Battle of Baltimore

Battle of Baltimore

Part of: British-American War

The bombing of Fort McHenry.

date	September 12, 1814 to September 15, 1814
place	Baltimore , Maryland
output	American victory

Parties to the conflict
United Kingdom	United States
Commander
Robert Ross , Alexander Cochrane , Arthur Brooke	Samuel Smith , John Stricker George Armistead
Troop strength
about 5,000 infantry & marine infantry, 19 warships	North Point: 3,200 infantry & militia Fort McHenry: 1,000 infantry & militia, unknown number of gun crews, 20 guns Rodgers Bastion: up to 12,000 infantry & militia 150 guns Total strength: about 9,000 to 13,000 men
losses
North Point: 46 killed, 295 wounded Fort McHenry: 309 killed, wounded or missing Total : 650 killed, wounded or missing	North Point: 24 killed, 139 wounded, 50 prisoners Fort McHenry: 4 killed, 24 wounded Total: 28 killed, 163 wounded, 50 prisoners

The Battle of Baltimore , in the armed forces of the United States to attack British forces by land and sea to the port city of Baltimore in Maryland fought back, was in 1814 one of the turning points of the British-American war . The defense of Fort McHenry during that battle inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem Defense of Fort McHenry , which later became the national anthem of the United States .

prehistory

On August 24, 1814, the British army overran the defenders of the capital of the United States of America in the Battle of Bladensburg and invaded Washington, DC , which had been abandoned by the US military and government. After the partial destruction of Washington , the British infantry advanced along the Patuxent River . An association of the Royal Navy invaded the Potomac and on August 27 drove the crew from Fort Warburton , allowing the association to occupy the city of Alexandria, Virginia . After the capture of a few ships and the looting of the port, the British association withdrew on August 31. The US was badly demoralized by these events, so the British hoped to knock out Baltimore, a busy port the British believed to be a base for the privateers who disrupted British shipping. The British planned a combined attack: Major General Robert Ross was to attack North Point from land , while Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane was to lay siege to Fort McHenry , a fortification in the port of Baltimore.

The battle

North Point

The British landed a force of about 5,000 men, which marched against Baltimore and met heavy resistance at North Point, five miles from the city. The defense of the city was in the hands of Maj. Gen. Samuel Smith , an officer in the Maryland Militia . He dispatched a unit under General John Stricker , which took up a strong defensive position halfway between North Point and Baltimore. A small unit attacked the British to incite them to attack. In this attack, a sniper managed to kill the British General Robert Ross . The attack by the British under Colonel Arthur Brooke forced Stricker with heavy losses to give up his position and deliver the British to a battle of retreat. When night fell Brooke was within a mile of the main Baltimore defense positions.

Rodgers Bastion

Rodgers Bastion, on Hampstead Hill (now in Patterson Park), was the centerpiece of the three mile wide entrenchments from the outer harbor in Canton, north to Belair Road, to defend the eastern approach to Baltimore against the British. The redoubt was built and commanded by US Navy Commodore John Rodgers, while General Smith was in command. At dawn on September 13, 1814, one day after the Battle of North Point, about 4,300 British soldiers advanced north along North Point Road and then west along Philadelphia Road (now Maryland Route 7) against Baltimore, taking they forced the US forces to retreat to their main line of defense around the city. British commander Arthur Brooke established his new headquarters in Sterret House at Surrey Farm (now Armistead Gardens), about 2 miles northeast of Hampstead Hill.

When the British began testing Baltimore's inner ring of defense, the American lines of 150 guns, several thousand local militia and partisans, and more than 10,000 infantry, including the standing infantry regiments of Stricker and William Winder, the American commander near Bladensburg, defended. This strength far exceeded British expectations, and the defenders of Fort McHenry prevented the British naval forces from getting close enough for support fire. The British attack was called off while waiting for Fort McHenry to fall. Brooke had orders not to attack the American positions around Baltimore if he wasn't sure he could take them. When Brooke realized that Cochrane's flank attack had failed to eliminate Fort McHenry, he gave the order at 3:00 a.m. on September 14 to withdraw to the fleet.

Fort McHenry

At Fort McHenry, about 1,000 men under the command of Major George Armistead awaited the British sea bombardment. A number of American merchant ships were sunk at the opposite entrance to the port of Baltimore to obstruct the passage of British ships.

The attack began on September 13th when the British fleet of nineteen ships began bombarding the fort. The British fired congreve missiles from the HMS Erebus and mortar shells from the HMS Terror , the HMS Volcano , the HMS Meteor , the HMS Devastation , and the HMS Aetna . After an initial exchange of blows, the British withdrew from the range of Fort McHenry's guns and continued to bomb the fort for the next 25 hours. Although between 1,500 and 1,800 rounds were fired at the fort, it was only slightly damaged. The fort's guns were concentrated on defending the port entrance. So after dark, Cochrane ordered small boats to land on the beach west of the fort, on the side facing away from the port entrance. He hoped the landing forces could sneak past Fort McHenry and withdraw Smith's army from the British land attack on Roger's bastion to the east of the city. Despite darkness and bad weather, Armistead's guns opened fire on the landing forces and the relief attack failed.

Fort McHenry flag

On the morning of September 14, the oversized (30 ft × 42 ft) American flag, made a few months earlier by local flag maker Mary Pickersgill and her 13-year-old daughter, was hoisted over Fort McHenry around the battered storm flag that had been hoisted during the battle.

consequences

An anecdote has it that the American lawyer and situation poet, Francis Scott Key , was on board HMS Minden to seek the release of his friend Dr. To reach William Beanes, whom the British had captured. After receiving letters from British prisoners requesting treatment from Dr. Beanes thanked for the release, he and his friend had to wait for the attack to end to be allowed to go ashore. Key watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry from a neutral ship on the Patapsco.

A battle memorial in Baltimore

On the morning of the 14th, Key saw the American flag flying over Fort MyHenry, which inspired him to write verses on the back of a letter he was carrying. He composed the words to the melody of an old British drinking song, Anacreontic Song . When Key reached Baltimore, his poem was titled Defense of Ft. McHenry published by the Baltimore News-American.

Colonel Brooks' forces withdrew and Admiral Cochrane's fleet regrouped for his next attack on the United States, the Battle of New Orleans . Armistead was soon promoted to lieutenant colonel, but died just three years after the battle at the age of 38.

The Fort McHenry National Monument commemorates the battle.

literature

• Walter R. Borneman: 1812. The War that Forged a Nation . HarperCollins, New York NY 2004, ISBN 0-06-053112-6 .
• Christopher T. George: Terror on the Chesapeake. The War of 1812 on the Bay. White Mane Books, Shippensburg PA 2001, ISBN 1-57249-276-7 .
• Anthony Pitch: The Burning of Washington. The British Invasion of 1814. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 2000, ISBN 1-55750-425-3 .
• Joseph A. Whitehorne: The Battle for Baltimore, 1814. Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, Baltimore MD 1997, ISBN 1-877853-23-2 .

Web links

Commons : Battle of Baltimore  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Battle of North Point by John Pezzola

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Scenes In The War Of 1812 . In: Harper's New Monthly Magazine . 28, No. 166, March 1864, pp. 433-449. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
2. ↑ Borneman p.245
3. ^ Battle of North Point
4. ↑ Kimball, p.204
5. ↑ ^{a b} Borneman p.246
6. ↑ The Battle of Baltimore, Kevin Young, Ft. Meade Soundoff, 9/1/05 ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ 1812 Overtures, Brennen Jensen, Baltimore City Paper, 9/22/99
8. ↑ Borneman p.247
9. ^ The Battle of Baltimore . The Patriots of Fort McHenry, Incorporated. Archived from the original on June 8, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2011.