Fort McHenry

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
2400 East Fort Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21230-5393
(410) 962-4290
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Earthquakes are sometimes followed by aftershocks. As Great Britain and her American colonists shifted in opposing directions, a point was reached where the earth could no longer bear the stress. An earthquake followed, in the form of the American Revolutionary War. The fracture resulted in the creation of an independent nation, but stress remained along the fault line. The two sides continued to be pulled in opposing directions, and the strain was released in an aftershock that became known as the War of 1812.

In desperate hours of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain had restricted American trade with France and started to impress U.S. citizens into the Royal Navy. On the American Northwest frontier, conflicting territorial ambitions had led the British to support American Indians offering armed resistance to U.S. expansion. The sources of conflict were varied by nature and geographically dispersed, united by containment in the intersection of two great spheres of interest.

The American sacking of Toronto (then called York) in 1813 led to a British retaliatory campaign in the Chesapeake Bay region, which ultimately led to the Burning of Washington. The British next moved to capture Baltimore, a busy seaport and a key base for American privateers. Privateers were government-sanctioned pirates who preyed upon enemy merchant fleets in times of naval conflict. About 500 American privateers were commissioned during the War of 1812, of which maybe 125 were from Baltimore.

The British launched coordinated attacks on Baltimore by land and sea. Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane sailed up the Patapsco River to lay siege at Fort McHenry, which was the point defensive installation in Baltimore Harbor, while Major General Robert Ross marched with 5,000 British troops up the inlet’s north shore.

The land force met heavy resistance about five miles from the city in the Battle of North Point. Despite advancing to within a mile of the main American position, they had suffered heavier casualties than the Americans, and their respected leader was killed in action. Losing General Ross was a critical blow to the British, as he had proven himself a capable commander in the Napoleonic War, and it was he who had led the British capture of Washington, D.C. The British halted their land advance and awaited the results of the sea campaign, which was expected to neutralize Fort McHenry and penetrate Baltimore Harbor.

The American defense of Fort McHenry included placement of a chain and sunken ships across the approach from downstream. The British were, however, able to come close enough to fire rockets and mortars on the fort while remaining out of the range of the American cannon. Due to the insufficient accuracy of the British weapons little damage was done, and the British ceased their attack on the morning of September 14, 1814.

The attack had started at 6:00 A.M. the previous day and lasted 25 hours. A Washington lawyer by the name of Francis Scott Key had come to Baltimore to negotiate the release of a civilian prisoner of war, and witnessed the overnight bombardment from a nearby truce ship. When Key saw Fort McHenry’s American Flag emerge intact in the dawn’s early light, he was moved to begin composing a poem that he would call “The Defence of Fort McHenry”. That poem was later renamed “The Star Spangled Banner” and became America’s national anthem.

If you visit Fort McHenry the first stop is the visitor center, where there’s an orientation video, a scale model showing how the fort appeared at the time of the battle, and a few small exhibits containing artifacts from various phases of Fort McHenry history. The fort was used as a military prison during the Civil War, a hospital for injured troops during World War I, and as a Coast Guard base during World War II. The original fort still stands, although various structures have been added around it as times changed and different needs arose. Within the fort are barracks containing well organized exhibits interpreting daily life within the fort and displaying implements belonging to American soldiers during the nation’s early days.

Fort McHenry was constructed in the form of a five-pointed star surrounded by a dry moat, i.e. a deep, broad trench. The moat (later filled in) was created to serve as a shelter for musketmen defending the fort from attack by land. Star forts were composed of flat walls and a triangular bastion at each corner. The outward-projecting bastions allowed defenders of the fort to cover adjacent bastions while protecting external walls from attackers.

The sally port (top photo) faces the Patapsco River. It was built to enable defenders to make “sallies” through the front “port” in order to reduce the strength and preparedness of a besieging army. The Ravelin (second photo) stands in front of the sally port. This wedge-shaped outwork protected the entrance from enemy fire, and helped to control access to the star fort. The original ravelin was built in 1813, and was modified to its present dimensions in 1837.

On either side of the front entrance are arched chambers leading to identical bomb shelters called bombproofs. They were built immediately after the bombardment of 1814, when it became obvious that such places were needed. Fortunately, Fort McHenry was never shelled again, and the bombproofs were never used for their intended purpose.

Barracks line the inner walls. Since the bombardment they have been expanded, yet they retain much of their original appearance.

During the bombardment, the powder magazine was struck by a 186 pound British bomb that failed to explode. The powder magazine was later rebuilt and enlarged to its present size.