Land of the Free - Short Story
- Greg Luti
- Dec 7, 2025
- 10 min read
Updated: Jun 12
Greg Luti’s short story “Land of the Free” follows Francis Scott Key as he discovers the British plan to bomb Fort McHenry — exposing the fragile promise of freedom and the human cost of war in 1814.
Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer, had received news of the very men that he had just gotten to be released from the shackles on a British warship are to be for nothing. The British are to bomb Fort McHenry and start a war with the land that Key called his home. Perplexed by it all, Key went down to tell the released prisoners of the unfortunate circumstances.
“So we are free men, Mr. Key?” A prisoner asked the lawyer, still shaken by the news he received.
“No.” He stared down at the ground, only slightly glancing at the prisoner.
“But I thought you negotiated? I thought the British agreed that we would trade them?”
Just earlier in the day, Key had informed the same American prisoners that he had made a deal with the British commander of the ship, the American prisoners for the British prisoners. The men jumped for joy when they heard of their release. That was before The very same British commander told Key that the British navy is on their way over to blow Fort McHenry, the closest fort to the ships, with all the firepower they had. The prior negotiations were fruitless, for the two countries would be at war soon.
