![]() ![]() The next morning, Armistead raised a thirty by forty-two-foot United States Flag over the fort. American forces met the incoming soldiers and impeded them from advancing. At nightfall, Cochrane sent 1,200 of his men to the shore in an attempt to attack the fort from the rear. Because of the American cannons in the fort and previously sunken merchant ships that Armistead had commanded to ring the entrance to Baltimore harbor, the British couldn’t get close to the Fort. However, the British gunners had poor aim. Over the harbor, there was a cloud of smoke that was only illuminated by the glow of rockets. For twenty-four hours, mortar shells and Congreve rockets were hurled at the fort. Major George Armistead, a future uncle to Confederate General Lewis Armistead in the Civil War, commanded the fort. With many American forces emerging in the night, the British decided to launch a naval attack on Fort McHenry commanded by Admiral Cochrane. The Americans retreated to Baltimore and the British consolidated their forces. Colonel Arthur Brooke took command and skirmishes continued that day. The British pushed on toward the city and were attacked at noon, resulting in the death of British Major General Robert Ross. On September 12, the British landed their forces at North Point, a peninsula at the fork of the Patapsco River and the Chesapeake Bay to attempt a land attack on Baltimore. However, since they were by the British fleet in the harbor, and privy to the British’s positions and plans to attack Baltimore, the three men were unable to return to shore. Stuart and Key successfully negotiated Beanes’s freedom. Beanes was a doctor, and a colleague of Key, who had refused to give food and drink to British soldiers who had happened upon his house in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. On September 5, Stuart and Key had sailed into the harbor to meet with Admiral George Cockburn to discuss the release of Dr. On a merchant ship in the harbor was British Prisoner Exchange Agent Colonel John Stuart Skinner and Georgetown lawyer Francis Scott Key. ![]() These cities were financial and political strongholds, and, without them, Britain could claim victory for the entire war.įrancis Scott Key: Maryland lawyer and writer of the "The Star-Spangled Banner" With Washington, D.C., burned just a month prior, the capture of Baltimore would mean that the just formed United States would lose two major coastal cities. ![]() Located in the Baltimore Harbor, Fort McHenry was one of the last lines of defense for Baltimore: if the fort was captured, then Baltimore would be as well. Share to Google Classroom Added by 55 EducatorsĪs the sun broke the horizon on September 13, 1814, Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane gave the order for British naval ships to commence firing at Fort McHenry.
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