Bombing of Ft. McHenry

Maryland Historical Society

In 1793, with France in the midst of revolution, diplomatic maritime relations with America began to fail. As a result, the following year Congress authorized the construction of sixteen fortifications to protect the Eastern Seaboard. The first of these was Fort McHenry, named after Irish-born U.S. Secretary of War James McHenry (1753-1816). Construction began in 1798 and by 1805 the walls and soldiers' quarters we view today were completed.

The Bombardment (September 13-14, 1814)
In June 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britain, initiating the War of 1812. The circumstances that have placed Fort McHenry in American folklore began with a simple request from the fort's commander, Major George Armistead, who, upon arrival to take command in June 1813, requested "a flag so large the British would have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance." His request went to a young Baltimore flagmaker, Mary Pickersgill whose house still stands today at Pratt and Albemarle Streets along Baltimore's waterfront. In the summer of 1813, Pickersgill made two flags and delivered them to the fort's 38-year old commander. A year later these flags would be hoisted in battle, and in victory.

On August 24, a British expeditionary force burned several public buildings in Washington. Two weeks later, on September 11, 1814, a British fleet of fifty warships under the command of Vice-Admiral Alexander F.I. Cochrane appeared off North Point in the Patapsco River ten miles below the brick-earthen ramparts of Fort McHenry. The next morning, 4,500 British soldiers landed and began their march toward Baltimore, whose successful privateers had wreaked havoc with British shipping. Soon after midday, their vanguard encountered an American company of riflemen. In the ensuing skirmish, the British commander, Major General Robert Ross (1766-1814), was mortally wounded, allegedly shot by young Maryland militiamen Daniel Wells and Henry McComas. The new British commander, Colonel Arthur Brooke (1772-1843), 44th Foot, brought forward reinforcements, and for two hours the Battle of North Point raged. Smoke from the battle was clearly visible in Baltimore and Fort McHenry six miles away.

Triumph and Inspiration
The next morning, September 13, as severe thunderstorms lashed Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay, His Majesty's bomb ships Devastation, Terror, Aetna, Volcano, and Meteor, and the rocket ship Erebus nevertheless began their bombardment of Baltimore's shore defenses in the hope of forcing a passage up the harbor to aid the army's planned attack on the main American lines defending the city. For twenty-five hours the British ships hurled an estimated 1,500 Congreve rockets and 200-pound, cast-iron hollow exploding bomb shells at Fort McHenry. By dawn, on the morning of September 14, British attempts to take Baltimore by land and sea had failed, and the expeditionary force withdrew. The sight of the fort's oversized garrison flag that morning inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." In February 1815, at the end of the war and following a two-year occupation of the Chesapeake Bay, the British navy departed altogether.

For nearly 200 years the story of Fort McHenry and "The Star-Spangled Banner" has been a prominent folk legend--based on fact--of American history. Civil War regimental histories recall the impact of "the perilous fight" on young Union soldiers stationed at Fort McHenry, and in both World Wars they became inspirational war bond symbols.

Sheads, Scott S. The Rockets' Red Glare: The Maritime Defense of Baltimore.. Centreville, Md.: Tidewater Publishers, 1986.

Weybright, Victor. Spangled Banner: The Story of Francis Scott Key. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, Inc, 1935.