Fort McHenry in Baltimore

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to be in Baltimore with some friends from Virginia.  We stopped at several places and Fort McHenry was one of those places.  Before going to Fort McHenry, I had no idea what had happened there...or at least, I had forgotten all I had learned about Fort McHenry from my early school years.

Here is a model of Fort McHenry in 1812.  The flag in the middle of the fort measured 42 by 30 feet and was so large that the British fleet would be able to see it AND after the Battle of Baltimore and certain man by the name of Francis Scott Key would also be able to see it from the deck of a U.S. truce ship.

The weather was beautiful and we were able to enjoy our friends and the fort.  Here's SM with Todd and Kathy...and a very nice tree in the background.

Inside the fort, SM and I checked out the bunkers where the gun powder was stored, along with cannon balls, guns, and other war machinery.  We also toured the fort and saw where the soldiers slept and where prisoners were kept.

Oh look, a new prisoner...I'm pretty sure he hasn't been there since 1812, even though the desperation in his eyes makes it seem like he's been there that long.

Here we are on the outside wall.  Note the cannons behind us, these cannons were not the same kind of cannons from the Battle of Baltimore.   Fort McHenry was modernized and an active fort for many years after 1812.

After the long bombardment from the British, on the morning of Sept. 14, 1812, Francis Scott Key described how he felt when he saw McHenry's flag still waving.  "Through the clouds of the war the stars of the banner still shone in my view, and I saw the discomfitted host of its assailants driven back in ignominy to their ships.  Then, in the hour of deliverance, and joyful triumph, my heart spoke; and 'Does not such a country and such defenders of their country deserve a song?' was its question."  The Star-Spangled Banner became the national anthem of the United States in 1931.

I think this is the same prisoner I helped escape from the Fort's jail.  Apparently they caught him again.

Look at that great flag flying high in the sky.

I like this photo because it shows how large the cannonballs were that bombarded the Fort during the Battle of Baltimore.