He was familiar with the popular song, “To Anacreon In Heaven” and wrote the lyrics to match up with it. Contrary to popular belief, the amateur poet wrote them as lyrics from the start, not as a poem. Key saw the garrison flag filling the morning sky and wrote the lyrics to the future national anthem in a fit of inspiration. Since the morning dawned clear, the garrison changed to its normal flag, a 42-foot by 30-foot beast. A storm that raged throughout the battle had forced the fort to fly its smaller American flag. The flag had changed overnight, but not to the Union Jack. Spoiler alert: The flag still flies over Fort McHenry. If British colors were flying, Baltimore would be destroyed and America would lose a second major city in less than a month. In the morning, he looked to the flagpole at first light to see if the fort had survived. Throughout the night, he watched the fort’s small storm flag wave through the wind and rain as rockets and bombs rained on the defenders below. Key had and knew that a collapse of Fort McHenry spelled certain doom for Baltimore. The men weren’t allowed to row ashore because the British suspected they had heard the British plans to destroy the city. He and his friend were both allowed to leave the British prisoner ship as long as they did not return to shore until after the British bombardment. He had been rowed into the harbor to negotiate the release of a friend held prisoner by the British. Key watched the battle play out from a small American sloop behind the British force. The intense naval attack lasted for 25 hours. American artillerymen rushed through the incoming shells and began firing when the British came within range, driving them back. George Cockburn thought the fort had been badly damaged and moved the ships closer for better accuracy. It failed to go off and the troops were able to split the gunpowder into smaller stores around the tiny island.Īt another point, British Rear Adm. One moment was more dangerous than any other for the defenders a bomb fired from one of the ketches landed in the fort’s gunpowder supply. William Congreve, the inventor of Congreve rockets, created this lithograph to show how rocket ships worked in fleet action. They could explode in the air but were designed to be incendiary weapons, setting fires within forts and enemy ships.Ĭol. The ones that lit the night at Fort McHenry were mostly 32-pound rockets that carried seven pounds of explosives. The rockets were made in a variety of sizes. Meanwhile, ships firing Congreve rockets sailed into range as well. The “bombs bursting in air,” came from these devastating ships. The gun could not be turned, so the ships were pointed at the fort and kept in place with spring-loaded anchor lines. Bomb ketches were ships with a mortar or howitzer built into the deck. 13, the British fired on McHenry with rocket ships and bomb ketches. Unluckily for them, 16 ships were able to get within range of the fort while staying outside the range of the American guns. Luckily for the Americans, shallow waters around the fort kept some of the ships away. So the British troops sat back and waited as dozens of British ships, including five of Britain’s eight bomb ketches, moved forward to bombard the fort that only had 19 guns with which to defend itself. About 12,000 American troops, many more than the British had expected, were guarding the city. The ground attack seemed doomed from the start. There, it would bombard the city and assist in its capture. The army would march overland to attack the city on foot while the navy was to destroy Fort McHenry and follow the river to the city. The British planned a two-pronged assault on the city. The victorious British military made its way up the coast, this time targeting the important port at Baltimore. The first lady, Dolly Madison, had made it out of the city with crucial documents and a portrait of George Washington, but the presidential mansion and much of the capital was destroyed. 1814, America was reeling from the sacking and burning of Washington D.C.
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