Why was Francis Scott Key in Baltimore Harbor during the Battle of Baltimore?
After the British captured and burned Washington, DC, they returned to their boats on the Patuxent River. During their retreat, they passed through Upper Marlboro, where a few British stragglers and one deserter began plundering nearby farms. Dr. William Beanes and other American civilians seized six or seven of the stragglers and confined them to a local jail. When one escaped and informed his superiors of the arrest, a contingent of British marines returned to Upper Marlboro and arrested Beanes and the others, and held them in exchange for the release of the British prisoners. The Americans were subsequently released except Beanes, who was considered the instigator of the incident. In violation of the existing rules of war, he was placed in confinement aboard HMS Tonnant.
