Produced by Anthony J. Adam.
by
John A. Carpenter
On August 18, 1814, Admiral Cockburn, having returned with his fleetfrom the West Indies, sent to Secretary Monroe at Washington, thefollowing threat:
SIR: Having been called upon by the Governor-General of the Canadas toaid him in carrying into effect measures of retaliation against theinhabitants of United States for the wanton destruction committed bytheir army in Upper Canada, it has become imperiously my duty, inconformity with the Governor-General's application, to issue to thenaval forces under my command an order to destroy and lay waste suchtowns and districts upon the coast as may be found assailable.
His fleet was then in the Patuxent River, emptying into the Chesapeake
Bay. The towns immediately "assailable," therefore, were Baltimore,
Washington, and Annapolis.
Landing at Benedict's, on the Patuxent, the land forces, enervated by along sea-voyage, marched the first day to Nottingham, the second toUpper Marlborough. At the latter place, a town of some importance,certain British officers were entertained by Dr. Beanes, the principalphysician of that neighborhood; and a man well-known throughoutsouthern Maryland. His character as a host was forced upon him, buthis services as a physician were freely given, and formed afterward themain plea for his lenient treatment while a prisoner.
As the British army reached Upper Marlborough, General Winder wasconcentrating his troops at Bladensburg. The duty of assigning theregiments to their several positions as they arrived on the field wasperformed by Francis Scott Key, a young aide-de-camp to General Smith.Key was a practising lawyer in Washington who had a liking for themilitary profession. He was on duty during the hot and dusty dayswhich ended in the defeat of the American army. Subsequently, he couldhave read a newspaper at his residence in Georgetown by the light ofthe burning public buildings at Washington, and he passed withindignant heart the ruins left by the retreating army when, after anight of frightful storm, they silently departed in a disorderly forcedmarch of thirty-five miles, to Upper Marlborough. He then knew whatany other city might expect upon which the "foul footsteps' pollution"of the British might come.
The sorry appearance of the British army gave the Marlborough peoplethe idea that it had been defeated, and on the afternoon of thefollowing day Dr. Beanes and his friends celebrated a supposed victory.Had they stayed in the noble old mansion that the worthy but irascibledoctor inhabited near Marlborough, "The Star-Spangled Banner" wouldnever have been written. Tempted by the balminess of a warm Septemberafternoon, however, the party adjoined to a spring near the house,where, the negro servant having carried out the proper utensils, thecool water was tempered with those ingredients which mingle theircongenial essences to make up that still seductive drink, a Marylandpunch. It warms the heart, but if used too freely it makes a manhot-tempered, disputatious, and belligerent. Amid the patrioticjollity, therefore, when three British soldiers, belated, dusty, andthirsty, came to the spring on their way to the retreating army, theirboasting met with an incredulous denial, which soon led to theirsummary arrest as chicken-stealers and public enemies. Confined in theinsecure Marlborough jail, one of them speedily escaped, and reached ascouting-party of British cavalry, which, by order of Cockburn,returned to Upper Marlborough, roused Dr. Beanes out of his bed atmidnight, and conveyed him to the B