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Events on September 13, 1814 Led to the National Anthem

The Battle of Baltimore took place on September 13, 1914, and was a key engagement in the War of 1812 between British forces and American defenders. The British had recently captured and burned Washington, D.C., and they hoped to deal a similar blow by attacking the port city of Baltimore, Maryland.

The British forces intended to bombard Fort McHenry, which guarded the entrance to Baltimore's harbor, to weaken American defenses and allow their naval forces to sail into the harbor to attack the city.

Francis Scott Key, a lawyer, was not a soldier, but he became involved in the events leading up to the battle. He had boarded a British ship to negotiate the release of a friend, Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured by the British. During this negotiation, Key and his companions were temporarily detained aboard a British ship to prevent them from relaying information to the Americans.

As a result, Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry on the night of September 13, 1814, from the deck of a British ship.

Throughout the night of September 13, British forces bombarded Fort McHenry with rockets and shells, but the fort’s defenders refused to surrender. The key moment of inspiration for Francis Scott Key came on the morning of September 14. As dawn broke after the intense overnight bombardment, Key saw that Fort McHenry’s flag—a large, 30-by-42-foot American flag—was still flying proudly above the fort.

Seeing the "broad stripes and bright stars" of the American flag surviving the attack became a powerful symbol of American resilience and hope. This sight inspired Key to write a poem titled "Defence of Fort M'Henry," which would later be set to music and become "The Star-Spangled Banner."

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Sam Bennett