Archive for the ‘Legend’ Category
The Son of Francis Scott Key
Philip Barton Key II was the son of Francis Scott Key, writer of the Star-Spangled Banner. Philip followed his father’s foot steps in the law profession, eventually becoming a United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. He was a lady killer and was engaged in numerous affairs around the DC area. In 1859, at forty years of age, Philip was murdered in Lafayette Square by Congressman Daniel Sickles. Key was engaged in a public relationship with Sickles young wife, Teresa Bagioli Sickles. The controversial politician found out about the ruse through an anonymous letter, and wasting no time, proceeded to gun the attorney down in the street. Represented by famed lawyer Edwin Stanton, Sickles pleaded not guilty by temporary insanity, the first time in United States history this defense had been used. During his brief incarceration, the Congressman received so many visitors that he was afforded the head jailer’s abode, and was never relieved of his firearm. He was found innocent, then told the judge he had killed Key knowingly, claiming no double jeopardy.
Sickles later commanded troops at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War, where he disobeyed orders and lost most of his men. He was legally spared once again, allowing the old general to continue to thrive in American politics. He lived to be nearly a hundred, outliving Key by over fifty years.
Aquila Randall Monument
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Although the Aquila Randall monument is in present-day Baltimore County, in 1827 Baltimore City and County were one jurisdiction. So in all probability this monument, along with its more well-known brothers, the Battle Monument and the Washington Monument, inspired [John Quincy] Adams at dinner that evening to describe Baltimore as “The Monumental City.”
Washington Monument’s “Prodigy”
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William Rusk, in his book “Art in Baltimore: Monuments and Memorials”, tells the following story about the raising of Italian sculptor Enrico Causici’s marble statue of Washington in 1829. “Tradition recalls a prodigy occurring when the statue was raised to the summit of the monument – a shooting star dashed across the sky and an eagle lit on the head of the settling general.”
Merriam-Webster defines, in this case, a prodigy as a “portentous event, an omen, something extraordinary or inexplicable.”