from Wikipedia.....On September 3, 1814, Francis Scott Key and John Stuart Skinner set sail from Baltimore aboard the ship HMS Minden, flying a flag of truce on a mission approved by President James Madison. Their objective was to secure the exchange of prisoners, one of whom was Dr. William Beanes, the elderly and popular town physician of Upper Marlboro and a friend of Key’s who had been captured in his home. Beanes was accused of aiding the arrest of British soldiers. Key and Skinner boarded the British flagship HMS Tonnant on September 7 and spoke with Major General Robert Ross and then-Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane over dinner while the two officers discussed war plans. At first, Ross and Cochrane refused to release Beanes, but relented after Key and Skinner showed them letters written by wounded British prisoners praising Beanes and other Americans for their kind treatment.
During the rainy night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort’s smaller "storm flag" continued to fly, but once the shell and Congreve rocket[5] barrage had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn. By then, the storm flag had been lowered and the larger flag had been raised.
Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort. This flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, came to be known as the Star Spangled Banner Flag and is today on display in the National Museum of American History, a treasure of the Smithsonian Institution. It was restored in 1914 by Amelia Fowler, and again in 1998 as part of an ongoing conservation program.
Aboard the ship the next day, Key wrote a poem on the back of a letter he had kept in his pocket. At twilight on September 16, he and Skinner were released in Baltimore. He completed the poem at the Indian Queen Hotel, where he was staying, and entitled it "Defence of Fort McHenry."
Interestingly, much of the idea of the poem and even some of the wording is arguably derived from an earlier song by Key, also set to the tune of The Anacreontic Song. The song, known as "When the Warrior Returns,"[6] is said to have been written in honor of Stephen Decatur and Charles Stewart on their return from the First Barbary War.
By a law signed on March 3, 1931 by President Herbert Hoover, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the official national anthem of the United States. A Republican.........
US Gov't's version
www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/september11/ssbfacts.htmland yet another gov't version
kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/spangle.htmBTW note the claimer/disclaiomer --------------------------------
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Another version indicating there were more than just one prisioner......From Wikipedia...
He studied law at St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland and also learned under his uncle Philip Barton Key.[3]
[edit] "The Star-Spangled Banner"During the War of 1812, Key, accompanied by the American Prisoner Exchange Agent Colonel John Stuart Skinner, dined aboard the British ship HMS Tonnant, as the guests of three British officers: Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane, Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, and Major General Robert Ross. Skinner and Key were there to negotiate the release of prisoners, one being Dr. William Beanes. Beanes was a resident of Upper Marlboro, Maryland and had been captured by the British after he placed rowdy stragglers under citizen's arrest with a group of men. Skinner, Key, and Beanes were not allowed to return to their own sloop: they had become familiar with the strength and position of the British units and with the British intent to attack Baltimore. As a result of this, Key was unable to do anything but watch the bombarding of the American forces at Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore on the night of September 13–September 14, 1814.[4]
*****When the smoke cleared, Key was able to see an American flag still waving and reported this to the prisoners below deck. On the way back to Baltimore, he was inspired to write a poem describing his experience, "The Defence of Fort McHenry", which he published in the Patriot on September 20, 1814. He intended to fit the rhythms of composer John Stafford Smith's "To Anacreon in Heaven".[4] It has become better known as "The Star Spangled Banner".
***** Note the simulairity between this and the video concerning "prisioners"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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From .......
www.francisscottkey.org/ which indicates that Key and Beane were both back on his sloop to greet the Dawn.....
Key and Skinner were transferred to the frigate "Surprise," commanded by the admiral's son, Sir Thomas Cockburn, and soon afterward returned under guard of British sailors to their own vessel, whence they witnessed the engagement. Owing to their position the flag at Fort McHenry was distinctly seen through the night by the glare of the battle, but before dawn the firing ceased, and the prisoners anxiously watched to see which colors floated on the ramparts. Key's feelings when he found that the stars and stripes had not been hauled down found expression in "The Star-Spangled Banner," which gained for him a lasting reputation. Note that all other posted versions imply that Key and Beane were both still on a British ship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, just what is the "exact" truth of anything 196 years ago when it hasn't been taught as history and fact for the past 40 to 50 years?
? Is it 100 % truth we are after here, or should we just celebrate the fact that someone took the time, and no doubt money to come up with a video to glorify a historical battle, that of the battle of Fort McHenry and the resulting National Anthem that became official 79 years ago?
??.... How many school assemblies can you go into where the National Anthem is even sung anymore?
?? Thanks, Kilroy, I too know a bit more now than I did before........ The Old Sarge
BTW looking for veracity concerning the SSB? Which flag is Key talking about, the one that was flying during the bombardment, or the one he saw at dawn?
? THEY WERE NOT THE SAME FLAG, so Key himself took poetic license with the facts right from the get go............
:fire_missle_ani 
