"Snow-Storm in August:" D.C.'s First Race Riot
In pre-Civil War Washington D.C., free blacks ran successful businesses despite the continuation of the slave trade around them. In 1835, a drunken slave entered his mistress' bedroom with an ax, setting in motion events that would lead to the city's first race riot. We learn about the fascinating, and nearly forgotten, characters involved in the incident and its aftermath.
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Excerpted from "Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835" by Jefferson Morley. Copyright © 2012 by Jefferson Morley. Excerpted by permission of Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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You asked for other information about Francis Scott Key so this is relative to his role in writing the Star-spangled Banner.
What most people don't bother to ask is 'why' he was in Baltimore in the first place.
The answer is that he had been hired by the Vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church in Upper Marlboro to negotiate the freedom of Dr. William Beanes, the Senior Warden, after he had a run-in with British soldiers on their way to Washington.
There are conflicting stories about the run-in, one being that Beanes had been a British supporter who changed his stance once the British wanted to quarter horses in the church.
Trinity Church had been built by the Presbyterians, sold to the Episcopalians who continue to hold services there.
The original building burned in the 1840's and was re-built but the congregation, which just celebrated its 200th anniversary (2010) is very proud of its role in the writing of the National Anthem but is mostly forgotten.