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During the Revolutionary War, the British
forces had, on rare occasions, burned government administration
buildings in their sweeps through the rebellious colonies, destroying
all the public records for the locality. During this war and the War of
1812, the government of the State of Maryland considered itself a likely
target for British aggression, and so both times it had the state
records transported from Annapolis to Upper Marlboro for safe keeping.
As it turned out, Annapolis was spared during both campaigns, but,
during the War of 1812, the town of Upper Marlboro was invaded by
British forces, not once, not twice, but three times! During the
War of 1812, a local government official, Dr. William Beanes, was
responsible for the safety of the state records while they were stored
in Upper Marlboro.
During the time that the British forces were in Prince George's
County, they were so taken by the beauty of the towns and the
countryside, that they tried to have as small an impact on the area as
any invading army could. As the army passed through Upper Marlboro on
their way to Bladensburg and Washington, and on their return, they
caused no damage to the community (with the singular exception of
butchering a large quantity of livestock).
As the British forces were withdrawing from the town of Upper
Marlboro, two drunken stragglers were arrested by Dr. William Beanes,
and thrown into jail. One escaped, caught up to his unit and reported
what had happened. A detachment of British soldiers returned to Upper
Marlboro to free the imprisoned soldier and to arrest Dr. Beanes. This
detachment, again, preserved the beauty of the area, and the state and
county records survived.
In order to obtain the release of Dr. Beanes, the townspeople of
Upper Marlboro enlisted the help of Mr. Francis Scott Key of Georgetown,
and Colonel John Stuart Skinner of Croom. The two men travel to
Baltimore to meet with Major General Robert Ross and Rear Admiral Sir
George Cockburn to request the release of Dr. Beanes. After he was
released, the three men witnessed the bombardment of
Fort McHenry, and
Mr. Key was inspired to write The Star Spangled Banner.
No doubt, Dr. Beanes was a true patriot, and the sight of an
invading army marching through his community on its way to invade his
nation's capital gave him great pain. No doubt, seeing two of its
soldiers drunk on the streets of his community was more than he could
stand, so, without much thought to the possible reaction of the invading
army, he placed them under arrest. No doubt, it hadn't occurred to him
that he was exposing the records of the Maryland State Government, not
to mention the records of Prince George's County, to the wrath of an
unopposed force with a penchant for leaving flames in its wake.
The fact remains that the writing of our national anthem is a
direct result of the ill-conceived acts of an over-zealous public
official.
Dr. William Beanes later attained the military rank of Major.
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