why was francis scott key forced to stay on a british warship during the battle of fort mchenry

Key and Skinner knew that as long as the night sky was lit up and the sounds of explosions filled the air, the fort had not surrendered.īeing an amateur poet, Key began to write. The night sky seemed ablaze with rockets flying through the air and bombs bursting in the distance across the walls of the fort. The attack on the fort continued for 25 hours.

McHenry, forced them to stay on board the British ship while the battle raged through the night. However, the British, then engaged in an attack on Ft. Key and a friend, John Skinner, went to the Tonnant under a flag of truce and secured the release of the beloved doctor. The townspeople asked the young attorney for his help in negotiating Dr. They were holding him on the British flagship Tonnant, and there was great fear that the British would hang the elder doctor. William Beanes, had been carried off by the British. Word reached Francis Scott Key that a much-loved physician, Dr. President Madison and his cabinet barely escaped to a safer location.Īfter the capture of Washington, the British focused their attacks on the neighboring city of Baltimore. Earlier that year the British had sailed up the Potomac River, captured Washington and burned the Capitol and the White House. Key was a young lawyer living in Georgetown just outside of Washington, D.C., during that fateful time when the War of 1812 began.

Our flag played a prominent role in the story he told. McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the War of 1812. There are many stories written about our flag, but none could rival the drama of Francis Scott Key’s writing of the poem that became our National Anthem. June 14 each year is set aside as Flag Day in the United States.

Why was francis scott key forced to stay on a british warship during the battle of fort mchenry