Historic Shrines of America / Being the Story of One Hundred and Twenty Historic Buildings and the Pioneers Who Made Them Notable

by John T. Faris

THE UPTON SCOTT HOUSE, ANNAPOLIS,
MARYLAND

WHERE, AS A BOY, THE AUTHOR OF "THE STAR-SPANGLED
BANNER" WAS A FREQUENT VISITOR

When Colonel James Wolfe was campaigning in Scotland in 1748 to 1753, one of the surgeons in his command was Upton Scott, a young Irishman from County Antrim. At that time began a friendship between the two men that continued through life.

Another friend made at this time by the young surgeon was Horatio Sharpe. In 1753, when Sharpe planned to go to America, Dr. Scott decided to go with him, though it was not easy to think of resigning his commission, for this would mean the severance of pleasant relations with his colonel. When Wolfe said good-bye to his comrade he gave him a pair of pistols as a remembrance. These are still treasured by descendants of the surgeon.

From 1754 to 1769 Horatio Sharpe was Proprietary Governor of Maryland, and Dr. Scott was his companion and physician. The young surgeon was popular among the young people whom he met at Annapolis, the colonial capital.

In 1760, when he persuaded Elizabeth Ross, the daughter of John Ross, the Register of the Land Office of Maryland, to become his bride, he built for her the stately house in Annapolis, Maryland, which is now occupied by the Sisters of Notre Dame. The new house, with its charming doorway and wonderful hall carvings, was well worth the attention even of one who had spent her girlhood at Belvoir, a quaint mansion of great beauty, six miles from Annapolis.

Governor Sharpe was a welcome visitor at the Scott house until the time of his death in 1789, when he appointed his friend, the owner, one of his executors. Governor Robert Eden, the last of the Proprietary Governors, who served from 1769 to 1774, was at times almost a member of the Scott household.

Governor Eden was looked upon with favor by the patriots in Maryland because he was always moderate and advised the repeal of the tax on tea. In 1776 he went to England, but in 1784 he returned to Maryland to look after the estate of Mrs. Eden, who was Caroline Calvert, sister of Lord Baltimore; by the terms of the treaty of 1783 he was entitled to this property. While in Annapolis he was the guest of Dr. Scott. There, in the room now used by the Sisters of Notre Dame as a chapel, he died.

But probably the most famous visitor to the Scott mansion was Francis Scott Key, who was the grandson of Mrs. Scott's sister, Ann Arnold Ross Key of Belvoir. When he was a boy he was often in Annapolis. His college training was received at St. John's in the old town, and in later life he frequently turned his steps to the house of his great-aunt and listened to the stories of Dr. Scott that helped to train him in the patriotism that was responsible, a few years later, for the composition of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Many garbled stories have been told of the circumstances that led to the writing of this song that has stirred the hearts of millions. The true story, and in many respects the simplest, was told by Key himself to his brother-in-law, R. R. Taney, who was later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1865, when the "Poems of the Late Francis Scott Key, Esq.," were published, the volume contained the story as related by Judge Taney.