today we're looking at the war of 1812 and the defense of fort mchenry
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the questions down in the description also don't forget to check out dailybellringer.com where
you'll find more resources that go with many of the bell ringer videos late august of 1814 the
british had landed 4 500 troops near washington dc and the americans had put up a feeble defense at
the battle of bladensburg on the night of august 24 1814 the british marched into washington and
set the city to fire burning the capitol building the white house and several other government
buildings the next day on august 25th a freak storm struck the city putting out many of the
fires and forcing the british out of washington now the british turned their attention towards
another city just 35 miles north of washington the city of baltimore baltimore had an excellent
harbor but there was one big difference between baltimore and washington baltimore was much better
defended at the opening into baltimore harbor was fort mchenry built from 1798 to 1803 the fort was
named after james mchenry who was a signer of the constitution and served as president john adams
secretary of war the british planned a two-pronged attack against baltimore and its defenses first
they would land troops to the east of baltimore and march towards the city and then simultaneously
they would attack fort mchenry with their large fleet of ships to gain entry into the harbor on
the morning of september 12 1814 9 000 british troops landed just to the east of baltimore at
north point maryland and began their march towards the city very quickly upon beginning the march the
british start meeting resistance from american troops and the battle of north point began the
british were under the command of general robert ross ross had been a veteran of the napoleonic
wars and was the commander of the british when they burned washington just a few weeks before
the british troops really trusted general ross as he had led them to several victories as the
battle of north point wore on the british were not making much headway and so ross rode up to the
front to rally his troops in the process of doing this ross got shot by an american sharpshooter
and ross died a few hours later the death of ross really takes the momentum away from the british as
the british troops have really depended on ross as being their leader and now command of the british
passes to commander arthur brooke but the british continue to fight and actually force
the americans to retreat but instead of retreating in pandemonium as they had done at the battle of
bladensburg a few weeks earlier the americans retreat in an orderly fashion and take up a
defensive position just outside of baltimore but now as all this is occurring we also have
the battle at fort mchenry that is beginning to ramp up fort mchenry was under the command of
a young 32 year old major named george armstead with about 1 000 american troops inside the fort
armstead and the citizens of baltimore had been preparing for this attack for weeks basically
since washington had been burned the people of baltimore were so determined to keep the british
out that they actually sunk their own ships in the entrance to the harbor to create a man-made reef
that the british ships could would not be able to get past as part of the preparations at the fort
armistead had called for a new flag to be made to fly over the fort the order went to a woman
in baltimore named mary pickersguild who made an absolutely massive flag it measured 30 feet by 42
feet today that flag is on display in the smithsonian museum of history in washington
but early in the morning on september 13th over a dozen british warships opened fire
on the fort for the next 27 hours the british continued to fire on the fort launching over
1500 shells cannonballs and even newly developed rockets were exploding above and in the fort the
soldiers inside the fort did fire back but many of the ships were just out of range of american guns
as the sun went down on september 13th a storm moved in and now over the fort were flashes of
lightning and flashes of cannonball the only way the people of baltimore knew if the fort was still
being held was if they could still see that flag flying over the fort the next morning the flag
was still there and the british realized they were not going to be able to get past the fort so they
cease fire put up their sails and sail back into the chesapeake at around the same time british
ground forces under arthur brooke decided too to abandon the attack and march back to their ships
now famously an attorney named francis scott key who was being held on a british ship trying to
get the release of a friend he was there on the ship watching the attack as it took place and he
watches the entire thing from a few miles away and keeps looking for the flag to see if the
flag is still there after witnessing the attack he writes a poem called defense of fort mchenry
the poem is passed out in baltimore and then put to the tune of tuakrian in heaven which was
a british drinking song and becomes known as the star-spangled banner which officially became the
national anthem in 1931. so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you