"The Star-Spangled Banner"

When the British retreated to their ships from Washington, they carried with them Dr. Beans, a beloved physician of Upper Marlborough, as a prisoner. Francis S. Key, a gentleman of culture and great affability of manner, consented to go with a flag to the British squadron, and endeavor to procure the release of Beans. Key went with Mr. Skinner of Baltimore, and found the fleet at the mouth of the Potomac. As the invaders were preparing to attack Baltimore, they refused to allow either of the three to return then, and they witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry from one of the British ships with the greatest anxiety, especially on the night of the 13th. The fort was silent, and they did not know whether it had surrendered or not. In the dim light of early morning their hearts were gladdened, for they saw that "our flag was still there." It was while pacing the deck of the British vessel in great anxiety, that Key composed that song, "The Star-Spangled Banner," which immortalized him. When the ships withdrew, Key and his friends were restored to liberty.

The naval operations on the sea, though not so important in immediate results as those of the two preceding years, fully sustained the character of the American war marine. Several new war-vessels were built and sent to sea during the first half of that year. The John Adams, which was cut down to a corvette of 28 guns, late in 1813, started on a cruise from the Washington Navy-Yard, under the command of Captain Morris, early in 1814, and eluding the blockading fleet in Lynn Haven Bay, went to sea. Her cruise was unsuccessful, and in August, with a sick crew and a damaged vessel, Captain Morris went into the Penobscot River, where he destroyed the corvette to prevent her falling into the hands of the British. In May of that year, Captain Johnston Blakely crossed the ocean in the Wasp, 18, and spread terror, like the Argus, among the shipping in the British channel. On the 28th of June, after a conflict of half an hour, the Wasp captured the British sloop Reindeer, and as she was a wreck, Blakely burned her. On the first of September, the Wasp had a sharp engagement in intense darkness, and compelled her antagonist, the Avon, to surrender. Three consorts of the Avon coming up, compelled the Wasp to relinquish her prize. She afterward captured several prizes; but during that autumn she was lost somewhere, with all her people, for she was never heard of afterward.

In March, 1814, the sloop-of-war Peacock, 18, Captain Warrington, sailed on a cruise from New York, and on the 29th of April she had a severe conflict of forty minutes with the Epervier, 18, and captured her. She was a valuable prize, having $118,000 in specie on board, and the vessel sold for $55,000. In another cruise to the shores of Portugal, the Peacock captured fourteen vessels and returned to New York in October. When Bainbridge relinquished the command of the Constitution, 44, in 1813, she was thoroughly repaired. She went to sea again under the command of Captain Charles Stewart, late in 1813, and early in February following she was on the coast of Surinam. On the 14th of that month she captured the Picton, 16, and returning to the New England coast early in April, she was chased into the harbor of Marblehead by two powerful British frigates. The Constitution afterward went to Salem and thence to Boston, where she remained until December, 1814. At the close of that month she put to sea, crossed the Atlantic to the Bay of Biscay, and then cruised off the harbor of Lisbon. Stewart sailed southward toward Cape St. Vincent, and on the 20th of February, 1815, he discovered two strange sails, which, toward evening, flung out the British flag, when he displayed the American colors. By skillful management, he secured an advantageous position, when he began an action with both of them; and after a severe combat, he captured both of them. One of these vessels was the frigate Cyane, 36, and the other was the sloop Levant, 18. In this engagement the Constitution was so little damaged, that three hours after the battle she was ready for another. These exploits of the Constitution were performed after peace had been proclaimed. After one or two more stirring adventures, Stewart crossed the Atlantic, landed many of his prisoners on the coast of Brazil, and at Porto Rico he first heard of the proclamation of peace. He arrived at New York at the middle of May, and gave the first intelligence of the capture of the Cyane and Levant. Honors were showered upon him. Congress gave him thanks and a gold medal. The Common Council of the city of New York gave him the freedom of the city in a gold box and honored him with a public banquet, and the Legislature of Pennsylvania presented him, in the name of the State, with a gold-hilted sword. The Constitution was ever afterward known as Old Ironsides, and Stewart bore the same title until his death in November, 1869, when he was in the ninety-second year of his age.