The Bombardment of Fort McHenry
On 13 September 1814, a British fleet bombarded Fort McHenry as a prelude to attacking the port of Baltimore, Maryland. The fort’s defiant and successful resistance soon generated a market for commemorative images and verses including what was to become the national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner”, written by Francis Scott Key. This contemporary print depicts the bombardment, with “the bombs bursting in air” above the fort.
A View of the Bombardment of Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, by the British Fleet … on the Morning of the 13th Sept. 1814
Print by John Bower, 1814 Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library, Providence, Rhode Island