The Importance of Fort McHenry to America

As a country, the United States felt that the War of 1812 was under control and that they were well prepared for any battle any army could throw at them. After the United States won an important battle on Lake Erie in 1813, the American commander, Oliver Hazard Perry, sent the message "We have met the enemy and they are ours." As a new country, America, having just defeated the greatest military strength on the earth, was perhaps overconfident. However, once Great Britain turned all of its attention to defeating the United States, America realized that the fate of her country relied on Baltimore, and Baltimore relied on the protection of Fort McHenry. If Fort McHenry was taken over by the British, the Nation would have been split into two. The fate of the United States rested, to a large extent, on the success or failure of the central prong attack which was being protected by Fort McHenry. If Baltimore had not had Fort McHenry for protection, the city would have been an easy target and our nation would have perished because Baltimore would have lacked the proper protection it needed to prevail.

Before 1793, there was a base on the peninsula called Whetstone Point, which was of strategic value to the United States because of its location. Whetstone Point was surrounded by water on three sides and in order to get to Baltimore by water, you had to pass by this peninsula. Because of these reasons, this point seemed like an obvious place to put a fort to protect Baltimore. Not only was this a good location because of the water, but it was close enough to Baltimore to protect it without putting it in danger. Therefore, in 1793, a man named John Jacob Ulrich Rivardi was directed by the Secretary of War to create a plan fo...

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...endered or America had won. They could vaguely see a flag flying above the fort but could not tell whether it was America or British. Finally the darkness lifted and they saw that the American flag was still up and waving in the wind.

After this night, Key wrote a poem telling the events of that night. He called it “The Defense of Fort M’Henry”. It was published in the newspapers all over America. Someone put the poem to music using an old English tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven”. This song became America’s first national anthem in 1931.

Fort McHenry is not just known for the night when Francis Scott Key put that night into poem, but it is known as a great fort with a very strong military advantage. Fort McHenry helped protect Baltimore and save America. Without Fort McHenry, America could have easily been conquered and destroyed.