The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-07-07

poor doctor was dragged from his couch,
carried off and imprisoned in the fore
part of one of the ships, where he was
treated with the utmost harshness. Key
resolved to release his friend at all haz-
ards. President Madison heartily Sec
onded his efforts and ordered that the
vessel used as cartel should be placed
at his service. The President d.
rected MIR. John S. Skinner,
agent for the exchange of pris-
oners and well known to the British
to accompany Mr.. Key. They came up
with the enemys fleet at the mouth of
the Potomac, and were received courte-
ously by Admiral Cochrane. But on
making known the object of his mission
Mr.. Key was replied to by Admiral
Cockburn in characteristic terms. ''In-
stead of being released" said the
marauder, 'sDr. Beanes should be hung
at the yardarm of this ship" Thus re-
pulsed, Key turned to General Ross and
handed him letters from English pris-
oners who had been wounded and left
behind after the battle of Bladensburg.
They spoke in grateful terms of the kind
treatment of the Americans. Ross was
naturally a humane man and was moved
at this agreeable news. SEEING his adj
vantage Key again made an earnest plea
for the release of DR.. Beanes, and this
time General Ross consented that the
doctor should be returned to his friends.
but added that the whole party would
have to be detained pending the attack
po1f oh f0 fol MI
Key and Skinner were transferred to be
frigate Surprise, but Beanes was still
confined on the flagship among the
sailors and soldiers, who treated him
with rudeness. No officer spoke to
him; he was not allowed a change of
clothing, and the vindictive Cockburn
requited the doctors former hospitality
| by ordering him to be held as a culprit
| rather than prisoner Of war. Again
the story reaches memorable historic
scene, the attack on Baltimore, the bat
| tie of North Point and the lombard
ment of Fort McHenry. Ross
landed and led his army to the
sack of Baltimore; Cochrane moved
up the Patapsco. transferred his
flag to the Surprise, of lighter draught
| than the flagship, and when all was in
readiness the bombardment of the fort
began, while the roar of battle from the
shore told that America and England
were once more locked In the tug of
war. Meantime Key, Skinner and
Beanes had been transferred to their
own vessel under guard of British
| sailors to prevent their escape during
the conflict The American vessel
occupied position from which the flag
at Fort Henry was distinctly seen.
Night fell and the darkness was made
visible by the glare of shot and shell
playing all night long on the devoted
fort. 1t was grand spectacle, and
Key and his friends paced the deck
through the night as the rockets whizzed
and shells exploded. But the fort had
not fallen, for the bombardmept con-
tinued. Suddenly, just before dawn,
the firing ceased, but nothing could be
seen, and the Americans were unable to
tell on which side victory had fallen.
Mr.. Key often afterwards spoke of that
moment as the most trying of his life.
He consulted his watch and counted the
moments before dawn. At last a gray
twilight spread over the face of the deep,
and our watchers eagerly peer&a
through their glasses to find whether
the enemy's flag or their own tloated
over the beleaguered fort. At length
the light came, and they saw that our
| flag was still there! When Mr.. Key be-
held the flag Of his country above the
frownlng battlements his ecstacy found
expression in the first and second stanzas
of the "Star-Spangled Banner" and his
full heart overflowed in the second
chorus.
"What is that which the breeze DER the
| towering steep,
As it tittuIly blows, half conceals. half dis
closes?
Now 1t catches the CLEAN OF the mornings
In full glory reflected now shines on the
TITS the Star spangled Banner. On! long may
DER the land of the free and the home OF
the brave"
He had not to wait long before he
saw the retreating to the ships and the
body of an officer of distinction solem n
" borne on board. It was Genera
Ross, who had been killed by an Ameri-
can sharp-shooter. Bladensburg was
avenged. and the vandalism at Wash
ineton had met with a bloody reprisal
at North Point The defeated enemy
set sail and Key and his friends returned
to Baltimore. The poet began to write
his verses on the back Of letter he
found in his pocket in the fervor of the
moment when he saw the American flag
floating over the fort and the land forces
retreating to their ships. He finished
the poem while still on the vessel and
while he was on his way to the shore.
In order to remember some of the lines,
as his paper was scant, he made notes
instead of writing them out in full. On
his arrival at Baltimore he immediately
went to hotel and wrote out the song
as it now stands from the rough draft
he had made on the boat. A friend to
whom he showed the song the next
morning was delighted with it. Mr.. Key
then gave it to a printer to strike of
some copies in hand-b,ll form to dis
tribute among the citizens This was
Captain Benjamin Fades, of the Twen-
ty-seventh Baltimore Regiment, who