A SKETCH OF FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, WITH A GLIMPSE OF HIS ANCESTORS F. S. KEY SMITH, LL.M. [Keprinted from the Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D. C. Vol. 11, 1909.] \ In Excnange E>. C. Pub- Ldb. % M A SKETCH OF FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, WITH A GLIMPSE OF HIS ANCESTORS.* By F. S. KEY SMITH, LL.M. (Read before the Society, May 12, 1908.) About the year 1726 Henry and Philip Key, sons of Richard and Mary Key, of St. Paul's Parish, Covent Garden, London, settled in America on the north bank of the Potomac river 'near a place since called Leonardtown. Henry died young, never marrying. Philip took up several large tracts of land throughout the then colony of Maryland, building a handsome brick resi- dence, near Leonardtown, and a brick church at Chaptico, St. Mary's County. Being twice married, his first wife was Susannah Gardiner, and his second, Theodosia Barton. By the first he had seven children, as follows : Richard Ward, Philip, Thomas, Francis, Edmund, John and Susannah Gardiner. Edmund studied law in Eng- land and later, upon his return to Maryland, became the attorney general of the province. Francis married Ann Arnold Ross, a daughter of John Ross who settled in Anne Arundel County near Annapolis in 1730. At the junction of the Severn River with Round Bay, to this day stands his large colonial house, named Belvoir. The walls are sixteen inches thick and the wide windows with their deep recesses extend nearly to the floor. General Wash- ington upon one occasion occupied one of the upper rooms. In the family graveyard upon the estate is * Copyright, 1908, by F. S. Key Smith. 71 72 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. buried Mrs. Ann Arnold Key. Her grave is marked with a plain slab inscribed "In memory of Mrs. Ann Arnold Key who departed this life January 5, 1811, in the eighty-fourth year of her age. ' ' Another grave stone bears this inscription: "In memory of two infant daughters of Henry and Eliza- beth Maynadier, one who died on the 19th day of September, 1782, and the other on day of December, 1783." The graveyard is now cared for by the Maryland Society of the Colonel Dames. Francis Key and his wife, who was Ann Arnold Ross, had three children, John Ross Key, Philip Barton Key and Elizabeth Scott Key. Elizabeth married Colonel Henry Maynadier; Philip Barton married Ann Plater and John Ross married Ann Phoebe Dagworthy Carlton. John Ross, being the eldest, inherited the whole of his father's estate upon his dying intestate. However, he divided with his younger brother, and when his brother's property was confiscated because of his loyalty to England, he again divided with him, although he himself had been loyal to the American cause, fighting as a soldier in the Revolution. Upon the estate, Terra Rubra, in Frederick County, Maryland, which John Ross Key inherited from his father, Francis Scott Key and Ann Arnold Key were born. This Ann Arnold Key afterwards became the wife of Roger Brooke Taney, subsequently Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star Spangled Banner," was born on the ninth day of August, 1780, at Terra Rubra, as stated, where he was reared and spent his childhood. His life, while attending Smith: Sketch of Francis Scott Key. 73 school and college, was spent with relatives in and near Annapolis. His grandmother, Mrs. Key, of Belvoir, with whom he spent much time, was totally blind, having lost her eyesight from fire when her father's house at Carpenter's point in Talbot County was burned. During his attendance at St. John's College, Annapolis, where he graduated, he resided with his great-aunt, Mrs. Upton Scott, who was Elizabeth Eoss. With Roger Brooke Taney, a fellow student, he read law in the office of Judge Jeremiah Townley Chase. In 1802 he married Mary Tayloe Lloyd, granddaughter of Edward Lloyd, royal gov- ernor of the colony from 1709 to 1714, and had eleven children— six boys and five girls— namely: Elizabeth Phoebe, Maria. Lloyd, Francis Scott, John Ross, Ann Arnold, Edward Lloyd, Daniel Murray, Philip Barton, Ellen Lloyd, Alice and Charles Henry. It is said Miss Lloyd frequently made curl papers of his love sonnets and took particular pains that he should know of it. He began the practice of law at Frederick, Maryland, in 1801, subsequently removing to the District of Columbia where he formed a partnership with his uncle, Philip Barton Key. Un- der Presidents Jackson and Van Buren, he was three times appointed United States District Attorney for the District of Columbia. He was a regular attendant at church, taking an active part in religious matters, becoming a vestry- man of St. John's Episcopal Church in Georgetown, where can be seen a mural tablet to the memory of a former rector, the Reverend Johannes I. Sayre, the inscription of which he composed. To the hym"^ 1 he contributed the hymn "Lord with P" I'd Praise Thee." His whole life bears witness t( 74 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. as a lawyer he was equalled by few and excelled by none, taking first rank among his contemporaries. As United States District Attorney for the District of Columbia he had occasion to demonstrate his fitness for the position, and it will be seen was not found wanting when weighed in the balance. At the funeral of Warren R. Davis, a member of Congress from South Carolina, a man concealed behind one of the large pillars of the east portico of the Capital fired at President Jackson, but before the assailant could fire a second shot he was overpowered and taken into custody. Carried before the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Columbia the pris- oner was given a hearing. Mr. Key appeared on be- half of the government. Convinced that a criminal proceeding should be a prosecution, not a persecution, the care with which he conducted the examination prevented a miscarriage of justice, even removing a popular misbelief of a criminal conspiracy against the life of the President. The Harrison and Van Buren presidential contest in 1840 created much excitement and division in Georgetown and there was much spirit shown be- tween the Whigs and Democrats, resulting after General Harrison's inauguration, in a petition by its citizens to the President charging Robert White, the collector of the port, with the misuse of his office for political purposes, etc. The removal of White was asked and Henry Addison named for the place. A libel suit filed by White against those making the charges was the result. Mr. Key, Colonel William L Brent and his son Robert J. Brent represented the defendants being represented by General ^ard L. Coxe, Joseph H. Bradley, Robert Auld. The Circuit Court Smith: Sketch of Francis Scott Key. 75 of the District of Columbia, before which the case was tried, held the petition to the President a privileged communication and so could not be ad- mitted in evidence or read to the jury. This lost the case for the plaintiff, but Mr. Key carried it to the Supreme Court of the United States and reversed the judgment. About 1830 the Alexandria Canal Company, under authority conferred by act of Congress, undertook to construct across the Potomac River an aqueduct for the purpose of connecting with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, that Alexandria might use this waterway with Georgetown for transportation. In the con- struction of the necessary piers large cofferdams were built in the river into which much clay and gravel was dumped, much of which in one way or the other was spilt on the outside of the dams and washed down stream. The Potomac being a highway and used as such in those days a good deal more than now, the mayor and people of Georgetown, fearing, as they alleged, that the channel would be obstructed and navigation retarded, employed Mr. Key to apply to the court for an injunction enjoining the continuance of the work which they believed and termed a public nuisance. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court of the United Stages where it was ably argued and some very interesting and nice questions of law ^raised. Among other things it was contended 11 t the act of Congress authorizing the construction of the aqueduct was unconstitutional --as under a com- pact between the states of Maryland anJ Virginia the citizens of Georgetown had a right of property in the free navigation of the river and could not be deprived thereof by an act of Congress. The case, however, was decided against the contention of Georgetown and J 6 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. the aqueduct was completed. The present highway bridge upon the site is popularly known by the name of the " Aqueduct bridge" to this day, although the old aqueduct bridge was removed more than twenty years ago. A case I recall, from tradition, was one in which Mr. Key established the legitimacy of a poor woman whom the avarice of man had caused to be attacked in order that another might gain property belonging to her. The case was fought back and forth through the courts for very many years. Although successful, his client passed away before her legitimacy was established. The last case to which I shall refer was one which grew out of the capture of a slave trader off the coast of Florida, then Spanish territory. A Spanish vessel named the ' ' Antelope, ' ' in the act of receiving a cargo of Africans, was captured on the coast of Africa by the "Arraganta, " a privateer manned in Baltimore. In charge of a prize crew from the "Arraganta," she was carried to the coast of Brazil and thence to the coast of Florida, where she was discovered hovering very near the coast of the United States, by the United States Revenue Cutter "Dallas." Supposing her to be either a pirate or engaged in smuggling slaves into tne United States, she was brought by the "Dallas" into the port of Savannah for adjudica- tion as lawful prize. On behalf of the subjects oj. their respective countries, to whom it was alleged the vessel and slaves belonged, the vice consuls of Spain and Portugal interposed claims. The United States, in the interest of humanity, opposed these claims, taking the position that the trade in which the vessel was engaged was in violation of the laws of the United States and as the vessel and her cargo were Smith: Sketch of Francis Scott Key. 77 within the territorial jurisdiction of this country they were amenable to our laws. On the other hand, it was contended that the African slaves in the regular course of legitimate commerce had been acquired as property by the Spanish and Portuguese owners, and their restoration was demanded under the law of nations, and particularly under a treaty between the United States and Spain which provided that prop- erty rescued from pirates should be restored to the owner upon proof of property. As the founder of the African Colonization Society, Mr. Key's sympathy with the negro cause was well and favorably known. Mr. Wirt, the Attorney General, accordingly engaged him to assit the government in the prosecution of the case. Among the spectators in court was Governor Foote of Mississippi, who some years afterwards paid the following tribute to the speech of Mr. Key. "On this occasion he greatly surpassed the expectations of his most admiring friends. The subject was particularly suited to his habits of thought, and was one which had long enlisted, in a special manner, the generous sensibilities of his soul. It seems to me that he said all that the case demanded, and yet no more than was needful to be said; and he closed with a thrilling, and even an electrifying, picture of the horrors connected with the African slave trade which v ,.ad have clone honor to either a Pitt or a Wilberforce in their palmiest, days. " ' Alas! however, the court in an opinion written by the great Chief Justice, John Marshall, held, that as the traffic in which the Spanish vessel was engaged was not in violation of the laws of Spain the ship and her human cargo must, under our treaty, be restored to their owners, but the force and eloquence of Mr. Key's argument was acknowledged by the Chief Justice at the outset of his opinion in these words : 78 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. "In examining claims of this momentous importance; claims in which the sacred rights of liberty and of property come in conflict with each other; which have drawn from the Bar a degree of talent and of eloquence worthy of the ques- tions that have been discussed; this court must not yield to feelings which might seduce it from the path of duty, but must obey the mandate of the law. ' ' While not taking any very active part in politics, nevertheless, when the good of a worthy cause de- manded his services he considered it his duty to take the stump and is known to have stumped not only Maryland, his native state, but Pennsylvania and Virginia. On such an occasion at Frederick, Mary- land, in paying a tribute to his country, he sounded a timely warning, in the following words which are even prophetic: "But if ever forgetful of her past and present glory, she shall cease to be 'the land of the free and the home of the brave,' and become the purchased possession of a company of stock jobbers and speculators, if her people are to become the vassals of a great moneyed corporation, and to bow down to her pensioned and privileged nobility : if the patriots who shall dare to arraign her corruptions and denounce her usurpations, are to be sacrificed upon her gilded altar ; such a country may ln^nish venal orators and presses but the soul of national poetry will ix j gone. That muse will, 'Never bow the knee in mammon's fane.' No, the patriots of bu^ii a land must hide their shame in her deepest forests, and her bards murt hang their harps upon the willows. Such a people, thus cor- rupted and degraded, ' Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying shall go down, To the vile dust from whence they sprung, Unwept, unhonored and unsung.' " Perhaps the most important service ever rendered his country was in his mission to Alabama in the fall Smith: Sketch of Francis Scott Key. 79 of 1833 where he was sent by President Jackson as the special representative of the United States to settle the dispute between the general government and the State of Alabama growing out of the gov- ernment's orders for the removal of settlers from the Creek Indian lands within the territorial limits of the State of Alabama. The United States, in the spring of 1832, made a treaty with the Creek Indians, under the terms of which the Indians ceded to the United States all their lands east of the Mississippi River. The treaty imposed upon the United States the duty of removal of all the settlers from the ceded territory, and the survey and location of the Indian reservations therein. The manner of removal the government found in an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1807, entitled "An Act to prevent settlements being made on lands ceded to the United States, until authorized by law." The act provided that intruders upon the public lands should be removed by the United States Marshal, aided by the military, if necessary, acting under the orders of the President. The ceded territory comprised nine southern counties of the State of Alabama, and in addition to the Indians, contained 1 population of nearly three thousand white persons, citizens of the State of Alabama. State and local governments were established and in each county judges, magistrates, sheriffs, notaries public, etc., had been appointed from among the settlers. Such was the situation when the United States Marshal for the southern district of Alabama acting upon instructions from the President, aided by United States troops, in the fall of 1833 undertook the expulsion of the white settlers who having exchanged their means of transportation for 80 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. implements of husbandry were without means to remove and, maintaining themselves and their families by the tillage of the soil, were fairly prosperous. They denied the right of the general government to remove them and were quick to resent the efforts made by the marshal for their removal being sup- ported by the then Governor of Alabama, Honorable John Gayle, who wrote the Secretary of War a strong letter of protest in their behalf arguing, among other things, that the enforcement of the President's orders, carrying with it, as it necessarily did, the expulsion of all the settlers without discrim- ination, would deprive the state of all means of en- forcing its laws within the territory, thereby render- ing the administration of justice and the suppression of crime impossible. The Secretary wrote a vigorous reply, stating that the right of the state to extend its jurisdiction over the ceded district was not ques- tioned, but the ownership of land and jurisdiction over it were distinct questions, and he met the gov- ernor's objection to the enforcement of the Presi- dent's orders with the suggestion that until the locations could be made under the treaty it would not be impracticable to attach the whole of the ceded I : itory to one or mare of the organized counties of the state and thus provide for the complete ex- ercise of both civil and criminal jurisdiction. The Honorable Clement C. Clay, then a representa- tive in Congress from Alabama, also wrote a letter to the Secretary of War, in behalf of the settlers. A fierce controversy arose which resulted in open resistance to the marshal and the United States troops, under command of Major James L. Mcintosh, stationed at Fort Mitchell, Alabama. Several towns were burned and a settler, Hardeman Owens, shot and Smith: Sketch of Francis Scott Key. 81 killed by a soldier. Quickly the entire frontier was in a great state of excitement. Indictments were found against the deputy marshal, Lieutenant David Manning and three privates, charging them with the murder of Owens, but the sheriff was prevented from execut- ing the warrants of arrest for the soldiers, Major Mcintosh interposing, so that the warrants were returned into court indorsed, "Not served for fear of being killed," and the court requested that the governor send a sufficient force of militia to the scene to comand obedience to its orders. Governor Gale enclosed all the papers in a letter to the Secre- tary of War, requesting that the situation be called to the President's attention. Colonel J. J. Albert and Mr. James Bright were sent by the government to make the necessary surveys and locate the Indian reservations, being instructed to proceed with all possible dispatch, that the country lying outside the reservations might be released from the effect of the orders of removal. When the controversy was at its height the Secretary of War, at the direction of the President, wrote Mr. Key that it was the wish of the President that he visit the State of Alabama and examine into the cause of the trouble arising out of the government's instructions for the removal of intruders from the Indian lands. HJ3 commission gave him the broadest powers possi- ble and the United States Marshal, Colonel Mcintosh and other officers of the United States concerned with the removal of the settlers, were instructed to follow his advice in everything pertaining to their duty. He was to conduct the defense of all United States officers before both state and United States courts whenever it became necessary. And he was authorized to com- municate the tenor of his instructions to the Governor 6 82 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. of Alabama if lie deemed it advantageous. Arriving at Fort Mitchell on the eleventh day of November, 1833, he immediately set about the accomplishment of the great and delicate task before him. Had such broad powers, at so critical a moment, been entrusted to one less capable what evil consequences might not have ensued it is impossible to say. But to his great credit it can be said he so conscientiously and diplo- matically managed the situation that within twenty days from the date of his arrival he was enabled to report to the Secretary of War that a settlement could no doubt be effected in accordance with the wishes of the President, and on December 18, less than six weeks from his arrivel, he set out upon his return to his home in the District of Columbia, having accomplished the object of his mission without asking permission to concede a single point in negotiating the settlement, and without having once to resort to any coercive measures whatsoever. The negotiation with the governor brought him fre- quently a guest to the home of the latter, and Mrs. Gayle speaks very charmingly and interestingly of him. In one instance she says : "Francis Scott Key, the District Attorney for the District of Columbia, is here at present for the purpose of assisting to settle the Creek controversy. He is very pleasant, intelligent you at once perceive. His countenance is not remarkab^ when at rest, but as soon as he lifts his eyes, usually fixed upon some object near the floor, the man of sense, of fancy, and the poet is at once seen. But the crowning trait of his character, I have just discovered — he is a Christian." As the author of "The Star Spangled Banner" he had long been known in Alabama, as elsewhere, hence now that he was present in person many of the young ladies of Tuscaloosa vied with each other in concocting Smith: Sketch of Francis Scott Key. 83 clever schemes by which they might be the recipients of an original verse or so, for their albums. The circumstances under which ' ' The Star Spangled Banner" was written are too familiar to justify a de- tailed account at this time. At the instance of the citi- zens of upper Marlboro, Maryland, he had secured the permission of the government, together with letters accrediting him to the British officers, for his visiting the British fleet to intercede for the release of Dr. William Beane, a respected physician of Marlboro, who had been taken prisoner by the British, after the battle of Bladensburg, in their retreat to their ships in the Patuxent River. The fleet had since, however, weighed anchor and dropped down the Patuxent to the Chesapeake and its destination was not known. Deeming it most expedient to go to Baltimore, and from that port, together with Colonel John S. Skin- ner, United States Agent for the Parol of Prisoners, set sail with the hope of overtaking the fleet, Mr. Key, sending his family to his father's estate, Terra Ruba, left his home in Georgetown for Baltimore on the morning of the fifth of September, 1814. Those were the days, it should be remembered, before "the advent of steam and electric railroads with their rapid flying trains and cars, and such a trip consumed the best part of a day; while a sail to the mouth of the Patuxent River from Baltimore, a distance of a hun- dred miles, required even more time, so the hardships of his journey should not be underestimated. Upon meeting with the British they were courteously re- ceived by Admiral Cochrane on board his flag ship "The Suprise." It was with no little difficulty, how- ever, that Mr. Key succeeded in securing the British admiral's consent to release Dr. Beane. Although eventually successful he was informed that they would 84 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. have to be detained until after a contemplated attack on Baltimore— not an agreeable surprise we may well believe. Accordingly they were brought back to Balti- more with the British fleet, and upon reaching there on the morning of September 10, 1814, were trans- ferred to their own little vessel, the United States Cartel ship "Minden, " where they were detained under guard of British marines, and anchored in a position from which they could readily witness the preparations for an attack upon their native land. Their anxiety and misgivings, intensified by the recent horrors of the burning of Washington, after the total rout of the militia at Bladensburg, cannot be described, if even by the most astute conceived, as now from their vantage point they were enabled to compare with accuracy the relative strength of their country's defense. On the morning of September 13, as the British army, nine thousand strong, under General Ross, moved upon Baltimore along the road leading from North Point, the fleet, forming a semicircle off Fort McHenry at a distance of about two and a half miles, opened fire upon its little garrison of brave de- fenders. Mr. Key's little American party, thus com- pelled to witness the right from within the enemy's lines, helplessly stood upon the deck of their vessel unable to assist in the defense of their country and fearing every moment least they should see the fort defenses reduced and the land forces repelled; the city surrendered or even worse, abandoned, as Wash- ington had been, only a few weeks before, to the plunder and rapine of the remorseless enemy. As the day passed they took hope from the stubborn resist- ance of their countrymen and their desire for news of the battle caused them to watch patiently with untiring Smith: Sketch of Francis Scott Key. 85 interest the flag of their country, which in the autumn 's breeze defiantly waved from the ramparts of the fort before the mouths of the English guns. As the last rays of that day's mellow twilight kissed it a fond farewell, their hearts also sank beneath the horizon of hope, for they little dreamed at morn it would still be there, the sublime inspiration for a nation's song, proudly waving "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave," christened forever, "The Star Spangled Banner." Not being able longer to discern or know anything of the battle, his comrades, worn and fatigued, retired below. Not so with him— an instrument in the hands of destiny, his sleepless anxiety knew no rest. About two o'clock the British with about twelve hundred picked men, under cover of the darkness, attempted to steal past the fortifications and, after effecting a landing, by a flanking movement, attack the garrison in the rear. However well planned their scheme may have been, they figured without regard for the alert- ness and bravery of men fighting in defense of their homes. Promptly discovered, when well within range a galling fire was opened upon them, raking them fore and aft in terrible slaughter. Their vessels, hastily closing in to protect the disordered retreat which fol- lowed, opened full broadsides upon the little fortress which, responding with all her batteries, made a terri- fic explosion. Suddenly the great commotion ceased. Only the shieks and groans of the wounded and dying could be heard, and finally even these were hushed as the still- ness of the night gained its reign. The suspense for the next few hours before the break of day we will not attempt to picture— it is impossible. His anxious soul asked the vital question uppermost in his heart and mind in these words: 86 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. "0 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 rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ? " As the same sun again sank beneath the western horizon of that victorious city, nearly thirty years later, on the eleventh of January, 1843, at the home of his eldest daughter, Mrs. Charles Howard, in Balti- more, Mr. Key breathed his last. The Honorable Hugh L. Legare, Attorney General of the United States in announcing his death to the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of the bar of the court paid him the following tribute : "My acquaintance with the excellent man, whose sudden death in the midst of a career of eminent usefulness, public and private, and of the most active devotion to the great interest of humanity, we are now called upon to deplore, was until a very recent period extremely limited. But short as was my personal intercourse with him, it was quite long enough to endear him to me in a peculiar manner, as one of the moHt gentle, guileless, amiable and attractive beings with whom, in an experience sufficiently diversified, it has been my good fortune to act. Ardent, earnest, indefatigable in the pursuit of his objects, and the performance of his duties, elo- quent as the advocate of whatever course he embraced, D his heart was true and his sympathy cordial and susceptible; decided in his conduct without one particle of censoriousness or ascerbity towards others; with the blandest manners, the most effectionate temper, the most considerate toleration of dissent, the most patient acquiescence in the decisions of authority, even where he had the most strenuously exerted himself to prevent them, his life seemed to me a beautiful pat- tern of all that is lovely, winning and effective in the charity of a christian gentleman." Smith: Sketch of Francis Scott Key. 87 Mr. Justice Thompson, in the absence of the Chief Justice, Mr. Key's brother-in-law, replied in part as p ollows : "Mr. Key's talents were of a very high order. His mind was stored with legal learning, and his literary taste and attainments were highly distinguished, and added to these, was a private character which holds out to the Bar a bright example for imitation. The loss of such a man cannot but be sincerely deplored." His remains were first placed in the Howard vault, in Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore, but subsequently were removed to Mt. Olivet Cemetery near Frederick, Maryland^ where they have since lain beside those of his wife. Near by his grave from a tall flag pole ever floats an American flag; and through the patriotic efforts of the ladies of Maryland a handsome bronze monument now marks his last resting place. In the presence of these the pilgrim and patriot pausing with eyes uplifted to heaven, may exclaim with genu- ine sincerity: At rest beneath the azure sky, Here lies a loyal son, Who's gone to meet his God on h'gh, His duty here well done. No truer heart qas lain at rest, Or was there e'er one born Upon our Country's soil most blest, Than his whose now has gone. Those stars and stripes his mem'ry bear As long as they remain, And through all ages shall declare His loved and honored name. The massive walls of the old fort, A monument grand to fame, Remind us of the battle fought, And of the patriot's name. 88 Records of the Columbia Historical Society. 'Twas there he watched them through the fight, Upon the rampart's far, Until the darkness closed from sight Each floating stripe and star. And when at morn, kissed by the light, They still waved proudly high, His heart was filled with wild delight, He knew his God was nigh. Then as the day broke bright and clear, The battle's tempest ceased, No longer was there need to fear — Victory, all released. He'd seen the struggle through the night, And heard the cannon's roar, But the flag, which darkness hid from sight, Still waved o'er freeman's shore. " 'Twas the Star Spangled Banner, long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."