Francis Scott Key and the National Anthem

Part 2

Francis Scott Key

Following are the words to the third stanza of the National Anthem:

“And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion A home and a country should leave us no more? Their blood has washed out their foul footstep’s 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.”

Francis Scott Key’s lyrics condemned the Africans who dared to join the British cause to escape slavery. He declared that “No refuge could save the hireling and slave, from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.”

The important thing to understand about these words is that they were written during the War of 1812. This was a war between Great Britain and America. By the year 1812, America had doubled in size. America had gained more territory through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. France sold a huge chunk of land to America for $15 million. America’s desire to hold on to this new land and to expand was a factor in the War of 1812. America and Britain fought also for control of the seas.

Blacks were enslaved at this time and the only thing on their minds was freedom – by any means necessary. So they fought on both sides when promised freedom by either one. There were hundreds of Blacks who fought with Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry on the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. With Perry’s victory on Lake Erie he forced the British to pull out of Detroit, and as a result America took much of Michigan with the help of the Black sailors. Britain’s Navy also had Black sailors.

Britain’s Rear Admiral George Cockburn organized a hard-fighting force of runaway slaves known as the Black Marines. While America had Blacks in the Navy they were not welcomed in the Army. Blacks were never welcomed in any branch of the American armed forces in the early history of this country. It was only when America faced defeat when they were able to join the fighting.

Francis Scott Key wrote the words in the third stanza with anger and hate toward the Blacks who fought on the side of the British.

There is also another side of Francis Scott Key that no one really talks about, and this is his humiliation by the British troops. He set out with the permission of President Andrew Jackson to try to rescue a friend of his. When he approached the British, he was arrested and detained. The British at the time were engaged in an attack on Fort McHenry. When Key asked for the release of his friend he was rudely told that he would have to wait until after the attack. While he watched the attack, he wrote the final words of his song. The Star-Spangled Banner did not become the National Anthem of this country until 100 years later.

Next: The Race Riot in Washington, D.C. in 1835

References: Snow-Storm in August by Jefferson Morley, 2012.

American Patriots, The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolutionary War to Desert Storm, by Gail Buckley, 2001.