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120 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
fleet, that the troops had been roughly handled, and that many wounded men were carried to the ships. At length he was informed that the attack on Baltimore had failed,
and the British army was re-embarking, and that he and Mr. Skinner and Dr. Beanes
would be permitted to leave them and go where they pleased, as soon as the troops were
on board and the fleet ready to sail.
" He then told me that, under the excitement of the time, he had written the song,
and handed me a printed copy of ' The Star Spangled Banner.' When I had read it and
expressed my astonishment, I asked him how he found time, in the scenes he had been
passing through, to compose such a song ? He said he commenced it on the deck of their
vessel, in the fervor of the moment, when he saw the enemy hastily retreating to their
ships, and looked at the flag he had watched for so anxiously as the morning opened;
that he had written some lines of brief notes, that would aid him in calling them to
mind, upon the back of a letter which he happened to have in his pocket; and for some
of the lines, as he proceeded, he was obliged to rely altogether on his memory; and that
he finished it in the boat on his way to the shore, and wrote it out, as it now stands, at the
hotel on the night he reached Baltimore and immediately after he arrived. He said that,
on the next morning, he took it to Captain Joshua N. Nicholson, commander of the
Baltimore Fencibles and Chief Justice of the Baltimore Court, and one of the Judges of
the Court of Appeals of Maryland, to ask him what he thought of it; that he was so
much pleased with it that he immediately sent it to a printer, and directed copies to be
struck off in handbill form; and that he, Mr. Key, believed it to have been favorably
received by the Baltimore public." :
The song was first set in type by Mr. Samuel Sands, who was then an
apprentice boy at the office of the Baltimore American, on the east side of
Harrison street, near Baltimore. It is said that it was first sung in a Baltimore restaurant, next to the Holliday Street Theatre, by Charles Durang,
and after that, nightly in the theatre.
The bomb and other vessels ranged in a half-circle in front of the fort,
and kept up a furious bombardment both day and night, and fired over
eighteen hundred shells, with multitudes of round shot and rockets. Many
of the shells weighed two hundred and twenty pounds, and the incessant roar
of the cannon, and the deafening and continuous scream of the shells and
rockets, added terrors to the awful spectacle of a cannonade by night. About
midnight, screened by total darkness, only broken by the flashes of their own
artillery, a few bomb-ketches and rocket-boats, with a squadron of barges,
numbering altogether about eighty, and manned by about twelve hundred
men, pushed up the cove beyond Fort McHenry, to effect a landing and
attempt an escalade in the rear. They passed the fort and moved for the
shore with loud cheers. Fort Covington, the City Battery, Fort McHenry,
and the Circular Battery, instantly brought every gun to bear upon the barges,
and a terrible fire was opened. The concussion was tremendous; every house
in the city was shaken to its foundation, and the affrighted population believed
that all was over.
No eye was closed in Baltimore that night; and many expected that the
morning sun would rise upon a scene of havoc, plunder and conflagration.
1 Memoir of Chief Justice Roger Bro'jke Taner, p. 109.
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000147 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 120 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. fleet, that the troops had been roughly handled, and that many wounded men were carried to the ships. At length he was informed that the attack on Baltimore had failed, and the British army was re-embarking, and that he and Mr. Skinner and Dr. Beanes would be permitted to leave them and go where they pleased, as soon as the troops were on board and the fleet ready to sail. " He then told me that, under the excitement of the time, he had written the song, and handed me a printed copy of ' The Star Spangled Banner.' When I had read it and expressed my astonishment, I asked him how he found time, in the scenes he had been passing through, to compose such a song ? He said he commenced it on the deck of their vessel, in the fervor of the moment, when he saw the enemy hastily retreating to their ships, and looked at the flag he had watched for so anxiously as the morning opened; that he had written some lines of brief notes, that would aid him in calling them to mind, upon the back of a letter which he happened to have in his pocket; and for some of the lines, as he proceeded, he was obliged to rely altogether on his memory; and that he finished it in the boat on his way to the shore, and wrote it out, as it now stands, at the hotel on the night he reached Baltimore and immediately after he arrived. He said that, on the next morning, he took it to Captain Joshua N. Nicholson, commander of the Baltimore Fencibles and Chief Justice of the Baltimore Court, and one of the Judges of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, to ask him what he thought of it; that he was so much pleased with it that he immediately sent it to a printer, and directed copies to be struck off in handbill form; and that he, Mr. Key, believed it to have been favorably received by the Baltimore public." : The song was first set in type by Mr. Samuel Sands, who was then an apprentice boy at the office of the Baltimore American, on the east side of Harrison street, near Baltimore. It is said that it was first sung in a Baltimore restaurant, next to the Holliday Street Theatre, by Charles Durang, and after that, nightly in the theatre. The bomb and other vessels ranged in a half-circle in front of the fort, and kept up a furious bombardment both day and night, and fired over eighteen hundred shells, with multitudes of round shot and rockets. Many of the shells weighed two hundred and twenty pounds, and the incessant roar of the cannon, and the deafening and continuous scream of the shells and rockets, added terrors to the awful spectacle of a cannonade by night. About midnight, screened by total darkness, only broken by the flashes of their own artillery, a few bomb-ketches and rocket-boats, with a squadron of barges, numbering altogether about eighty, and manned by about twelve hundred men, pushed up the cove beyond Fort McHenry, to effect a landing and attempt an escalade in the rear. They passed the fort and moved for the shore with loud cheers. Fort Covington, the City Battery, Fort McHenry, and the Circular Battery, instantly brought every gun to bear upon the barges, and a terrible fire was opened. The concussion was tremendous; every house in the city was shaken to its foundation, and the affrighted population believed that all was over. No eye was closed in Baltimore that night; and many expected that the morning sun would rise upon a scene of havoc, plunder and conflagration. 1 Memoir of Chief Justice Roger Bro'jke Taner, p. 109. |
