Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle That Shaped America's Destiny

by Brian Kilmeade

Five miles downstream from the port of Baltimore and in British custody, Francis Scott Key had watched the great fight unfold. Commissioned by President Madison to negotiate the freedom of a Maryland doctor detained by the British after the burning of Washington, Key was aboard a British ship awaiting the outcome of the battle. From the ship’s deck he watched the fireworks of the bombardment, then waited in the darkness, watching and wondering. He did not know what the silence meant, but he worried: Had Baltimore fallen? He paced the deck of the ship, periodically peering through a spyglass at Fort McHenry, fearing he would see, instead of the Stars and Stripes, the Union Jack or a white flag of surrender. A feeling of pride swelled his breast as the morning mist cleared, revealing an American flag still flying over the fort. The British attack had failed. Finding an envelope in his pocket, Key began to compose a poem on the back of a letter, seeking to express the relief he felt.