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British in the Bay: The Washington Campaign
Further Reading An Overview of the British Attack on Washington and Baltimore The Americans Prepare to Defend Washington and Baltimore The British Attack Bladensburg and Move Onto Washington The American Defeat at the Battle of Bladensburg The British Attack on Baltimore The American Defense of Baltimore
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The Star-Spangled BannerFrancis Scott Key spends a long, terrifying night inside Fort McHenry, under constant threat of “bombs bursting in air” and the “ rockets’ red glare.” When the sun rises, he sees that the fort’s “star-spangled banner yet wave.” The fort has managed to withstand the British bombardment and Key is moved to compose the poem that will become the American national anthem.At least that is the legend. The truth is that Key wasn’t even in Fort McHenry during the bombing. He was on one of the British ships bombing it! Key may have seen the “stars and stripes” waving in the early dawn over Fort McHenry, but if so, he saw it from his position on the Patapsco River at least two miles away. |
