Fort McHenry

Overview

Fort McHenry appears in the wiki as the Baltimore fort whose September 1814 bombardment and flag scene gave The Star-Spangled Banner its core imagery.

Current Profile

The episode presents the fort as a symbolically decisive site even though the bombardment caused limited damage. British ships used rockets and shells during a roughly 24-hour attack, while Francis Scott Key watched from British custody. At dawn on 14 September 1814, George Armistead ordered the large flag made by Mary Pickersgill raised, creating the sight that Key turned into the poem’s survival image.

Key Characteristics

• Baltimore defensive fort attacked during the War of 1812.
• Site of a British bombardment using Congreve rockets and bomb vessels.
• Flag scene behind the anthem’s dawn and survival imagery.
• Associated with a large 15-star, 15-stripe flag ordered by George Armistead and made by Mary Pickersgill.
• Symbolically more important than tactically destructive in the source’s reading.

Evidence

• Attack setting: 677. USA: The Star-Spangled Banner (Part 1) says British forces moved toward Baltimore after Washington and began bombarding the fort on 13 September 1814.
• Military imagery: 677. USA: The Star-Spangled Banner (Part 1) says rockets and bomb vessels produced imagery later remembered in the anthem.
• Flag raising: 677. USA: The Star-Spangled Banner (Part 1) says the large flag was raised at dawn on 14 September, after a smaller storm flag had flown during the bombardment.
• Flag makers: 677. USA: The Star-Spangled Banner (Part 1) credits Mary Pickersgill and helpers with making the large garrison flag.
• Tactical qualification: 677. USA: The Star-Spangled Banner (Part 1) says the attack caused limited damage and may not have put the fort in serious danger.

Qualifications

The page does not provide a full military history of Baltimore’s defense. It records the fort as the anthem episode uses it: a battle scene where visual distance, limited damage, and flag survival became national-symbol material.

What Changed

• Created Fort McHenry as the battle-site anchor for the U.S. anthem branch.

Relationships

• War of 1812 - conflict in which the bombardment occurred.
• The Star-Spangled Banner - anthem whose imagery comes from the fort’s flag scene.
• Francis Scott Key - observer who wrote the poem after watching the attack.
• George Armistead - commander associated with ordering and raising the large flag.
• Mary Pickersgill - maker of the large Fort McHenry flag.
• National Anthem Political Plasticity - downstream concept because the battle symbol was later reused in many public contexts.