Fort McHenry, Battle of, was an important battle between United States and British forces during the War of 1812 (1812-1815). Fort McHenry was a U.S. fort that protected Baltimore. On Sept. 13 and 14, 1814, British warships bombarded Fort McHenry, but they could not break its defenses. The battle inspired Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer and verse writer, to write ”The Star-Spangled Banner.” The song eventually became the national anthem of the United States.
The battle for Baltimore.
On Aug. 24, 1814, British troops under Major General Robert Ross had captured Washington, D.C. They occupied the city and set fire to many government buildings, including the Capitol and the White House. The British next tried to capture Baltimore, which at that time was the third largest city in the United States. The British planned to send Ross and his army to attack the city from land. At the same time, the British navy, led by Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, would bombard the city from the sea.
The Americans expected that the British would attack Baltimore. Major General Samuel Smith, a veteran of the American Revolution (1775-1783), built a fortified position at Hampstead Hill, just east of the city. Smith had between 10,000 and 15,000 troops at the position. In addition, about 1,000 troops commanded by Major George Armistead defended Fort McHenry, which protected the city from attacks by sea.
On Sept. 12, 1814, Ross and about 4,500 British troops landed at North Point, about 14 miles (23 kilometers) southeast of Baltimore. As the British moved toward the city, Smith sent Brigadier General John Stricker and about 3,200 American troops to delay them. The British defeated Stricker’s troops and forced them to withdraw to Hampstead Hill. However, Ross was killed during the battle. Colonel Arthur Brooke took Ross’s place.
The next morning, Brooke’s army resumed its march toward Baltimore. However, Brooke did not have enough troop strength to attack the Americans at Hampstead Hill without support from Cochrane’s fleet. The British navy had to knock out the cannons at Fort McHenry so that its ships could get close enough to fire at the Americans at Hampstead Hill.
On September 13, at dawn, 16 British warships began bombarding Fort McHenry. For about 24 hours, the fleet fired between 1,500 and 2,000 bombs and rockets at the fort. The cannons on the British ships had a longer range than the fort’s cannons, so the ships were able to stay far enough back so that the Americans could not reach them with artillery fire.
In the afternoon, some of the British ships tried to maneuver closer to the fort, but the Americans forced them back. Around midnight, Cochrane sent about 300 troops to land behind Fort McHenry, but they, too, were pushed back before they could land.
On the morning of September 14, Cochrane and Brooke decided to withdraw from Baltimore. Despite the heavy bombardment, only four Americans were killed, and the fort still stood. About three months later, the Americans and the British signed the Treaty of Ghent to end the war.
“The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Armistead had taken command of Fort McHenry the year before the battle, and he requested a large flag for the fort. He wanted the flag to be big enough that the British could see it from a distance. The flag made for the fort measured 42 by 30 feet (13 by 9 meters).
Shortly before the battle, William Beanes, an American physician, was being held as a prisoner on a British ship in Chesapeake Bay. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and friend of Beanes’s, had come to Baltimore to arrange for the American doctor’s release. The British agreed to free Beanes, but they did not want the Americans to reveal plans of the attack. They allowed Beanes and Key to return to a U.S. flag-of-truce ship, but held the ship at the rear of the British fleet until after the battle ended.
When dawn arrived on September 14, Key saw the U.S. flag flying over the walls of the fort. Key’s joy inspired him to write the poem “Defense of Fort M’Henry.” Key later set the poem to music, and the song became known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In 1931, Congress adopted “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem.
