The Unitas Fratrum or Church of the Brethren arose in the fifteenth century in Bohemia and Moravia. In 1727 intolerance led its leaders to begin to plan an emigration to America. A colony was sent to Pennsylvania in 1734, while a second colony went to Georgia in 1735. Late in the year 1740 the remnant of the emigrants to Georgia joined forces with the Pennsylvania contingent, and settled on five thousand acres of land in the "Forks of the Delaware," as the locality just within the confluence of the Delaware River and the Lehigh or "West Fork of the Delaware" was called. The object of the settlers was to preach to the Indians, and they began at once to win the confidence of the Delawares.

The first house was built in 1741. This was twenty by forty feet, one story high, with sleeping quarters for a number of persons in the attic under the steep pitched roof. The cattle were kept in a portion of the house partitioned off for them. The common room in which they lived was also the place of worship for more than a year. The site of this house is marked by a memorial stone, which was put in place in 1892.

The foundation for the Gemeinhaus, or Community House, was laid in September. For many years this was to serve as home and hospice, manse and church, administration office, academy, dispensary, and town-hall. As "The House on the Lehigh," it became known through all the countryside.

The event of the year 1741 was the coming of Count Zinzendorf. The Community House was not yet finished, but two rooms in the second story were hurriedly prepared for the guest.

No name had yet been given to the settlement, but on Christmas Eve, after Zinzendorf had celebrated the Holy Communion in the building, the only fitting name suggested itself. Bishop Levering of the Moravian Church tells the story:

"This humble sanctuary, with beasts of the stall sharing its roof, brought the circumstances of the Saviour's birth vividly before their imagination.... Acting upon an impulse, the Count rose and led the way into the part of the building in which the cattle were kept, while he began to sing the quaintly pretty words of a German Epiphany hymn which combined Christmas thoughts and missionary thoughts.... Its language expressed well the feeling of the hour.... The little town of Bethlehem was hailed, its boon to mankind was lauded.... With this episode a thought came to one and another which gave rise to a perpetual memorial of the occasion.... By general consent the name of the ancient town of David was adopted and the place was called Bethlehem."

The chapel of the Gemeinhaus was used by the congregation for nine years. During this period many of the Indians were baptised there. In 1752 and again in 1753 councils were held here with the representatives of the Nanticoke and Shawnee Indians from the Wyoming Valley.

The second place of worship was an extension of the Gemeinhaus, completed in 1751. Here congregations gathered for fifty-five years. Here the gospel was preached by some of the most eminent ministers of colonial days, while the records show that famous visitors sat in the pews. Among them were Governor John Penn; Generals Washington, Amherst, Gage, Gates, and Lafayette; John Hancock, Henry Laurence, Samuel and John Adams, Richard Henry Lee, and many other delegates to the Continental Congress.

During the Revolution there were no more earnest patriots than the members of the Moravian Community at Bethlehem. At one time the Single Brethren's House was used for eight months as a hospital, and no charge was made, though in 1779 a bill for repairs was sent which amounted to $358.

A letter from David Rittenhouse, received on September 16, 1778, caused great excitement, for he told of the despatch to Bethlehem of all the military stores of Washington's army, carried in seven hundred wagons. This was done because Washington's army had been compelled to fall back on Philadelphia. It was also thought wise to send the bells of Christ Church and of Independence Hall to Allentown, by way of Bethlehem. The wagon on which Independence Bell was loaded broke down on descending the hill in front of the hospital, and had to be unloaded while repairs were being made.

The most distinguished patient cared for in Bethlehem was the Marquis de Lafayette, who was brought from Brandywine, and was nursed by Sister Liesel Beckel.

Twenty years after the close of the war it was decided that the time had come for the building of a permanent church. The first estimate was made in 1802. At that time it was thought that the total cost would be $11,000. "It is interesting to note how very modern they were in underestimating the probable cost of a church," Bishop Levering says. The actual cost, including the organ, was more than five times the estimate.

The excavation for the building was made in March, 1803, by volunteer laborers, to whom the residents of the Sisters' House furnished lunch. The work was completed in two weeks. Then the great foundation walls were laid, six feet thick.

For the services of consecration, held from May 18 to May 26, 1806, six thousand people gathered in the village of five hundred inhabitants. On the first day, "at five o'clock in the morning the jubilant note of trombones, trumpets, and other wind instruments from the belfry of the church broke the stillness of the awaking village with a musical announcement of the festival day."

The Moravian Community at Bethlehem has grown. But those who worship in the old church are animated by the same missionary enthusiasm that characterized those who founded the institution so long ago.

FIVE: OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE

FIVE: OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE

XLIV

HISTORIC LANDMARKS AT NEW CASTLE,
DELAWARE

THE FIRST LANDING PLACE OF WILLIAM PENN

How many students of United States history would be able to answer the question, "What town has had at least seven different names and has been under the flags of four different countries?"

There is such a town, and but one—New Castle, Delaware. The Swedes laid it out in 1631, and called it New Stockholm. In 1651 the Dutch built a fort there, and called it Fort Kasimir. Sandhoec was a second Dutch name. When the Dutch West India Company ceded it to the city of Amsterdam it was named New Amstel. After 1675 the English took a hand in naming the village. Grape Wine Point, Delaware Town, and, at length, New Castle were the last names assigned to the seaport that, within a generation, boasted twenty-five hundred inhabitants.

The site of Fort Kasimir was long ago covered by the Delaware. A quaint house, still occupied, is the only survival from the Dutch period. But it would be difficult to find a town of four thousand inhabitants which is so rich in buildings and traditions that go back to the earliest English occupation.

Many of the buildings and traditions centre about the old Market Square, in the centre of the town, only a few hundred feet from the Delaware. This square dates from the days of Petrus Stuyvesant, in 1658. At one end of the square is the old stone-paved courthouse, which has been in use since 1672. To this building William Penn was welcomed, as a tablet on the outer wall relates:

"On the 28th Day of October, 1682, William Penn, the Great Proprietor, on His First Landing in America, Here Proclaimed His Government and Received from the Commissioner of the Duke of York the Key of the Fort, the Turf, Twig, and Water, as Symbols of His Possession."

From the steps of the courthouse, as a centre, was surveyed the twelve-mile circle whose arc was to be the northern line of Delaware, according to the royal grant made to Penn. This arc forms the curious circular boundary, unlike any other boundary in the United States.

In the rear of the courthouse, though still on the green Market Square, is old Emmanuel Protestant Episcopal Church, which was organized in 1689, though the building now occupied was begun in 1703. This cruciform structure is the oldest church of English building on the Delaware, and services have been held here continuously since 1706, when it was completed. Queen Anne gave to the church a "Pulpit and Altar Cloath, with a Box of Glass." A memorial tablet on the wall tells of the first rector, Rev. George Ross, who came as a missionary from England in 1703, and served for fifty years. His son, also George Ross, was one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. His daughter Gertrude married George Read, another of the Signers. The tomb of George Read is in the rear of the church.

The Amstel House, the home of Henry Hanby Hay, is the oldest of these; it was probably built about 1730. One of its earliest owners was Nicholas Van Dyke, who was a major of militia during the Revolution, and later served six years in the Continental Congress. For three years he was Governor of Delaware. During his residence in this house it was called "The Corner." So, at least, it was referred to by Kensey Johns in a love-letter to comely Anne Van Dyke, written during the cold winter of 1784:

Three months after Kensey Johns wrote the ardent letter to Anne Van Dyke, the day after the wedding, April 30, 1784, George Washington came to the Corner, and there was a reception in his honor and that of the bride and groom. The Father of his Country received the guests standing before an old fireplace whose hearthstone has been lettered in memory of the event.

A few years later Kensey Johns, then Chief Justice of Maryland, built near by a beautiful colonial mansion where he entertained many of the leading men of the nation.

Kensey Johns' predecessor as Chief Justice was George Read, the Signer. His house, an old record says, stood so near the Delaware, which is here two and a half miles wide, that when the tide was high one wheel of a carriage passing in the street in front of it was in the water, and in violent storms the waves were dashed against the building. The house was in the midst of a wonderfully beautiful garden. This garden is still one of the sights of the town, though the house was destroyed in the fire of 1824.

In the early days New Castle was on the King's Road from Philadelphia to Baltimore. Washington passed this way when on his journeys. Lafayette visited the town in 1824. The house built by Nicholas Van Dyke, son of the owner of the Corner, received him for the marriage of Charles I. Du Pont and Dorcas M. Van Dyke. It is recorded that on this occasion he gave the bride away.

Cæsar Rodney, too, passed through the town frequently, notably when he made the famous ride in July, 1776, that helped to save the Declaration of Independence; here he rested after the first stage of his historic journey.

The name of George Thomson, secretary of Congress during the Revolution, is also enrolled in the list of the worthies who visited the town. In 1740 his father, when on his way from Ireland to America with his three sons, died on shipboard. The captain appropriated the meagre possessions of the family and set the boys ashore at New Castle, penniless. George was sheltered by a butcher who was so delighted with him that he decided to bring him up to the trade. George was terrified when he overheard the man's plan; he did not intend to be a butcher. So he stole out of the town between dark and daylight and made his way to surroundings where the way was opened that led him to usefulness and fame.

On the Green in Dover, Delaware, is one of the most striking houses of the quaint old town—the Ridgely house. The date of its erection is not certain, but it is an interesting fact that on one of the bricks is the date 1728. Originally there were but two rooms in the house; subsequent enlargements have been so harmonious that one who sees the place from the Green must pause to admire. Admiration turns to delight when the interior of the house is examined. The old-fashioned garden at the rear intensifies delight.

Dr. Charles Greenburg Ridgely became owner of the property in 1769. The house was a gift from his father, Nicholas Ridgely. The second of the wives who lived here with Dr. Ridgely was Ann, the daughter of Squire William Moore of Moore Hall, near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, whose determined advocacy of armed preparation for defence against a threatened Indian attack once aroused the indignation of the Pennsylvania Assembly, most of whose members were Friends.

The Ridgely house was famous throughout Delaware as the resort of patriots. Dr. Ridgely was six times a member of the Provincial Assembly, and was also an active member of the Constitutional Convention of Delaware in 1776.

During the days when patriotic feelings were beginning to run high, Cæsar Rodney, the ward of Dr. Ridgely's father, was often an inmate of the Ridgely house. Cæsar was born near Dover in 1728. At Dover he received most of his education. Some twenty years after the little town saw so much of him he became famous because of his vital service to the Colonies, as a member of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. "He was the most active, and was by odds the leading man in the State in espousing the American cause," Henry C. Conrad once said to the Sons of Delaware. In the course of his address Mr. Conrad told the thrilling story of Cæsar Rodney's most spectacular service.

On July 1, 1776, when the vote was taken in the Committee of the Whole of the Continental Congress as to the framing and proclaiming of the Declaration of Independence, ten of the thirteen Colonies voted yes. "Pennsylvania had seven delegates, four of whom were opposed to it, and three in favor of it. Delaware had two members present, McKean and Read. Rodney was absent. McKean was in favor of, and Read against the Declaration. McKean, appreciating that it was most important, for the sentiment it would create, that the Declaration of Independence should be proclaimed by the unanimous vote of the thirteen Colonies, sent for Rodney, who was at that time at one of his farms near Dover. Rodney came post-haste, and he arrived just in time to save the day, and cast the vote of Delaware in favor of the Declaration.

McKean, writing of the event years afterward to Cæsar A. Rodney, a nephew of Cæsar Rodney, said:

"I sent an express, at my own private expense, for your honored uncle, the remaining member from Delaware, whom I met at the State House door, in his boots and spurs, as the members were assembling. After a friendly salutation, without a word in the business, we went into the hall of Congress together, and found we were among the latest. Proceedings immediately commenced, and after a few minutes the great question was put. When the vote of Delaware was called, your uncle arose and said: 'As I believe the voice of my constituents and of all sensible and honest men is in favor of independence, and my own judgment coincides with theirs, I vote for independence.'"

Since Pennsylvania also voted in favor of the Declaration, it was adopted unanimously.

Cæsar Rodney was Governor of Delaware from 1778 to 1781. On April 8, 1784, the State Council, of which he was presiding officer, met at his house near Dover, because he was too ill to go to Dover. Less than three months later he died.

A monument marks his last resting-place in Christ Episcopal churchyard in Dover.

XLVI

REHOBOTH CHURCH ON THE POCOMOKE, MARYLAND

THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

The Pocomoke River rises in southern Delaware, forms a part of the eastern boundary of Somerset County, Maryland, and empties into Pocomoke Sound, an inlet of Chesapeake Bay. On the banks of this stream, not far from the mouth, Colonel William Stevens, a native of Buckinghamshire, England, located in 1665, taking out a patent on what he called the Rehoboth plantation, the name being chosen from Genesis 26:22. "And he called the name of it Rehoboth. And he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in this land." When Somerset County was organized he was made Judge of the County Court. He also became a member of "His Lordship's Councill," and was one of the Deputy Lieutenants of the Province.

As the years passed many followed Colonel Stevens to Somerset County, in search of religious freedom. Scotch, Scotch-Irish, French, and Quakers were represented in the village that was known at first as Pocomoke Town, though later it was called Rehoboth. Many of these settlers were Presbyterians, who had lost their property through persecution.

In 1672 the Grand Jury, encouraged by Judge Stevens, asked Rev. Robert Maddux to preach at four points in the county. One of these points was the plantation house at Rehoboth. The next year George Fox, the Quaker, was in the community. He also preached in his famous "leather breeches" at Colonel Stevens' plantation, to a great congregation of several thousand whites and Indians. A Quaker monthly meeting followed.

The number of Presbyterians increased to such an extent that in 1680 Colonel Stevens asked the Presbytery of Laggan in Ireland for a godly minister to gather the band of exiles into a church. Francis Makemie was sent as a result. Soon Rehoboth Church was organized by him, as well as a number of other churches in the neighborhood. The exact date of the beginning of Rehoboth Church is uncertain, but it is probable that the first building was erected about 1683.

For some years Makemie travelled from place to place, preaching and organizing churches as he went, but from 1699 to 1708, except in 1704 and 1705, when he visited Europe, he lived in the neighborhood and preached at Rehoboth whenever he was at home.

When it became necessary to erect a new church building, he decided to have this on his own land, because of Maryland's intolerant laws. This building, which is still in use, dates from 1706, the year when its builder assisted in organizing the first Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church at Philadelphia.

Makemie's name will ever be connected with the struggle for religious liberty. He had a certificate from the court that permitted him to preach in the Province of Maryland, but he had many trying experiences in spite of this fact. His congregation groaned under the necessity of paying taxes to support the rectors of three neighboring parishes.

The greatest trial was not in Maryland, but in New York, where he spent a portion of 1706 and 1707. His experiences there should be familiar to all who are interested in the struggle for religious liberty in America.

The story is told in a curious document written by Makemie himself, which was printed in New York in 1707, under the title "A Particular Narrative of the Imprisonment of two Non-Conformist Ministers; and Prosecution & Tryal of one of them, for Preaching one Sermon in the city of New-York. By a Learner of Law and Lover of Liberty."

The warrant for the arrest of the "criminal" was addressed to Thomas Cordale, Esqr., High-Sheriff of Queens County on Long-Island, or his Deputy, and was signed by Lord Cornbury. It read:

"Whereas I am informed, that one Mackennan, and one Hampton, two Presbyterian Preachers, who lately came to this City, have taken upon them to Preach in a Private House, without having obtained My Licence for so doing, which is directly contrary to the known Laws of England, and being likewise informed, that they are gone into Long-Island, with intent there to spread their Pernicious Doctrines and Principles, to the great disturbance of the Order by Law established by the Government of this province. You are therefore hereby Required and Commanded, to take into your Custody the Bodies of the said Mackennan and Hampton, and then to bring them with all convenient speed before me, at Fort-Anne, in New-York."

When brought before Lord Cornbury, Makemie said: "We have Liberty from an Act of Parliament, made the first year of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary, which gave us Liberty, with which Law we have complied."

But Lord Cornbury replied: "No one shall Preach in my Government without my Licence.... That Law does not extend to the American Plantations, but only to England.... I know, for I was at Making thereof.... That Act of Parliament was made against Strowling Preachers, and you are such, and shall not Preach in my Government."

Makemie again challenged Lord Cornbury to show "any Pernicious Doctrine in the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church." Later he refused to give "Bail and Security to Preach no more."

"Then you must go to Gaol," his Lordship said.

On January 23 another warrant was given to the High Sheriff of New York. He was told "to safely keep till further orders" the prisoners committed to him.

From the prison Makemie sent a petition asking to know the charge, and demanding a speedy trial. Later the prisoner was released on habeas corpus proceedings.

At the trial, where Makemie conducted his own defence, he read Chapter 23 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, as a complete reply to the charge that he believed what incited the people to disregard the authority of the king.

The jury brought in a verdict of "not guilty," but Makemie was obliged to pay the costs, including the fees of the Court Prosecutor, which amounted to twelve pounds. The total cost of the trial, including the expense of a trip from his home in Maryland, made necessary by a recess in the trial, was more than eighty pounds.

A few months later Makemie died. It was felt by those who knew him that the trying experiences at New York hastened his end.

He had not lived in vain. His struggles for religious liberty were to bear rich fruit before many years.

Henry van Dyke wrote a sonnet to the memory of Francis Makemie, which was read on May 14, 1908, when the monument to the memory of the pioneer was unveiled:

XLVII

DOUGHOREGAN MANOR, NEAR ELLICOTT CITY, MARYLAND

WHOSE OWNER WAS THE LAST SURVIVING SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

It is true that when Charles Carroll was about to sign his name to the Declaration of Independence he added the words, "of Carrollton," but the story that he added the words there that he might be distinguished from a second Charles Carroll is an error; he had been writing his name thus since 1765. It would have been just as true a description if he had used the name of another of the numerous Carroll estates, Doughoregan Manor, but the designation he chose was simpler. At any rate he could not spell it in so many ways as the name of the family estate where he lived and died. Letters written by him at different periods show such diverse spellings as "Doeheragen," "Doohoragen," "Dooheragon," and "Dougheragen," before he settled down to "Doughoregan."

Doughoregan Manor, which was named for one of the O'Carroll estates in Ireland, is one of the most ancient family seats in Maryland. In 1688 Charles Carroll, I, came over from England. He became a large landed proprietor, in part as a result of his appeal to the king of England for a part in the estate of the O'Carrolls of King's County, Ireland. The king satisfied the claim by offering him 60,000 acres of land in the Colonies. His heir was Charles Carroll, II, who was born in 1702. Fifteen years later Doughoregan Manor was built, and twenty-seven years later Charles Carroll, II, and his brother Daniel sold sixty acres of land which became the site of old Baltimore.

Charles Carroll, II, divided his time between Doughoregan Manor and the Carroll Mansion in Annapolis, his town house. Here was born, in 1737, Charles Carroll, III, the Signer. Most of the education of this heir to the vast estate of Charles Carroll, II, was secured in France. He was in Paris when his father wrote to him, in 1764, telling him of the large property that was to come to him. After speaking of this in detail, he concluded:

"On my death I am willing to add my Manor of Doughoregan, 10,000 acres, and also 1,425 Acres called Chance adjacent thereto, on the bulk of which my negroes are settled. As you are my only child, you will, of course, have all the residue of my estate at my death."

When the estate of his father finally came into his hands, Charles Carroll, III, was the richest man in Maryland. That he knew how to handle such a large property he showed by a letter which he wrote to his son, Charles Carroll, IV, on July 10, 1801:

"He who postpones till to-morrow what can and ought to be done to-day, will never thrive in this world. It was not by procrastination this estate was acquired, but by activity, thought, perseverance, and economy, and by the same means it must be preserved and prevented from melting away."

But while the owner of Doughoregan Manor was careful, he was not penurious. He kept open house to his numerous friends, of whom George Washington was one. In one of the rooms of the Manor Washington sat to Gilbert Stuart for his portrait.

Both Mr. Carroll's property and his services were at his country's call. From the days of the Stamp Act to the close of the Revolution there was no more ardent patriot than he. He served as a member of the Continental Congress, was for three months with Washington at Valley Forge, by appointment of Congress, was later United States Senator, and was a leader in business as well as in political affairs. With Washington he was a member from the beginning of the Potomac Canal Company, which later was merged into the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.

After the Revolution he spent most of his time at Doughoregan Manor, where he completed the remarkable three-hundred-foot façade by the addition of the chapel which has been used by the family for more than a century.

One by one the sons and daughters went out from the house, carrying the Carroll name or the Carroll training into many sections of Maryland and Virginia. Perhaps the most interesting marriage was that of Charles Carroll, IV, who was mentioned by Washington in his diary for 1798:

William Spohn Baker, in "Washington after the Revolution," after quoting these extracts from the diary, says:

A delightful picture of life at the Manor was given by Adam Hodgson, an English visitor, who wrote from Baltimore on July 13, 1820:

"I have lately been paying some very agreeable visits at the country seats of some of my acquaintances in the neighborhood.... The other morning I set out, at four o'clock, with General H, on a visit to a most agreeable family, who reside at a large Manor, about seventeen miles distant. We arrived about seven o'clock, and the family soon afterward assembled to breakfast. It consisted of several friends from France, Canada, and Washington, and the children and grandchildren of my host, a venerable patriarch, nearly eighty-five (83) years of age, and one of the four survivors of those who signed the Declaration of Independence.... After breakfasting the following morning, the ladies played for us on the harp; and in the evening, I set out on horseback, to return hither, not without a feeling of regret, that I had probably taken a final leave of my hospitable friend, who, although still an expert horseman, seldom goes beyond the limits of his manor...."

The other three surviving Signers died first, so that when Charles Carroll of Carrollton followed on November 14, 1832, the last Signer was gone. Among his last words were these:

"I have lived to my ninety-sixth year; I have enjoyed continued health, I have been blessed with great wealth, prosperity, and most of the good things which this world can bestow—public approbation, esteem, applause; but what I now look back on with the greatest satisfaction to myself is, that I have practiced the duties of my religion."

He was buried under the pavement of the chapel at the Manor.

The present occupants of Doughoregan are Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carroll, who followed Governor John Lee Carroll, after his death in 1911.

When Colonel James Wolfe was campaigning in Scotland in 1748 to 1753, one of the surgeons in his command was Upton Scott, a young Irishman from County Antrim. At that time began a friendship between the two men that continued through life.

Another friend made at this time by the young surgeon was Horatio Sharpe. In 1753, when Sharpe planned to go to America, Dr. Scott decided to go with him, though it was not easy to think of resigning his commission, for this would mean the severance of pleasant relations with his colonel. When Wolfe said good-bye to his comrade he gave him a pair of pistols as a remembrance. These are still treasured by descendants of the surgeon.

From 1754 to 1769 Horatio Sharpe was Proprietary Governor of Maryland, and Dr. Scott was his companion and physician. The young surgeon was popular among the young people whom he met at Annapolis, the colonial capital.

In 1760, when he persuaded Elizabeth Ross, the daughter of John Ross, the Register of the Land Office of Maryland, to become his bride, he built for her the stately house in Annapolis, Maryland, which is now occupied by the Sisters of Notre Dame. The new house, with its charming doorway and wonderful hall carvings, was well worth the attention even of one who had spent her girlhood at Belvoir, a quaint mansion of great beauty, six miles from Annapolis.

Governor Sharpe was a welcome visitor at the Scott house until the time of his death in 1789, when he appointed his friend, the owner, one of his executors. Governor Robert Eden, the last of the Proprietary Governors, who served from 1769 to 1774, was at times almost a member of the Scott household.

Governor Eden was looked upon with favor by the patriots in Maryland because he was always moderate and advised the repeal of the tax on tea. In 1776 he went to England, but in 1784 he returned to Maryland to look after the estate of Mrs. Eden, who was Caroline Calvert, sister of Lord Baltimore; by the terms of the treaty of 1783 he was entitled to this property. While in Annapolis he was the guest of Dr. Scott. There, in the room now used by the Sisters of Notre Dame as a chapel, he died.

But probably the most famous visitor to the Scott mansion was Francis Scott Key, who was the grandson of Mrs. Scott's sister, Ann Arnold Ross Key of Belvoir. When he was a boy he was often in Annapolis. His college training was received at St. John's in the old town, and in later life he frequently turned his steps to the house of his great-aunt and listened to the stories of Dr. Scott that helped to train him in the patriotism that was responsible, a few years later, for the composition of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Many garbled stories have been told of the circumstances that led to the writing of this song that has stirred the hearts of millions. The true story, and in many respects the simplest, was told by Key himself to his brother-in-law, R. R. Taney, who was later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1865, when the "Poems of the Late Francis Scott Key, Esq.," were published, the volume contained the story as related by Judge Taney.

In 1814, the main body of the British invaders passed through Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Many of the officers made their headquarters at the home of Dr. William Beanes, a physician whom the whole town loved. When some of the stragglers from the army began to plunder the house, Dr. Beanes put himself at the head of a small body of citizens and pursued these stragglers. When the British officers heard of this, Dr. Beanes was seized and treated, not with kindness as a prisoner of war, but with great indignity. Key, as an intimate friend of the doctor, and a lawyer, was asked by the townsmen to intercede for the prisoner. When application was made to President Madison for help, he arranged to send Key to the British fleet, under a flag of truce, on a government vessel, in company with John S. Skinner, a government agent.

For a week or ten days no word came from the expedition. The people were alarmed for the safety of Key and his companion.

The bearers of the flag of truce found the fleet at the mouth of the Potomac. They were received courteously until they told their business. The British commander spoke harshly of Dr. Beanes, but fortunately Mr. Skinner had letters from the British officers who had received kindness at the doctor's hands. General Ross finally agreed that, solely as a recognition of this kindness, the prisoner would be released. But he told the Americans that they could not leave the fleet for some days. They were therefore taken to the frigate Surprise, where they were under guard. They understood that an immediate attack on Baltimore was contemplated, and that they were being restrained that they might not warn the city of the plans of the enemy.

That night Fort McHenry was attacked. The Admiral had boasted that the works would be carried in a few hours, and that the city would then fall. So, from the deck of the Surprise, Key and his companion watched and listened anxiously all night. Every time a shell was fired, they waited breathlessly for the explosion they feared might follow. "While the bombardment continued, it was sufficient proof that the fort had not surrendered. But it suddenly ceased some time before day.... They paced the deck for the remainder of the night in fearful suspense.... As soon as it dawned, and before it was light enough to see objects at a distance, their glances were turned to the fort, uncertain what they should see there, the Stars and Stripes, or the flag of the enemy. At length the light came, and they saw that 'our flag was still there.'"

A little later they saw the approach of boats loaded with wounded British soldiers. Then Key took an envelope and wrote many of the lines of the song, and while he was on the boat that carried him to shore he completed the first rough draft. That night, at the hotel, he rewrote the poem. Next day he showed it to Judge Nicholson, who was so delighted with it that the author was encouraged to send it to a printer, by the hand of Captain Benjamin Eades. Captain Eades took the first handbill that came from the press and carried it to the old tavern next the Holliday Street Theatre. There the words were sung for the first time, to the tune "Anacreon in Heaven," the tune Key had indicated on his copy.

Long before the author's death in 1843 the song had won its place in the affections of the people. He wrote many other poems, and some of them have become popular hymns. At the memorial service conducted for him in Christ Church, Cincinnati, by his friend and former pastor, Rev. J. T. Brooke, the congregation was asked to sing Key's own hymn, beginning: