A Day with Francis Scott Key at the Battle of Fort McHenry, 1814

In the summer of 1814, the War of 1812 came home to America. British troops burned Washington on August 24, then turned toward Baltimore, the third-largest city in the United States and a nest of privateers the Royal Navy called “a den of pirates.” Our subject is Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old Georgetown lawyer, a devout Episcopalian, a slaveholder, and a man who had opposed the war from the start. When the British seized Dr. William Beanes, an elderly physician, Key agreed to help get him back...

Time Surfing Graphic Histories: A Day with Francis Scott Key at the Battle of Fort McHenry, 1814.