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6 unusual facts about Francis Scott Key


Fort Lafayette

Francis Key Howard, grandson of Francis Scott Key, was a newspaper editor of the Baltimore Exchange, a newspaper sympathetic to the southern cause.

Music Concourse

At the opposite end of the Music Concourse from the Bandshell is a monument dedicated to Francis Scott Key, though this was not its original location, having been moved to this spot in 1967.

National Museum of American History

Located in the center of the second floor is the original Star Spangled Banner Flag which inspired Francis Scott Key's poem.

Scouting in Maryland

This was done in anticipation of the bicentennial commemoration at Fort McHenry in 2014 of the battle which inspired Francis Scott Key to write his inspirational poem which later became our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

To Anacreon in Heaven

These included two songs by Francis Scott Key, most famously his poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry".

War Memorial Plaza

It is said that the first public singing of the future National Anthem occurred on the stage here in late September 1814, when the poem of "The Defence of Fort McHenry" written by Francis Scott Key aboard a truce ship downriver from the British fleet as it bombarded Fort McHenry during September 12–14, 1814 several weeks earlier and set to music with the tune "To An Anacreon in Heaven", a so-called English drinking song.


American Missionary Fellowship

Several people influential in the United States during the 19th century, including Francis Scott Key, Associate Supreme Court Justice Bushrod Washington, and U.S. Mint Director James Pollock, served as officers of the mission; many others supported the mission in other ways.

District of Columbia National Guard

During the War of 1812, Key went on a mission of mercy to Baltimore, Maryland after the invasion and burning of Washington, D.C., seeking the release of a local doctor who had been arrested for arresting British Army looters.

George Plater

Their daughter Elizabeth Rousby Key was the wife of Louisiana's fifth governor, Henry Johnson and a first cousin to Francis Scott Key.

Grand Hyatt San Francisco

The fountain depicts images of the Cliff House, the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, the Seal of San Francisco, the band Jefferson Airplane, Francis Scott Key, and other San Francisco sights and figures, among other historical figures.

Peter Spier

The Star-Spangled Banner (1973), an edition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key (1814) —"includes music, background history, and pictures of flags"


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