Frank Key Howard entered the world on the 25th of October 1826. His grandfather Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner during the War of 1812 while another grandfather John Eager Howard served as a Revolutionary War colonel.
Federal agents arrested Frank Key Howard just after midnight on the 13th of September 1861 because he edited the Daily Exchange newspaper which supported Confederate interests. Major General Nathaniel Prentice Banks led the arrest team without a warrant following direct orders from George B. McClellan to suppress political opposition.
Frank Key Howard spent time inside Fort McHenry immediately following his capture before being transferred to Fort Lafayette in Lower New York Bay off Brooklyn. A final move placed him within Fort Warren near Boston where these facilities held political prisoners deemed threats to military operations.
Howard completed writing his memoir titled Fourteen Months in American Bastiles by December 1862. Publishers released the book in 1863 for public consumption despite two sellers of the volume being arrested shortly after its distribution began.
Chief Justice Roger Taney was married to Anne Phoebe Charlton Key who was the sister of Francis Scott Key. This made Howard his great-uncle by marriage connection while Taney led the Circuit Court that overturned Lincoln's suspension order.