America’s Amazing History of Miracles: British Attack Inspires the Star-Spangled Banner
A variety of exploding shells, mortars, and rockets were fired by the British for 25 hours at Fort McHenry on September 13 and 14, 1814, as part of an attempt to take Baltimore.
Can you guess what God used to protect the fort against such explosives?
Mud! Yes, a rainstorm, perhaps remnants of the hurricane that had routed the British from Washington, D.C. after they set it afire, dumped rain on Baltimore. The ground became soft and muddy enough that most of the munitions landed in mud and did not explode.
The British fired some 1,800 bombs, rockets and shells from 19 of their ships in the Chesapeake Bay, with only about 400 of them landing inside the garrison. Of the 1000 defenders inside Fort McHenry, four were killed and 24 wounded.
Earlier in the assault on Washington DC, a revered Dr. Beanes had been taken captive. The British were holding him aboard ship off the Baltimore shore. A well-known 34-year-old Washington lawyer was asked to negotiate a prisoner swap with the British to retrieve the doctor.
So, Francis Scott Key went aboard the British ship in the harbor and successfully managed the exchange. Afterward, the British held Key and Beanes from going ashore because the two had learned of British plans to attack the Fort McHenry that day.
It was raining, but the bombardment began. Through the night Key was able to observe but could see little because of the rain and the smoke from the guns.
During the night the fort displayed a small storm flag (17’x25’), one that could handle the rain. But near dawn it was exchanged for a gigantic 30’ by 42’ American flag, visible by everyone in the harbor as the sun rose. Key was inspired to write a poem on an envelope. He finished the poem and made a good copy of it in a Baltimore hotel the next day.
Here William Federer describes this event:
The Star-Spangled Banner was sung and played often during ensuing years, and was finally adopted by Congress as the U.S. national anthem in 1931. You may wish to do more research on the flag. How many stars and stripes did it have? Why? What happened to the flag after that night?
References
Susie Federer and William J. Federer, December 12, 2012, Miracles in American History: 32 Amazing Stories of Answered Prayer, Amerisearch, Inc., publisher, 98-100.
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