Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), shown here in a 1902 portrait by De Witt Clinton Peters (based on a ca. 1796 portrait by Rembrandt Peale), was a lawyer and author who penned the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. In 1833, Key was sent to Alabama by Pres. Andrew Jackson to quell tensions over Creek Nation land cessions during the governorship of John Gayle.
