances sat and watched in the pitch-black darkness. He felt the chilly morning air while listening to the gentle waves against his truce boat in the silence. He kept watching, waiting for the sun to come up to see whose flag was flying over Fort McHenry.
The sun started to come up, “at dawns early light”, and his eyes could see what they were straining so hard to see because Frances knew his freedoms depended on it.
And then he saw it.
He saw an outline of a flagpole, and on that flagpole was a flag. A flag with five-point stars in the upper left-hand corner, suggested by Betsy Ross to George Washington when he consulted with her about a flag for a new country he wanted to start. The five-point stars which found themselves onto the large hand-sewn garrison flag, sewn by Mary Young, Grace and a few young helpers. A garrison flag made especially to fly over Fort McHenry so the British could not miss it.
Answering the question in the mind of Frances for the last twenty-five hours: “Does that star-spanged banner yet wave o’vr the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
And it did!
After this bombing Frances sat through, he wrote a poem.
He wrote a poem about his experience of watching Fort McHenry being attacked by the British. A poem he originally called, Defense of Fort M’Henry, but later, he changed the title of his poem.
Francis changed the title to, The Star-Spangled Banner.
Chapter 50:
The Star-Spangled Banner by Frances Scott Key
O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bomb 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?
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 - O 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,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd 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.
Over time, a melody was attached to this poem. The melody to a British song called, To Anacreon in Heaven. This song became popular and widely sung by Americans. Then, in the year 1931, this song was officially adopted as the national anthem of the United States of America.
This song has been sung in schools by children, sung at military events by military personal, and sung at sporting events by audience members with their hand over their heart while planes fly overhead. Singing our national anthem while knowing we are living in the “land of the free and the home of the brave” and this is why we have existed all these years.
When singing this anthem today, we can all imagine we are sitting in the small truce boat with Frances, watching our freedoms being threatened, gaining the understanding that our freedoms can be taken from us as quickly as “dawns early light”, on any day of the week if we are not at the ready.
Today, Fort McHenry still stands.
It still stands after two hundred and twenty-six years.
Mary’s original flag is preserved and can be seen at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, along with each handsewn stitch by Mary, her helpers and Grace.
All there for us to view to remember the British Bombardment on Fort McHenry, as a reminder of how quickly our freedoms can be taken from us if not protected.
The Star-Spangled Banner is our anthem.
The American flag is our flag.
And the Constitution will protect our freedoms as long as “our flag is still there”.
Part 5:
Will and Adelia:
Preparing for Winter
