Where Is Maryland?It was the morning of September 14, 1814. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer from Maryland, was aboard a ship in Baltimore Harbor. The ship was a few miles from Fort McHenry in Baltimore. Throughout the night, English ships fired mortars and rockets at Fort McHenry, where American forces were stationed. They hoped to destroy the fort so they could capture the city of Baltimore. American troops fired back with guns, cannons, rockets, and mortars. “The heavens aglow were a seething sea of flame,” Key later wrote when describing the Battle of Baltimore.
Sometime during the night, the battle suddenly ended. All was quiet. But Key could barely see through all the darkness and smoke. He didn’t know if his side had won or if the British had destroyed Fort McHenry. In the light of the morning, what he saw filled his heart with joy: The American flag was still flying! The Americans had won the battle. The British troops left the harbor without attacking Baltimore.
Key wrote a poem about the battle. He called it “The Defence of Fort M’Henry.” A friend published Key’s poem and handed it out to people in Baltimore. Newspapers printed it. People began to sing it to the tune of a song called “To Anacreon in Heaven,” and it was renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The song soon became a symbol of the United States, the young country’s first steps toward independence, and the important role Maryland had to play.
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