The Battle of Baltimore, fought from 12 to 15 September 1814, was an American victory in the War of 1812 and the turning point of the war in the Chesapeake. After burning Washington, the British attacked Baltimore but were held at North Point, where their general was killed, and failed to batter down Fort McHenry in a night-long naval bombardment. Watching the fort's flag still flying at dawn, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that became the Star-Spangled Banner.
Three weeks after the British burned Washington, they came for Baltimore. The city held, the guns of Fort McHenry refused to fall, and a lawyer watching from a ship wrote the words that became the American anthem.
Part of The greatest battles in American history · Before: The Battle of the Thames · Next: Battle of New Orleans
After the burning of Washington
In August 1814 a British force had routed the Americans at Bladensburg2 and burned the public buildings of Washington. Flushed with success, the British turned north to Baltimore, a large and defiant port they regarded as a nest of privateers. The city, warned and determined, had thrown up strong defences.
The stand at North Point
The British landed troops to assault Baltimore by land while the fleet moved against its harbour fort. At North Point, American militia met the advancing column3 and fought a sharp delaying action in which the British commander, General Robert Ross, was killed by American riflemen1. The check bought the city time.
The bombardment of Fort McHenry
Guarding the harbour was Fort McHenry, under Major George Armistead. Through the night of 13 to 14 September the British fleet1 rained rockets and mortar shells on the fort, but the ships could not come close enough to overwhelm it, and the garrison held on under the long bombardment.
By the dawn's early light
Watching from a truce ship in the harbour was4 Francis Scott Key. When the firing died away at dawn and he saw the great American flag still flying over the fort, he began to write a poem, the Defence of Fort M'Henry. Set to music, it became the Star-Spangled Banner, later the national anthem4.
Why Baltimore mattered
With the land assault stalled and the fort unbroken, the British abandoned the attack and sailed away1. Coming after the humiliation at Washington, the successful defence of Baltimore lifted American morale and helped set the stage for the end of the war5, soon followed by Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans.