The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-06-06
Base of the KEY Memorial

as a prisoner certain DR.. Beanes of Uppel
Marlborough who, annoyed by the rowdy be-
havior of struggling British sailors and soldiers,
had headed body of citizens that arrested the
roisterers and threw them into the county Jail
in that town. The doctors friends asked Key
to accompany Colonel Skinner, who was going
under flag of truce to the British, to secure
the release of Beanes, who was held on board
a British warship. Key and Skinner were sue
cessful in their mission but the three men were
kept on board the admirals frigate as the Brit
ish fleet sailed to attack Fort McHenry, the
principal defense of Baltimore. Before the at
tack began they were placed on small boat
which was kept closely attached to the frigate.
The rest of that story is too familiar to need
repetition here-how Key watched the lombard
ment of the fort through the night in an agony
of suspense as to the outcome and how at last
when morning came he saw the Stars and
Stripes still floating over the fort-a sign that
the attack had been unsuccessful Immediately
he began to write poem on the back of an old
envelop (perhaps 1t was from John Randolph of
Roanoke for the two men had become great
friends and regular correspondents after their
first meeting at the impeachment trial of Judge
Chase). After the unsuccessful attack the Brit
ish fleet sailed away leaving the three men to
proceed upstream to Baltimore in their small
boat.
Key fastened to the Office of newspaper the
Baltimore American, to have his poem printed.
The only person left in the Office everyone else
had gone to assist in the defense of the city
from the invaders) was young lad who set the
poem in type and printed it as a handful. In
side of an hour, so wrote Keys friend, Roger
Brooke fancy, long afterwards, 1t was being
sung all over town by the citizens of Baltimore,
mad with joy over their city's deliverance from
the fear of capture by the enemy. Thus was
1.-The Star Spangled Banner" our national an
them, born.
In the minds of most Americans the story of
Francis Scott Key ends at this point in his
life. SO it is the service of his biographer to
show that his career after September, 1914, was
not anti-climax, in fact was even more distin-
guished than it mad been before. His reputation
as a successful lawyer continued to grow. He
became close friend of President Andrew Jack
son, 'as much of an insider as any member of
the kitchen cabinet . and could have had any
appointment within reason" But he asked the
president for only one favor, a cabinet appoint
ment for his friend and brother-in-law, Roger
Brooke fancy. The result was that fancy be-
came attorney general and this activity on
Keys part paved the way for fancy which led
in few stormy years to the chief justiceship,
which led eventually to the bred Scott decision,
the unconstitutionality of the Missouri Compro-
mise and the Civil War;"
So Francis Scott Key was a history maker as
well as a national anthem writer. He was also
a diplomat-as the emissary of Jackson he set
tied the Greek controversy which might have
bathed Alabama in blood" 1t was dispute
over Indian lands in Alabama in which the ques-
tons of states rights and notification were in
volved. He phianthropist and humani-
tartan. Although slave owner, he hated the
institution of slavery and sought a solution of
the problems which it brought to the nation by
helping form the American Colonization society
for settling freed slaves In Africa. He
ardent churchman and did much to further the
cause of the Episcopal church in this country.
He became the father of eleven children and his
family life is one of the most appealing aspects
of his whole career.
On January IL, 1s43. Francis Scott Key died
in the Baltimore home of his daughter, Elizabeth
Phoebe Howard. He had grown up with the
republic. His contemporaries knew him not as
poet but as conspicuous and able and some
times bothersome liberal distressingly serious
layman and. most singular of all. an honest law
yer. Amiable, mild, generous and virtuous, his
colonization pleas and his free-school activities
were accepted for what they were-the enter
prises of prosperous, If not wealthy, middle
state man who carried into town life the simple
idealism of benign squire. Dynamic but es-
sentially unheroic. he was a useful citizen and
on that meteoric journey when he wrote song
which stirs our spirits and pleases our ear he
added more significance to his life than he ever
anticipated He. tonedeaf album poet, achieved
immortality in spite Of himself And, like most
maryland celebrities. he is a vague figure
MS HE eeiipsed by one spectacular deed"
9 oy Western Newspaper Union