Chautauqua 2012 - Francis scott key

>> [Background Music] Chautauqua is made possible by the Maryland Humanities Council, Montgomery College, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. [ Music ] >> I'm Angela Rice Beemer here at the Germantown Campus of Montgomery College for a living history program called Chautauqua. Chautauqua programs are both informative and fun. Scholar actors performed first person accounts of very important people in history. Our theme is the War of 1812 in Maryland and tonight Chautauqua character wrote the lyrics to our national anthem during the fierce battle of Baltimore. Tonight Chautauqua character is lawyer and poet, Francis Scott Key. [ Music ] [ Applause ] >> Good evening ladies and gentleman. Can every one hear me? I think you can all hear me. I would like to begin my remarks this evening by residing a poem to you. I'm going to put this hat down over here. It's good. This is something I wrote quite a number of years ago. "When the warrior returns, from the battle afar, to the home and the country he nobly defended. O! Warm be the welcome to gladden his ears, and loud be the joy that his perils are ended, in the full tide of song let his fame roll along, to the feast-flowing board let us gratefully throng, where, mixed with the olive, the laurel shall wave, and form a bright wreath for the brows of the brave." Does anyone recognize those words? I wrote that verse and three others with it, on the occasion of the defeat of the Barbary pirates of the North African coast in 1804 by the American Navy. For a number of years, the powers of Europe, France, England, Spain, and the United States, paid tribute to the Barbary pirates on that North Coast of Africa, in order to gain access to the Mediterranean Sea. And in 1804, President Jefferson decided, that our nation would no longer pay that tribute. He had sent the navy and the navy is swiftly defeated those pirates. And in that victory, I wrote those words. And I entitled those words. I called those words, those versus, "Song". And I had a song in mind. And now, I should like to sing for you the second verse. [Singing] Columbians, a band of your brothers behold, who claim the reward of your hearts' warm emotion, when your cause, when your honor, urged onward the bold. In vain frowned the desert, in vain raged the ocean, to a far distant shore, to the battle's wild roar. They rushed your fair fame and your rights to secure. Then, mixed with the olive, the laurel shall wave, and form a bright wreath for the brows of the brave." [ Applause ] Oh, thank you very much ladies and gentleman. I must tell you that I'm toned deaf. [ Laughter ] And whenever-- whenever I gathered the family together on Sunday for church. I should say, not whenever but when I do, my wife Polly always asks me, "Frank, don't sing in church today." I wrote those words some years before I wrote another song with which I know you are familiar. I called it, the "Defense of Fort McHenry". You know it as the Stars Spangled Banner. It was written in the midst of a war we Americans called the war of 1812. It was written in the year 1814. It may surprise you to learn that I who wrote that song opposed that war when it was declared on June 18th, 1812 by an act of congress. I thought that the objective of defeating Great Britain was a foolish one for such a young nation as ours. I thought that the objective of acquiring Canada for the United States was wicked. Now I save this, out of no disloyalty. I felt it at the time. Out of no disloyalty to the United States like yourselves. I am a proud American and I am a proud son of Maryland, raised in the rolling hills of Frederick County sired by a father who fought in the revolution to gain our nation's independence from Great Britain, raised by a mother who was a devout Christian, an exemplar of charity and gentleness. And in my chosen career of the law, I had the aid and encouragement of an uncle who though he fought to maintain our allegiance to the British crown yet was he through out life a friend to me. By 1812, I had been married for 10 years and Mrs. Key and I had at that time been blessed with five of our eventual 11 children. I don't know why it is but that always gets a reaction. [ Laughter ] I feared that war would further harm the legal business that I carried in Georgetown. It had already been harmed by an economic embargo, employed by Mr. Jefferson when he was president and further methods of coercion against the French and the British. Our trade was in decline for several years prior to the war at 1812. My legal business was in decline as well and I thought that this war would further hamper it. I feared for the safety of my family and our home and yet this war was declared the War Hawks in Congress. Mr. Clay-- Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Felix Grundy, to name but a few, all sought to acquire Canada for the United States. Of course they wanted to take it away from Great Britain for Canada supplied many of the raw materials with which the British could prosecute war. And it is true that during their war with France which had been going on for more than a decade almost without interruption, it is true that they confiscated American trading vessels. They impressed American sailors in their navy. And yet, it is also true that the French were committing the same kinds of depredations against our nation as the British. It did not seem to me that declaring war in 1812 against Great Britain justified attacking a nation whose people had committed no harm against us, and by that I mean again the Canadians. And yet, this war was declared. Now, again, in 1812 the United States were a weak nation, the United States were not respected by the powers of Europe, and the United States were in a very difficult position. Vis-a-vis the war between Great Britain and France. We had language in cultural ties to Great Britain which were obvious to everyone. We had had a treaty with the French during our revolution and after, and of course the French were quite important in the ultimate victory that the Americans gained at Yorktown in 1781. And both nations wanted our allegiance in their war against the other, and the United States wished to maintain it's neutrality in this war. It also wished to continue to trade with both nations. Ours is a trading nation. Our principal trading partner is Great Britain. [ Pause ] And so, here we are, caught in this war, having our ships confiscated, our sailors impressed by both nations. And moreover, in Ohio and in the Michigan and Indiana territories, Indians are incited against our settlers by the British. Of course the United States had many legitimate complaints against that powerful nation and against the French. But again I say, we were in no position to prosecute a war. In 1812, the American Navy consisted of but 16 or 17 ships, the British had over 200, our army on paper, 10,000 men on paper. The British had a quarter of a million men in their army. In the name of economy during Mr. Madison's administration and that of his predecessors, Mr. Jefferson, our coastal defenses had been allowed to deteriorate. Money was not put into them as perhaps it might have been. And so, it seemed to me that this was indeed a foolish war and there was a wicked motivation in it as well to take an unoffending people and bring them within the confines of our own nation. But this war was declared. In 1813, Great Britain had finally defeated Napoleon. And this allowed the Brits to turn their attention now onto the United States. They had defeated a very powerful adversary in France, in Napoleon, and now, they could do it with a minor irritant. That's what we were to them. Something about minor irritant, maybe minor is too strong a word but certainly we were an irritant and we were really no threat to Great Britain in their eyes. And so, in the Spring of 1813, this is some months after that declaration of war in 1812. In the Spring of 1813, the British send ships. They blockade the Atlantic coast of the Untied States. They send ships into the Chesapeake. They threatened towns all along the water shed. We all know, do we not of the attack on Havre de Grace on Georgetown, on Frederick's Town. The attack at Saint Michaels, unfortunately repulsed there. There was a general climate of fear and apprehension in the Chesapeake Region in 1813 and everyone in the region knew that Baltimore would be a target at some point during this war unless the United States was successful in winning the war before hand. In August-- I correct myself. In July of 1814, I joined Major Peter's artillery in Georgetown in this climate of fear and apprehension. I believed it was my duty as a citizen to work for the defense of my community. But I discovered in only a fortnight, in only a few weeks that I was not a person of a military cast, and i resigned. But, just one month later, it became quite obvious that the British were now bound to attack the capital of the United States, Washington City. They did this in retaliation for the attack in 1813 on the Canadian capital York, which you know of today is Toronto. But they did this in retaliation for the attack, the American attack on the Canadian capital. In the days, leading up to the attack on Washington, I rejoined the infantry and when Bladensburg was threatened, I was there with Gen. Winder and Secretary of War, Monroe and the President was also just a short distance away. I knew the lay of the land well enough that I thought that I could advice the secretary and the general as to the disposition of troops. And I enthusiastically did so. For those, I believed you all know what happened at Bladensburg was one of the great humiliations of the American Military. It was a route. As soon as the Congreve Rockets of the British began firing, as soon as those red coats came into view, near that Bladensburg bridge, all the Americans who were in Bladensburg to defend it turned tail and ran including the president of the United States and including he who is now before you. We ran because we knew that we were facing a force that would be very difficult for us to defeat. Now, the British had used as their base of operations prior to the attack on Washington, a community in Prince George's County, Upper Marlboro, and there they met with an American doctor, Dr. William Beanes, and the otherwise the leading citizen of that town. It was said of Dr. Beanes that no offense was considered truly aligned until he cast his eye upon it. No tree could be removed from the Town Square unless he gave his permission. The British knew their man. They knew that he was a gentleman as well as a leading citizen. And so, they treated with him. I say treated because of course, they had the upper hand. They met with him that is to say, Gen. Robert Ross and Adm. Sir George Cockburn, and Sir Alexander Cochrane. They met with him and they struck a gentlemen's agreement. They would camp in and about the town of Upper Marlboro with their troops and no harm would come to those troops so long as the people of the town did nothing to inhibit the movement of the British troops, and disagreement helped throughout the attack on Bladensburg and on Washington. But during those attacks, there were casualties on both sides. The British suffered several casualties, several officers were wounded. And these wounded officers were brought back to Upper Marlboro where they had so recently camped to be treated. And I have not had much conversation with Dr. Beanes on this point. But I have heard that he personally attended to several of these British troops. Be that as it may, these British officers were cared for. The wounds were dressed. They were given food and drink. They were given a place where they could rest. And they wrote letters to their loved ones back in England commending these Americans, for the care that had been given them commending Dr. Beanes. The letters of which I speak will come back into my narrative in just a few moments. It also seems that after the attack on Washington, several British troops decided that they would create havoc in Alexandria. And then, they decided that they would like to create some havoc in Upper Marlboro and these troops came into Upper Marlboro and very soon began threatening the town's people, threatening wives and daughters, threatening property. Dr. Beanes was sitting in his summer garden, enjoying the company of some friends one afternoon in August when he heard a commotion and he went out to investigate. And he was told by different people that there were British soldiers causing havoc, creating disturbances, threatening people. And so, Dr. Beanes being this leader of his community, rounded up a posy, found these marauding soldiers and had them arrested. He placed them in the jail and as luck would have it, one of those officers, one of those soldiers escaped, and he made his way back to his commanders who were now located with their ships on the Patuxent River and this now freed captive Britain, British sailor or British soldier informed Gen. Ross and Adm. Cockburn and Cochrane that he had been arrested by Dr. Beanes. And when the general and the admirals heard this, they felt that a gentleman's agreement had been violated. And they were very angry indeed and they sent troops to Upper Marlboro to Dr. Beanes home and in the middle of the night, they arrested him. They burst through is door. They run up his stairs. They found him in his bed chamber. They forced him to get himself off out of bed, dressed himself as quickly he could and then they forced him to ride 35 miles on a cadaverous horse to a ship lying there on the Patuxent where he was bound hand and foot and thrown into the hoed of one of those British ships, treated like a common criminal by officers and crew are like. Where you can imagine with what lightning speed, the arrest of Dr. Beanes spread throughout the town of Upper Marlboro and the surrounding communities. Why just the next evening, I was locking up my home in Georgetown closing it up. Shutting the shutters and so forth. Getting ready to retire. When I hear a knock on my door, I opened the door and who do I see but my wife's brother-in-law, Richard West, a resident of Upper Marlboro, he with the news that Dr. Beanes had been arrested. And he related to me the circumstances of the doctor's arrest as I have related them to you. Now I had been practicing law in Georgetown for many years, by 1814, and I was considered to be among my peers and within the public generally to be one of the best advocates in court among all the lawyers, and of course I knew President Madison. And so West suggested urge that I should go to the President and ask him if I might be given the task of negotiating for the release of Dr. Beanes. I heartily agreed to do so. I knew Dr. Beanes. He was quite familiar to me. We all both communicants of the episcopal church, and he is distantly related though I do not recall how. He is distantly related to my great uncle, Dr. Upton Scott, who was the physician who attend to my mother on the occasion of my birth. And so, there is this familiarity between Dr. Beanes and me and I knew him to be a good man. And I believed that his arrest was unjust. And so, I heeded West's advice and I went to the president, the very next day and he agreed that I should go on that mission to negotiate for his release. Now the president had his own motivations. He was the head of the Democratic-Republican Party. He was also the head of the government. And after two years of war, matters did not look very good for the United States and there were many people who complained that perhaps he was not such a good president after all and perhaps he was not that right-- not the right man to prosecute a war. And perhaps, the republican-- the Democratic-Republican Party was not the right party to be of the head of the government. And most of all, he did not wish to see any other civilians arrested. During the course of this war, no matter how much longer it might last. Those were his reasons for seeking the release of Dr. Beanes and sending me on that mission. My own motivation was that I conceived it to be my Christian duty to render aid to a man whom I believed had been so grievously wrong. I conceived it to be my duty to God to seek this man's freedom. And so, I was instructed to travel to Baltimore and there to meet with the American prisoner of war exchange agent, a man named John Skinner. John Skinner had with him the letters of those British Officers whose wounds had been treated at Upper Marlboro and we intended to use those letters to gain Dr. Beanes freedom. We set sail from Baltimore on September 5th. A few days later, we met the British fleet, a Tangier's Island off the coast of Virginia. They were aware of our presence. We bordered his majesty ship the Tonnant. We were greeted by the admirals, by the general, and by the junior officers of the fleet and we were invited to dine with them in the Captain's cabin that very afternoon. The meal was quite good. The conversation was brightly gentleman speaking with gentleman. But when we came, Mr. Skinner and I to our purpose that of seeking the release, the freedom of Dr. Beanes, General Co-- excuse me, Adm. Cockburn stood up, slammed his hand down on the table and insisted that Dr. Beanes should swing from a yard arm in Nova Scotia before the month was out. I argued, that Dr. Beanes was an elderly man of 65 years was a scholar and most important was a gentleman like themselves and did not deserved such treatment at the hands of other gentleman. My pleadings fell on deaf ears. But Mr. Skinner decided that now was the time to present those letters from those British officers and he gave them to Gen. Ross. And as Gen. Ross perused the letters, he decided on reading the sentiments on reading the sentiments contained within them to release Dr. Beanes to the custody of Mr. Skinner and myself despite the protests of the two admirals. And within a very short time Mr. Skinner and I where in the hold of that ship telling Dr. Beanes that he was soon to be a free man, but we had to tamper that happy intelligence with yet more news that now the British had decided that they would attack the City of Baltimore, a den of pirates they called it. A den of pirates for during the course of the war American merchants using their own ships committed acts of piracy against the British Navy and the British Merchant Marine and caused a great deal of destruction, confiscating British ships, having them condemned, rubbing British merchants of millions of pounds in revenues and property. And the British as you can imagine, did not take kindly to that and they were going to teach the Baltimoreans a lesson. They intended to burn Baltimore down as they had burned Washington. Now keep in mind, Baltimore was the third largest city in the United States at the time. Imagine what the destruction of Baltimore would have meant to the people of the United States. Imagine what that would have meant to the economic prosperity, not only of people in Maryland but in the entire nation. Mr. Skinner and Dr. Beanes and I discussed the situation knowing that there was no way that we could affect any outcome. But there was one thing that we could do and there was one thing that I requested, when I knew that we would be forced to watch this attack. I requested of Gen. Ross that Mr. Skinner, Dr. Beanes and I be placed back on the cartel boat on which Mr. Skinner and I had set sail from Baltimore so that during the attack, on this city which meant so much to all of us, we would be in effect, on American soil. And so, that little cartel boat was tethered to his majesty's ship the surprise. We were placed on it under guard. And within a very short time, this small British fleet of some, twenty ships I believe it was, made its way up the bay to the Patapsco River within then a few miles of Fort McHenry which sat on a point south of the city defending it. The bomb and rocket ships moved to within two-- two and quarter miles of the Fort just in range of the Fort. The surprise in several other British ships and of course the cartel boat on which I and my companions waited. We were perhaps another two to four miles back. The bombardment of Fort McHenry commenced in the early morning hours of September 13th, 1814 and within in a very short time, our little cartel boat was shrouded in the smoke of the canons of the British ships as they fired bomb after bomb at Fort McHenry and the recoil from those ships roiled the waters around us and tossed this little cartel boat on which Mr. Skinner, Dr. Beanes and I stood tossed mercilessly and we all feared for our lives. This bombardment which began in a rainstorm a with a thunderstorm threatening at any moment continued for the next 25 hours the British guns very infrequently ceasing to fire. The Fort firing its guns only when it felt it needed to. As the British advanced, the Fort would return fire and the British would retreat. But we watched this bombardment of Fort McHenry and the city of Baltimore throughout that morning into that afternoon, into the twilight and into the dark night of the next morning. We watched and we waited through thick acrid smoke, through low-lying clouds, through a misty fog which mixed in the smoke, in the atmosphere. We watched and waited and listened as bombs exploded in the air the Congreve Rockets screeched across the night sky. From time to time, I would take up my telescope and I would look in the direction of the Fort to see if the American flag still flew over it. But I tell you, there were many times when I could barely perceive any flag at all for in the clouds, in the smoke, in the rain it was very difficult to see what that flag was which country it symbolized. But of course, I was reassured in the pitch of night that our flag still flew above that Fort because the British continued to bomb. If they had been victorious at some earlier moment in the assault, their guns would've ceased firing. That was the logic of the situation and yet this bombardment continued into the early morning hours of the next day, September 14th. And then, just as suddenly as those bombs had begun exploding in the previous morning, they ceased to be fired. The British guns suddenly stopped. A disquieting silence descended upon us. Stillness and shrouded the waters. No sound was heard from land, nothing from the Fort and the British ships simply sat on the water, discontinued for several hours. The sun in time began to rise. It brought its raise of light upon the scene, the smoke disappeared, the clouds parted. And that around nine o'clock in the morning, suddenly a sound, it was the morning gun fired from Fort McHenry. It was the signal to the people of Baltimore that they were still protected by that Fort. At Dr. Beanes urging, I took up my telescope yet again, and I looked in the direction of the Fort. And in that sunlit sky which was now clear and bright, I saw through my glass, the largest American flag I had ever seen before. I am told that it was in measurement, in dimension, 30 by 42 feet. It was a magnificent sight to see the American flag waving proudly, defiantly above that Fort. I saw the flag of my country waving over a city strength and pride of my native state. A city devoted to plunder in desolation by its assailants. I saw the array of its enemies as they advanced to the attack. I witnessed the preparation for its assaults. I heard the sound of battle, the noise of conflict fell upon my listening ear and told me that the brave and the free had met the invader. Then did I recall that there were gathered around that banner, men who had heard and answered their country's call and though I walked upon a deck surrounded by a hostile fleet yet was my step firm and my heart strong through the clouds of war the vision of that banner still shown in my view and with that vision came an inspiration not to be resisted. "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'er 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'er 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 stream, 'tis the star-spangled banner. O! Long may it wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. And where is that band who so vauntingly swore that the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, a home and a country, would leave us no more? Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave from 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 stand between their loved home and the war's desolation. Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven rescued land Praise 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 wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!" Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen for your kind attention. [ Applause ] >> I'll be back. [ Applause & Laughter ] >> I'm here with Alan Gephardt who's just performed as Francis Scott Key. Thank you very much for being here. >> My pleasure. >> We enjoyed your performance very much. >> Thank you. >> How did you start doing this particular character? How did that come about? >> It came about because I was raised at North Point which is in Baltimore County. North Point was the beginning of the land attack in 1814 on September 12th. And I was raised in that community. Went to that high school. I was involved in theater. Many years after high school, I was riding my bicycle down what is now called North Point road, passed the historic structure which was attacked by the British which at that time was owned by this teacher in my high school and he waved me over and he asked me, "Would you like to be Francis Scott Key for this historical festival that we'll be doing at the park in a few weeks?" And I said, "Yeah, sure. That would be nice." Because he knew about my background in theater in high school, so, that's how it got started and I did five minutes. A five minute presentation and it grew from there. >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> Now, you've been doing Francis Scott Key since 1989? >> 1989, maybe 1988. >> Somewhere around there. How has your performance changed over the years? >> Well first of all it's gotten longer. So, I've gone from five minutes to like a half an hour 45 minutes is pretty typical. So, I do a lot more background with the story of the writing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" and I sometimes try to do more about his personal background. Where he came from, who he was married to, how they met, his career, other interests that go beyond the law, other activities in which he was involved, so, I do all of that. The other aspect of change would have to relate to my own changing over the years. So, when I began doing Key, I was younger than he was when he wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner" and of course, a good beholder than that. And so, he has gotten older, I've gotten older and I never talked about the events of 1814 and as if they just happened. I always talked about them as if they happened a long time ago. Because by the time he would been my age presently, yeah, that would have been a long time ago for him. >> You mentioned that where he came from and his family background. >> Uh-hmm. >> Talk a little bit about Terra Rubra, where he's from. >> Yeah, sure. Terra Rubra was 2,000 plus acre plantation that his father owned, John Ross Key and it was in Frederick County at that time. Presently, what remains of that land is in Carroll County, but he was born in Frederick County. It was a typically farm or plantation of the day, multiple crop operation with livestock as well. And of course, John Ross Key was from a fairly prominent family. They were not perhaps among the richest families in the State of Maryland, but they were certainly well to do. So, that his background-- Francis Scott Key's background. His father again was a-- he fought in the revolutionary. I forgotten his rank now, but he fought in the revolution to help win our country's independence from Great Britain. >> And Key himself was born the year after, 1777-- >> 1779. >> '79, OK, 17-- >> 1779. >> OK. >> Yeah. Some, there was a debate at some point-- I don't think the debate is any longer current. But there was a debate for some reason at some point that we was born in 1780. But most accounts say 1779, August 1st. >> And how did he meet his wife? >> He met his wife at a ball in Annapolis in her father's home. His wife was Mary Tayloe Lloyd Key. And he met her in 1796 or 7 at a ball in her home-in her father's home. Her father by this time was deceased, but family still lived there and is the winter season and it's after the legislature has gone out of session. And so there's a ball and he meets her there. She was 14 years old and he was 18. And apparently, he was just struck by her, thought that she was very beautiful and witty and had a good mind. And he began to court her and he began to write poetry to her. I recited a poem earlier in the presentation which and I didn't follow up with this. I should have. He sent her this poem. And one day, he's walking down Prince George Street in Annapolis approaching her home and she is in the second story bedroom, bed chamber window with her sister and they stick their heads out the window and she has curling papers in her hair. And as he approaches-- and he's walking with very good and handsome friend of his, Daniel Murray. As he approaches, Ms. Lloyd calls down to him something to the effect of this is what I think of your poetry 'cause she'd taken the poems and rip them into curling papers for her hair. But he continued to pursue her and she obviously saw something in him and they were married in that home in Annapolis in 1802 and that home is still there. It's the Chase-Lloyd House now in Annapolis, so you can tour it. >> That's a very interesting story. As you began the story, I was thinking, "Oh Romeo and Juliet," and that's from the balcony between the window and this-- got curling papers in her hair. >> Right. >> It's a nice story-- >> Yeah. >> Nice story. He was more than a man who just wrote poetry or is famous for the Star-Spangled Banner. Talk a little bit about some of the other things that he did, the lawyer, District Attorney for Washington DC. >> Sure. He was a practicing lawyer from the early age. He'd gone to St. John's College in Annapolis, got his Bachelor's Degree when he was 17 years old, and then his uncle, Philip Barton Key, was very influential, first, in getting him educated at St. John's, persuaded his parents. You really should send that boy to a former college and so they did. But then, later on, Philip Barton Key, very influential in persuading Francis Scott Key to pursue the law and so, Francis Scott Key studied the law under his uncle and another gentleman Judge Jeremiah Townley Chase. That's the way it was done in his day. It was an apprenticeship system. There were no law schools. So, that's what he did. So,he practiced a variety of law. He didn't specialized in anyone particular kind of law. There was property law. He worked a lot for the land office, the United States Land Office trying to resolve disputes over land claims, over parcels of land that were sold multiple times to multiple people. And so, there are conflicting claims. And so, he was involved in a lot of litigation trying to straighten those kinds of things out. He also, I think this would probably be interesting to the audience argued on behalf of enslaved people or free black people and he also argued against them. You know, for it's because he is the-- he is the client of, you know, the-- one party or the other, but he's involved in those kinds of cases as well. He becomes as you noted, the District Attorney of Washington is 1833 as many years after the Star-Spangled Banner, appointed by President Jackson and remains in that office for eight years into the term of Martin Van Buuren. When-- and I think it was 1835, President Jackson was walking to the rotunda of the capital following a funeral of a congressman. A young man approaches the president who's armed and armed with I believed two other gentleman and this young man approaches the president and pulls a gun on him and tries to fire it and it missed fires. That doesn't do anything. He pulls another one out, same thing and it's at point blank range. I mean it's really, really-- within a few feet of the President of United States easily could have killed him had those guns fired and of course they didn't. And Jackson who was nearly 70 at that time still strong just lunges out at this man and begins to strike at him with his cane. He had to be restrained and as the District Attorney of Washington, Key had to interview this man in the Washington jail. His name was Richard Lawrence and he was just clearly insane. He believed that he had some connection to the British Royal Family and was the rightful for monarch believed that somehow another Andrew Jackson as the President Of The United States was usurper of British territory was really quite mad. And so, he was not prosecuted for the attempted assassination of the president, but was placed in an insane asylum for the rest of his life. Those are two stories-- >> What are the high and low points of his time as district attorney in Washington? >> That's a good question, and I really don't know enough about his career. I tried to do some research in that line when I was in graduate school because I actually wanted to do a thesis concerning his legal practice. One of the problems with-- as was explained to me at that time was that or is that the cases are not filed according to the attorney. They are filed according to the litigant. So, you'd have to figure out who the litigant is in order to see if it's connected with Francis Scott Key. So, studying his legal career was I couldn't do it. >> So that brings up a good point about the research that you are able to do. Where are some of the sources that you go? For instance, if someone wanted to find out more information about Key, where could some people-- where could they go? >> The place to go to is the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore. They have a large collection of papers relating Francis Scott Key. Many of them, letters written in his hand. So, you get to read letter to his wife, to his children, to other family members, to friends, to some of his clients, to members Episcopal Church. He was a vast [inaudible] man in his church in George Town. He was also-- he attended the annual and tri-annual conferences of the Episcopal Church, very involved in that and you can read some of that kind of thing as well. So, there is a great store of information at the Maryland Historical Society. There are some-- there's a fairly good collection at the Frederick County Historical Society, few things at Carroll County, and also Talbot County interestingly enough, yeah. >> So that's good. So people could do their own research-- >> That's right. >> -- if they wanted to. >> So, you can see receipts for thing that he purchased over the years, you know, all. It's interesting. >> Did he get a chance to meet Ross? Because in-- I'm trying-- Robert-- Major Gen. Robert Ross-- >> Yes. Right. >> Because in my research one point they have Ross' dying before he got to the Battle of Baltimore and at the other point that head him on the ship that-- that Key-- meeting with Key. So, what is the real story? >> He met Key before the Battle of Baltimore. Yeah. >> I see. OK. >> So, he was-- I guess he was killed just a couple of days after meeting with Key. I mean, Key left on September 5th. I believed they arrived, if I remember correctly, they arrived at the British fleet on the 7th. Negotiated and of course the bombardment begins on the 13th, but Key was-- or Ross was killed on the 12th. So, they did have time to meet. >> You brought up another interesting point in your presentation about the gentlemen's agreement-- >> Right. >> -- up in Upper Marlboro. So, was it that the British did not really plan to burn Washington? Was it the dissolution of the gentlemen's agreement or the perceived? >> No, no, no. The gentlemen's agreement of which I speak is that between Dr. Beanes and the British officers of Ross, Cochrane, and Cockburn. No. It was-- I think Cockburn was actually quite determined to burn Washington. And actually, Ross did not want to do that. He thought it was [inaudible], barbaric to do such a thing. You know, I guess you might say that he did not believe an eye for an eye, right? We had attacked York, the Canadian capital we had done some destruction there but he didn't believe they justified the British during the same thing in Washington. So, Ross did not want to do that but Cockburn was determined to do it and it was done. >> You've mentioned-- well, we've just got one more minute but-- >> Sure. >> I compare quickly. Key wrote some poems that were turned into hyms. Is that correct? >> That's right. >> Well, talk of little bit about that very briefly. >> Oh boy, oh, how well I'm prepared to talk about that right now. Well, before the re-battle is a one that it has been in Episcopal [phonetic] and I believe methodist [inaudible] for whatever, 175 years now, and the other is what I know a bit is as hymn for the 4th of July. And, you know, if I had the lyrics in front of me right now, I could say, oh yeah, you will recognize these lyrics or if we can do the tune, you would recognized them. They're fairly familiar but off the top of my head right now, I can't speak more intelligently than that. >> That's OK because people can go out and research it on their own. >> Yeah. >> And that's one nice thing about Chautauqua. You could have plant the information and then we can research all of it. >> Exactly. Yeah. >> Thank you so much for being here. We've really enjoyed it. >> My pleasure. >> And thank you for joining us. You've been watching Chautauqua, the war of 1812 in Maryland. I'm Angela Rice Beemer and for all of us here at the Germantown Campus of Montgomery College. Good night. [ Music ]