Before visiting Fort McHenry, we detoured into Baltimore to see a cemetery which included Samuel Chase, signer of the Declaration of Independence, George and Lewis Armistead, uncle/nephew Army officers (George commander of the battle of Fort McHenry in 1814 and Lewis who was killed in Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg), and Francis Scott Key, composer of the Star Spangled Banner. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the cemetery we found this.
Although it said "welcome", this wasn't too welcoming. The cemetery was surrounded by a hospital and medical offices and after driving around every possible entrance, it was a no go. We talked to a maintenance worker across the street and he told us that they only open once a month or so. I guess we were out of luck.
We drove the few miles to next visit Fort McHenry, the historical fort best known for its role in the War of 1812 when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy on September 13-14, 1814 and as the inspiration for our National Anthem.
The fort was built in 1798 and was used continuously by U.S. armed forces through World War I and by the United States Coast Guard in World War II. It was designated a national park in 1925 and, in 1939, was redesignated a U.S. National Monument.
It was nice to hear a band playing as we walked in and even nicer that the band was made up of kids.
Beginning at 6:00 a.m. on September 13, 1814, British warships continuously bombarded Fort McHenry, under the command of Major George Armistead, for 25 hours. The British ships were unable to pass the fort and penetrate Baltimore Harbor because of its defenses, including a chain of 22 sunken ships and the American cannons. The British depleted their ammunition and ceased their attack on the morning of September 14.
Major George Armistead
Gunpowder for a fort is kept in the Magazine (the term "magazine" comes from the French and Arabic words meaning "storehouse") Perhaps the most important building at Fort McHenry, over 30,000 pounds of explosive black powder could be stored in this small room - the rough equivalent of over ten tons of TNT. The Aetna and Bellona powder mills just outside of Baltimore manufactured the powder used at Fort McHenry. The powder was stored in barrels weighing 100 pounds each.
A small flame or even a slight spark could detonate the powder in the building thereby destroying most of the fort. The military took such precautions as using wooden nails in the floorboards, carefully stacking barrels, and making sure the lantern was lit from an outside window about the doorway. Powder also had to be kept dry. The window shown and slits in the walls provided ventilation to prevent the buildup of moisture.
The Magazine
During the bombardment, Major Armistead knew the fort's magazine was not bombproof. When a shell crashed through the roof of the magazine but failed to explode, Armistead ordered the powder barrels cleared out and placed under the rear walls of the fort. Remarkably, only four men were killed, when two shells smashed into the fort's southwest bastion, despite a deadly rain of some 2,000 mortar shells that the British bombardment fleet fired at the fort.
Naval cannon, France, 1808
The wooden carriage of this cannon is a modern reproduction. The cannon tube was made in France and is very similar to the French cannons used at Fort McHenry in 1814, which had been retrieved from the French ship, the L'Ole.
American cannonball
The band members transitioned into soldiers. It's so nice to see these kids participating and learning about the history of the fort and the country.
We walked outside to see the harbor.
It's well known that on March 26, 2024, portions of the Francis Scott Key Bridge across the Patapsco River in Baltimore collapsed after a container ship struck one of its piers. Six members of a maintenance crew working on the roadway were killed, while two others were rescued from the river.
It was eerie to look across the river and see what remains today.
Francis Scott Key Bridge
During the War of 1812, the people of Baltimore believed that the British would attack the city. Not knowing for sure when an attack would occur, they spent months preparing for it. Everything was made ready at Fort McHenry to defend Baltimore.
Major Armistead desired "to have a flag so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance." In the summer of 1813, Armistead ordered a large garrison flag (30 x 42 feet) as well as a smaller storm flag (17 x 25 feet) for the Fort. The job went out to widow Mary Pickersgill, a ship and signal flag maker. She, along with her daughter, two nieces, and an indentured servant, labored for seven weeks to piece together strips of loosely woven English wool bunting. They then laid the whole flag out on the expansive floor of a brewery near her house, which is now the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Museum. The flags were finished on August 19, 1813.
The larger of the two flags had stripes two feet wide, and stars 24 inches from point to point. At that time, it was the practice to add one star and stripe for each new state joining the Union. In 1814, the United States flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes.
The large American flag, which was flown following the American victory, was the one that Francis Scott Key saw on the morning of September 14, 1814. It inspired him to write the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner." Today, this flag is displayed in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The smaller storm flag, which many historians believe was the flag that flew during the rainy bombardment, has been lost to history.
We mentioned to the Park Ranger that we were disappointed that we were unable to visit his grave at the cemetery in Baltimore. He said "he's not there, he's in Frederick, Maryland". WHAT??? So you guessed it - we were off to Frederick!
In 1852, a group of Maryland citizens founded the Mount Olivet Cemetery Company. The company purchased 32 acres of land that was primarily conceived to provide several Frederick churches more room for interments after their cemeteries became full. One of the landmarks of Frederick, the Episcopal graveyard, a family burying ground of the most famous people of Maryland, was sold for commercial purposes and all of the bodies were moved from the graveyard to Mount Olivet.
And there, right inside the gate, was the monument for Francis Scott Key. While the original flag which flew over Fort McHenry in 1814 is at the Smithsonian, the cemetery superintendent flies the "Star Spangled Banner" flag perpetually.
In the final months of his life, Francis Scott Key enjoyed visits to his home not far from Frederick. He thought and wrote about the end of life and his hopes of immortality in a life to come.
Key died at his daughter's home in Baltimore on January 11, 1843, and was buried nearby in Old St. Paul's Cemetery. In 1866, Key's family moved his remains to a plot in Mount Olivet Cemetery where he could lie as he wished in the shadow of Catoctin Mountain.
In 1898 the Key Monument Association reinterred Kay and his wife in the circle in front of us, and erected above their graves the granite monument with his bronze figure.
Now we understood our confusion as to why he wasn't still interred in Old St. Paul's Cemetery.
At the top, Key holds "The Star-Spangled Banner" manuscript and points to the nation's flag. Seated below is Columbia, representing patriotism, flanked by youths representing defense and music.
There's a nice chapel in honor of Francis Scott Key.
A long, but fulfilling, day.
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