USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Attorney Francis Scott Key witnessed the twenty-five hour bombardment of Fort McHenry from a British troopship anchored some four miles away. He had boarded the ship to negotiate the release of an American civilian imprisoned by the British, and had been detained aboard as the bombardment began.

Detailed explanation-2: -Writing “The Star-Spangled Banner” Early in September 1814, after the British had burned the city of Washington, Key was sent on a potentially dangerous mission to the British fleet near Baltimore to secure the release of his friend William Beanes, a physician from Upper Marlborough, Maryland.

Detailed explanation-3: -Death and legacy On January 11, 1843, Key died at the home of his daughter Elizabeth Howard in Baltimore from pleurisy at age 63. He was initially interred in Old Saint Paul’s Cemetery in the vault of John Eager Howard but in 1866, his body was moved to his family plot in Frederick at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Detailed explanation-4: -Francis Scott Key was a prominent lawyer in Frederick, Maryland and Washington, D.C. He made his name in 1807 defending Justus Eric Bollman and Samuel Swartwout who had been charged with treason in connection to an alleged conspiracy designed by Aaron Burr.