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| image = Ft. Henry bombardement 1814.jpg
| image_size = 300
| caption = The bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British. Engraved by John Bower<ref>{{cite book|title=Maryland History In Prints
| conflict = Battle of Baltimore
| partof = the [[War of 1812]]
| date = September 12–15, 1814
| place = [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|39|15|48
| result = American victory
| combatant2 = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
| combatant1 = {{flagicon|United States|1795}} [[United States]]
| commander2 = {{flagicon|Great Britain}} [[Robert Ross (British Army officer)|Robert Ross]]{{KIA}}<br/>{{flagicon|UK|civil}} [[Alexander Cochrane]]<br/>{{flagicon|Great Britain}} [[Arthur Brooke (lieutenant-general)|Arthur Brooke]]
| commander1 = {{flagicon|United States|1795}} [[Samuel Smith (Maryland politician)|Samuel Smith]]<br/>{{flagicon|United States|1795}} [[John Stricker]]<br/>{{flagicon|United States|1795}} [[George Armistead]]
| strength2 = '''Land:'''<br/>5,000 [[infantry]]<br/>'''Sea:'''<br/>19 [[warship]]s<ref>Crawford,
| strength1 = '''North Point:'''<br/> 3,000<br/>[[infantry]],<br/>[[militia]]<br/>'''Hampstead Hill''' <br/>10,000 regulars<br/> 2,000–5,000
| casualties2 = '''North Point & Hampstead Hill:'''<br/>39–46 killed, <br/> 251–295 wounded<ref>Liston, [http://www.myedgemere.com/1814_british_dead.htm Where Are the British Soldiers Killed in the Battle of North Point Buried?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126123458/http://myedgemere.com/1814_british_dead.htm |date=2010-11-26 }}</ref><ref name=James513>James, p. 513.</ref><ref name=James521>James, p. 521.</ref><br/>'''Fort McHenry:'''<br/>1 wounded<ref>James, p. 325.</ref><br/>'''Total:'''<br/>39–46 killed,<br/>252–296 wounded
<!--|casualties1=Total:-->| casualties1 = '''North Point & Hampstead Hill:'''<br/>24 killed,<br/>139 wounded,<br/> 50 captured<br/>'''Fort McHenry:'''<br/>4 killed,<br/>24 wounded<br/>'''Total:'''<br/>28 killed,<br/> 163 wounded,<br/>50 captured<ref name="Borneman p.246">Borneman, p. 246.</ref>
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{{Campaignbox War of 1812: Naval}}
The '''Battle of Baltimore''' (September 12–15, 1814)
The British and Americans first met at the [[Battle of North Point]].<ref name="James321">James, p. 321</ref> Though the Americans retreated, the battle was a successful delaying action that inflicted heavy casualties on the British, halted their advance, and allowed the defenders at Baltimore to prepare for an attack.
The resistance of Baltimore's [[Fort McHenry]] during bombardment by the [[Royal Navy]] inspired [[Francis Scott Key]] to compose the poem "Defence of Fort McHenry," which later became the lyrics for "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]," the national anthem of the United States.▼
▲The resistance of Baltimore's [[Fort McHenry]] during bombardment by the [[Royal Navy]] inspired [[Francis Scott Key]] to compose the poem "Defence of Fort
Future US President [[James Buchanan]] served as a private in the defense of Baltimore.▼
▲Future
==Background==
Until April 1814, Britain was at [[Napoleonic Wars|war against Napoleonic France]], which limited British war aims in America. Meanwhile, the British primarily used a defensive strategy and repelled American invasions of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. The Americans gained naval control over [[Lake Erie]] in 1813 and seized parts of western Ontario. In the [[Mississippi Territory]], in an area in modern central [[Alabama]] General [[Andrew Jackson]] destroyed the military strength of the [[Muscogee|Creek]] nation at the [[Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814)|Battle of Horseshoe Bend]] in 1814.<ref>Jessica McBride. [http://www.muscogeenation-nsn.gov/Pages/Articles/14Apr/horseshoebend.html "Attendees Reflect On Horseshoe Bend Commemoration"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722190202/http://www.muscogeenation-nsn.gov/Pages/Articles/14Apr/horseshoebend.html |date=July 22, 2015 }}, Muscogee Nation website.</ref><ref>[http://www.nps.gov/nr/Travel/cultural_diversity/Horseshoe_Bend_National_Military_Park.html "Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Daviston, Alabama"]. National Park Service, US Department of the Interior website.</ref>
Although Great Britain was unwilling to draw military forces from the war with France, it still enjoyed a naval superiority on the ocean, and vessels of North America and West Indies Squadron, based at [[Bermuda]], blockaded American ports on the Atlantic throughout the war, strangling the American economy. Initially, the north-eastern ports were spared this blockade as public sentiments in New York and New England were against the war.<ref>[http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1215 Review by Mr William Dudley of ''How Britain won the War of 1812: The Royal Navy's Blockades of the United States,
Following the defeat of [[Napoleon]] in the spring of 1814, the British adopted a more aggressive strategy, intended to compel the United States to negotiate a peace that restored the pre-war [[status quo]]. Thousands of seasoned British soldiers were deployed to [[British North America]]. Most went to the Canadas to re-enforce the defenders. The British Army, Canadian militias, and their [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] allies drove the American invaders back into the United States. Without naval control of the [[Great Lakes]] they were unable to receive supplies, resulting in the British failure to capture [[Plattsburgh (city), New York|Plattsburgh]] in the [[Battle of Plattsburgh|Second Battle of Lake Champlain]] and their withdrawal from US territory.<ref>[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/history/british-view-war-1812-quite-differently-americans-do-180951852/ "The British View the War of 1812 Quite Differently Than Americans Do"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117014915/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=%2Fhistory%2Fbritish-view-war-1812-quite-differently-americans-do-180951852%2F |date=2015-11-17 }}, ''The Smithsonian''.</ref>
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A brigade under the command of [[Major General]] [[Robert Ross (British Army officer)|Robert Ross]] was sent in early July with several naval vessels to join the forces already operating from [[Bermuda]]. The combined forces were to be used for diversionary raids along the Atlantic coast, intended to force the Americans to withdraw forces from Canada. Some historians claim that they were under orders not to carry out any extended operations and were restricted to targets on the coast.<ref>[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/history/british-view-war-1812-quite-differently-americans-do-180951852/ "The British View the War of 1812 Quite Differently Than Americans Do"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117014915/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=%2Fhistory%2Fbritish-view-war-1812-quite-differently-americans-do-180951852%2F |date=2015-11-17 }}, ''The Smithsonian''.</ref>
However, the British had launched three major operations targeting the three largest ports of America at Baltimore, [[Battle of Plattsburgh|New York City, via Lake Champlain and the Hudson River]], and [[Battle of New Orleans|in New Orleans]] from August 1814 to February 1815. Each of these three expeditions had over 10,000 British Army troops, many of them the best soldiers and officers from the [[Peninsular War]], so they were not just minor diversionary raids. Britain had already captured most of modern-day [[Maine]] and re-established the [[Crown colony]] of [[New Ireland (Maine)|New Ireland]] in September 1814.<ref> James A. Carr, "The Battle of New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent." Diplomatic History 3.3 (1979):
An ambitious raid was planned as the result of a letter sent to Bermuda on 2 June by [[George Prévost|Sir George Prévost]], [[List of Governors-General of Canada|Governor General]] of [[The Canadas]], who called for retaliation in response to the "wanton destruction of private property along the north shores of Lake Erie" by American forces under Colonel John Campbell in May, the most notable being the [[Raid on Port Dover]].{{sfn|Cruikshank|2006|p=402}} Prévost argued that,
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Despite the considerable disadvantage in numbers, [[Force concentration#Hypothetical example|standard military logic]] dictates that a three-to-one advantage is needed in carrying out an attack on prepared defenses, and sustaining heavy casualties, the British force routed the American defenders and cleared the path into the [[Washington, D.C.|capital]]. President [[James Madison]] and the entire government fled the city, and went North, to the town of [[Brookeville, Maryland]].
On 24 August 1814, British troops led by Rear Admiral George Cockburn and Major General [[Robert Ross (British Army officer)|Robert Ross]] entered Washington and captured the city with a force of 4,500 "battle-hardened" men, during the [[burning of Washington]]. British troops, commanded by Ross, set fire to a number of public buildings, including the [[White House]] and the [[United States Capitol]]. Extensive damage to the interiors and the contents of both were reported.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/06/british-burned-capitol-1814/ |title=In 1814, British forces burned the U.S. Capitol |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=16 January 2021 |quote=}}</ref> The British forces returned to their ships.<ref>{{cite web |title=Attack on Baltimore launched from Bermuda in 'War of 1812' |publisher=Atlas Communications |url=http://www.star-spangledbanner.us/ |year=2005 |access-date=August 26, 2014 |archive-date=December 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216160208/http://www.star-spangledbanner.us/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Pitch, Anthony, ''The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814''. Bluejacket Books, 2000. p. 99.</ref>
The British sent a fleet up the [[Potomac River|Potomac]] to cut off Washington's water access and threaten the prosperous ports of [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]], just downstream of Washington, and [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], just upstream. The mere appearance of the fleet cowed American defenders into fleeing from [[Fort Washington Park|Fort Warburton]] without firing a shot, and undefended Alexandria surrendered. The British spent several days looting hundreds of tons of merchandise from city merchants.
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The British landed a force of 5,000 troops who marched toward Baltimore and first met heavy resistance at the [[Battle of North Point]], which was fought on September 12 about 5 miles (8 km) from the city. The city's defense was under the overall command of Major General [[Samuel Smith (Maryland politician)|Samuel Smith]], an officer of the Maryland Militia. He dispatched roughly 3,000 men under the command of General [[John Stricker]] to meet the British in a forward engagement. General Stricker was to stall the British invasion force to delay the British advance long enough for Major General Smith to complete the defenses in Baltimore.
The land invasion force for the British was led by Ross, who was killed in the second shift of the American defense by an American sharpshooter. It has been suggested that either Daniel Wells or Henry McComas of Captain Aisquith's rifle company, of the [[175th Infantry Regiment (United States)|5th Maryland]] Militia regiment was responsible, and both killed shortly afterwards.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2004-09-17-0409170014-story.html |title=Film stirs flap over killing of general in 1814 |work=Baltimore Sun |date=September 17, 2004 |access-date=16 January 2021 |quote=Their names do not pop up until the 1850s, when a political movement bent on keeping immigrants in general and Catholics in particular out of positions of power resurrected their memory.}}</ref>
After Ross's death, the British army came under the command of Colonel [[Arthur Brooke (lieutenant-general)|Arthur Brooke]]. The Americans had already begun to form an organized retreat back to the main defenses of Baltimore, where they awaited a British assault.
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Rodgers Bastion, also known as [[Patterson Park|Sheppard's Bastion]], located on Hampstead Hill, now part of [[Patterson Park]], was the centerpiece of a 3-mile-wide earthworks from the outer harbor in [[Canton, Baltimore|Canton]], north to [[Belair Road]], dug to defend the eastern approach to Baltimore against the British. The [[redoubt]] was assembled and commanded by [[U.S. Navy]] Commodore [[John Rodgers (naval officer, War of 1812)|John Rodgers]], with General Smith in command of the overall line. At dawn on September 13, the day after the [[Battle of North Point]], some 4,300 British troops advanced north on [[List of roads in Baltimore County, Maryland#North_Point_Road|North Point Road]], then west along the Philadelphia Road (now [[Maryland Route 7]]) toward Baltimore. U.S. troops were forced to retreat to the main defensive line around the city. The British commander, Col. Arthur Brooke, established his new headquarters at the Sterret House on Surrey Farm, now called [[Armistead Gardens]], about two miles east-northeast of Hampstead Hill.
When the British began probing actions on Baltimore's inner defenses, the American line was defended by 100 [[cannons]] and more than 10,000 regular troops, including two shadowing infantry regiments commanded by general officers Stricker and [[William H. Winder|Winder]] as well as a few thousand local militia and irregulars. The defenses were far stronger than the British anticipated. The American defenders at Fort McHenry successfully stopped [[Royal Navy|British naval forces]] but a few ships were still able to provide artillery support.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA433 "Scenes In The War of 1812"], ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine'', Volume 28, March 1864, pp.
Once the British had taken the outer defenses, the inner defenses became the priority. The British infantry had not anticipated how well defended they would be, so the first attack was a failure. However, Brooke's forces managed to outflank and to overrun American positions to the right. After a discussion with lower ranking officers, Brooke decided that the British should bombard the fort instead of risk a frontal assault and, at 3:00 a.m. on September 14, ordered the British troops to return to the ships.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zCwZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA433 "Scenes In The War of 1812"], ''Harper's New Monthly Magazine'', Volume 28, March 1864, pp.
===Fort McHenry===
[[File:WilliamCharlesJohnBullAndTheBaltimoreans.jpg|thumb|''John Bull and the Baltimoreans'' (1814) by [[William Charles (cartoonist)|William Charles]], a [[political cartoon|cartoon]] praising the stiff resistance in Baltimore]]
At Fort McHenry, some 1,000 soldiers under the command of [[Major (rank)|Major]] [[George Armistead]] awaited the British naval bombardment. Their defense was augmented by the sinking of a line of American merchant ships at the adjacent entrance to Baltimore Harbor in order to further thwart the passage of British ships.
The attack began on September 13, as the British fleet of some nineteen ships began pounding the fort with [[Congreve rocket]]s (from [[rocket vessel]] [[HMS Erebus (1807)|HMS ''Erebus'']]) and [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] shells (from [[bomb vessel]]s [[HMS Terror (1813)|''Terror'']], [[HMS Volcano (1804)|''Volcano'']], [[HMS Starr (1805)|''Meteor'']], [[HMS Devastation (1804)|''Devastation'']], and [[HMS Aetna (1803)|''Aetna'']]). After an initial exchange of fire, the British fleet withdrew to just beyond the range of Fort McHenry's cannons and continued to bombard the American redoubts for the next 25 hours. Although 1,500 to 1,800 cannonballs were launched at the fort, damage was light because of recent fortification that had been completed prior to the battle.<ref>{{cite web
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An American lawyer and amateur poet, [[Francis Scott Key]], was on a mercy mission for the release of Dr. [[William Beanes]], a prisoner of the British. Key showed the British letters from wounded British officers praising the care that they received from Dr. Beanes. The British agreed to release Beanes, but Key and Beanes were forced to stay with the British until the attack on Baltimore was over.
Key watched the proceedings from a truce ship in the [[Patapsco River]]. On the morning of the 14th, Key saw the American flag waving above Fort McHenry. Inspired, he began jotting down verses on the back of a letter he was carrying. Key's poem, originally named "Defence
Key's poem was later set to the tune of a British song called "[[To Anacreon in Heaven]]
==See also==
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{{Reflist}}
==Sources and further reading==
*{{cite book|last=Borneman|first=Walter R.|author-link=Walter R. Borneman|title=1812: The War That Forged a Nation|url=https://archive.org/details/1812warthatforge0000born|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Harper Perennial|year=2004|isbn=978-0-06-053112-6}}
* Crawford, Michael J. (ed.) (2002). ''The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Vol. 3''. Washington: United States Department of Defense. {{ISBN|
* {{cite book |last=Cruikshank |first=Ernest |year=2006 |orig-year=1814 |title=The Documentary History of the campaign upon the Niagara frontier. (Part
* George, Christopher T., ''Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay'', Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane, 2001, {{ISBN|1-57249-276-7}}
* Hildebrand, David K. "Bicentenary Essay: Two National Anthems? Some Reflections on the Two Hundredth Anniversary of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and its Forgotten Partner, 'The Battle of Baltimore'." ''American Music'' 32.3 (2014):
*{{cite book |title=A Full and Correct Account of the Military Occurrences of the Late War Between Great Britain and the United States of America. Volume II|last=James |first=William |author-link=William James (naval historian)|year=1818 |publisher=Published for the Author |location=London |isbn=0-665-35743-5}}▼
*[[Marc Leepson|Leepson, Marc]]. ''What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, A Life'', New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. {{ISBN|978-1137278289}}
▲* Hildebrand, David K. "Bicentenary Essay: Two National Anthems? Some Reflections on the Two Hundredth Anniversary of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and its Forgotten Partner, 'The Battle of Baltimore'." ''American Music'' 32.3 (2014): 253-271. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/americanmusic.32.3.0253 online]
*[[Marc Leepson|Leepson, Marc]]. "Flag: An American Biography", New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005. {{ISBN|978-0312323080}}
▲*{{cite book |title=A Full and Correct Account of the Military Occurrences of the Late War Between Great Britain and the United States of America. Volume II|last=James |first=William |author-link=William James (naval historian)|year=1818 |publisher=Published for the Author |location=London |isbn=0-665-35743-5}}
*{{cite web|last=Liston|first=Kathy Lee Erlandson|url=http://www.myedgemere.com/1814_british_dead.htm|title=Where Are the British Soldiers Killed in the Battle of North Point Buried?|year=2006|access-date=2010-02-06|publisher=Myedgemere.com, LLC|location=Fort Howard, MD|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126123458/http://myedgemere.com/1814_british_dead.htm|archive-date=2010-11-26|url-status=dead}}
*{{cite book|last=Lord|first=Walter|author-link=Walter Lord|title=The Dawn's Early Light|publisher=W.
* Marine, William M. (1913). ''The British invasion of Maryland,
*{{Cite book
| last = Morriss
| first = Roger
| authorlink =
| title = Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition: Admiral Sir George Cockburn,
| publisher = University of South Carolina Press
| year = 1997
| location = Columbia
| url =
| isbn = 978-1-57003-253-0
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*Pitch, Anthony S. ''The Burning of Washington'', Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. {{ISBN|1-55750-425-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Swanson|first=Neil Harmon|title=The Perilous Fight|publisher=Farrar and Rinehart|location=New York|year=1945|oclc=610291946}}
* Sheads, Scott S. ''The Rockets' Red Glare: The Maritime Defense of Baltimore in 1814'' (Tidewater Publishers, 1986).
*Whitehorne, Joseph A., ''The Battle for Baltimore 1814'', Baltimore: Nautical & Aviation Publishing, 1997, {{ISBN|1-877853-23-2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Baltimore}}
[[Category:1814 in the United States]]
[[Category:Battles of the War of 1812
[[Category:Battles of the Chesapeake campaign|Baltimore]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:History of Maryland]]
[[Category:Battles involving the United Kingdom|Baltimore]]
[[Category:1814 in Maryland]]
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[[Category:The Star-Spangled Banner]]
[[Category:September 1814 events]]
[[Category:James Buchanan]]
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