Happy Birthday, Francis Scott Key, Author of “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Francis Scott Key was born to a wealthy family in Frederick County, Maryland, on August 1, 1779. He was educated at a private school in Annapolis, Maryland, from a young age and was raised Episcopalian, becoming deeply religious as an adult. Key had 11 children by his wife, Mary Tayloe Lloyd, whom he met while studying at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. They settled in Georgetown when Key and his uncle, Philip Barton Key, founded a law practice. According to the Maryland Online Encyclopedia, Francis Scott Key was opposed to the war with Britain, but when his state was threatened, joined a volunteer militia in the War of 1812. During his service, he saw the Capitol and other buildings burn. He returned home in August, just prior to the capture of his friend Dr. William Beanes, the event that would spark “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

In 1814, General Ross and Admiral Cockburn of the British army set up camp at Beanes’s house in Upper Marlborough, Maryland. Key wanted to rescue his friend, and received a ship from President Madison to do so. When they arrived, General Ross agreed to release Beanes, but detained the Americans during the British attack on Baltimore, which they witnessed from their ship. The morning after the battle, the American flag hanging at nearby Fort McHenry was still intact, communicating the U.S. victory and inspiring Key to write the poem later known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The New York Times recounted the events surrounding the poem in an 1897 article.

The Library of Congress offers an image of a rare copy of the song handwritten by Key himself.

Read the complete lyrics to Key’s original poem on Infoplease.com.

“The Defence of Fort McHenry,” as Key’s poem was originally known, was revised several times during Key’s stay at the Indian Queen Hotel in Baltimore following the battle at Fort McHenry. He was encouraged to publish it by his wife’s brother-in-law. Copies were printed and distributed to soldiers in and around Fort McHenry and Baltimore, along with instructions saying that it should be sung to the familiar tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The first known performance of the song was at Baltimore’s Holliday Street Theatre on Oct. 19, 1814. The Encyclopedia Smithsonian provides more details about the War of 1812, the making and ultimate disposition of the flag that Key paid tribute to, and the events following the poem’s publication.

Francis Scott Key went down in history for a single poem, but he was also an accomplished lawyer. From 1833 to 1841 he was district attorney of Washington, D.C., under Presidents Jackson and Van Buren. He was both a slave owner and an “advocate for a solution to slavery,” according to the Maryland Online Encyclopedia’s entry on Key; he argued cases on both sides of the argument. He raised money for a proposed African colony for blacks. He eventually freed his own slaves but had a single free black servant throughout his life. He died on Jan. 11, 1843.

Ironically, the patriotic song that later became the U.S. national anthem takes its melody from an English drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heaven,” composed by John Stafford Smith. The lyricist of that song, Ralph Tomlinson, Esq., was a member of the Anacreonic Society, a high-class men’s club named for Anacreon, an ancient Greek poet “known for his songs of wine and women.” The Straight Dope tells the story of the drinking song, complete with a reprint of the lyrics. While it might seem a little inappropriate to recycle a drinking song for a patriotic purpose, the Straight Dope notes that repurposing melodies is a time-honored practice.

President Hoover signed an act of Congress in 1931 that officially made “The Star-Spangled Banner” the U.S. national anthem.