Francis Scott Key - Letter to John Randolph

Francis Scott Key described the circumstances which inspired him to write "The Star Spangled Banner" in a letter to his friend John Randolph of Roanoke. In the letter, he makes no mention of the hymn which he composed on the occasion. Francis Scott Key-Smith wrote a biography of his illustrious ancestor in which the letter appears. He supplements the letter with personal observations of the historic occasion.

“The Star Spangled Banner” was composed amid the gunfire of the British attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore in the Chesapeake Bay on September 13, 1814. Key was a lawyer and at one time District Attorney of the District of Columbia. He was on an errand, while under a flag of truce, to the British fleet when he was detained by the British during the bombardment of the fortifications. 35 year old Key originally titled his poem “Defense of Fort McHenry”

“You will be surprised to hear that I have spent eleven days in the British fleet. I went with a flag to endeavor to save poor old Dr. Beans a voyage to Halifax, in which we fortunately succeeded. They detained us until after their attack on Baltimore, and you may imagine what a state of anxiety I endured. Sometimes when I remember it was there the declaration of this abominable war was received with public rejoicing, I could not feel a hope that they would escape; and again when I thought of the many faithful whose piety lessens that lump of wickedness I could hardly feel a fear.”

“To make my feelings still more acute, the Admiral had intimated his fears that the town must be burned, and I was sure that if taken it would have been given to plunder. I have reason to believe that such a promise was given to their soldiers. It was filled with women and children. I hope I shall never cease to feel the warmest gratitude when I think of this most merciful deliverance. It seems to have given me a higher idea of the “forbearance, long suffering, and tender mercy” of God, than I had ever before conceived.”

“Never was a man more disappointed in his expectations than I have been as to the character of British officers. With some exceptions they appeared to be illiberal, ignorant and vulgar, and seem filled with a spirit of malignity against everything American. Perhaps, however, I saw them in unfavorable circumstances...”

“Between two and three o'clock in the morning the British, with one or two rocket and several bomb-vessels manned by 1,200 picked men, attempted, under cover of darkness, to slip past the fort and up the Patapsco, hoping to effect a landing and attack the garrison in the rear.”

“Succeeding in evading the guns of the fort, but unmindful of Fort Covington, under whose batteries they next came, their enthusiasm over the supposed success of the venture gave way in a derisive cheer, which, borne by the damp night air to our small party of Americans on the Minden, must have chilled the blood in their veins and pierced their patriotic hearts like a dagger.”

“Fort Covington, the lazaretto, and the American barges in the river now simultaneously poured a galling fire upon the unprotected enemy, raking them fore and aft, in horrible slaughter. Disappointed and disheartened, many wounded and dying, they endeavored to regain their ships, which came closer to the fortifications in an endeavor to protect the retreat. A fierce battle ensued. Fort McHenry opened the full force of all her batteries upon them as they repassed, and the fleet responding with entire broadsides made an explosion so terrific that it seemed as though mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone.”

“The heavens aglow were a seething sea of flame, and the waters of the harbor, lashed into an angry sea by the vibrations, the Minden rode and tossed as though in a tempest. It is recorded that the houses in the city of Baltimore, two miles distant, were shaken to their foundations. Above the tempestuous roar, intermingled with its hubbub and confusion, were heard the shrieks and groans of the dying and wounded. But alas! They were from the direction of the fort. What did it mean? For over an hour the pandemonium reigned. Suddenly it ceased – all was quiet, not a shot fired or sound heard, a deathlike stillness prevailed, as the darkness of night resumed its sway. The awful stillness and suspense were unbearable...”

“[I turned my] eyes in the direction of the fort and its flag, but the darkness had given place to a heavy fog of smoke and mist which now enveloped the harbor and hung close down to the surface of the water...”

“Sometime must yet elapse before anything definite might be ascertained. At last it came. A bright streak of gold mingled with crimson shot athwart the eastern sky, followed by another and still another, as the morning sun rose in the fullness of his glory, lifting “the midst of the deep” crowning a “Heaven-blest land” with a new victory and grandeur.”

“On his own account Mr. Key-Smith writes that his ancestor, the author of “The Star Spangled Banner,” was soon able to see the American flag through a vista in the smoke and vapor. As it caught “The gleam of the morning's first beam' his proud and patriot heart knew no bounds; the wounds inflicted 'by the battle's confusion' were healed instantly as if by magic; a new life sprang into every fiber, and his pen-up emotions burst forth with an inspiration in a song of praise, victory, and thanksgiving as he exclaimed:

“'This the Star-Spangled Banner, Oh! long may it wave,O're the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

“As the morning's sun arose, vanquishing the darkness and gloom; lifting the fog and smoke and disclosing his country's flag, victorious, bathed in the delicate hews of morn, only an inspiration caught from such a sight can conceive or describe, and so only in the words of his song can be found the description.”

“The first draft of the words were emotionally scribbled upon the back of a letter which he carried in his pocket and of which he made use to jot down some memoranda of his thoughts and sentiments.”...

“Copies of the song were struck off in handbill form, and promiscuously distributed on the street. Catching the popular favor like prairie fire it spread in every direction, was read and discussed, until, in less than an hour, the news was all over the city.”

“Picked up by a crowd of soldiers assembled, some accounts put it, about Captain McCauley's tavern, next to the Holiday Street Theater, others have it around their tents on the outskirts of the city, Ferdinand Durang, a musician, adapted the words to an old tune of “Anacreon in Heaven.” and, mounting a chair, rendered it in fine style.”

“On the evening of the same day it was again rendered upon the stage of the Holiday Street Theater by an actress, and the theater is said to have gained thereby a national reputation. In about a fortnight it had reached New Orleans and was publicly played by a military band, and shortly thereafter was heard in nearly, if not all, the principal cities and towns throughout the country.”

On March 3, 1931, “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the National Anthem of the United States by an official act of Congress (36 U.S.C. Sec. 170)

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,O're the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,O're 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 steam:'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,Their blood was washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slaveFrom 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 standBetween their loved home and the war's desolation.Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued landPraise the Power that hath made and preserved 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 waveO'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!