ATTACK ON FT. McHENRY

The attack on Baltimore and Fort McHenry began on September 13th. Aboard the British ship, Key watched the battle. The British were using a new type of military bombshell that exploded into deadly fragments. Traveling 2½ miles, those "rockets" produced red streaks in the night sky.

Ft. McHenry held on through most of the night. Key could see its fifteen-star flag as the rockets lit up the sky. It was a huge flag, measuring thirty by forty-two feet. Major Armistead had ordered it that way so the "British would have not trouble seeing it from a distance." Key could see it from a distance, too.

The continued shelling, between both sides, gave Francis Scott Key hope. He figured as long as the battle continued, Ft. McHenry was resisting and Baltimore could be saved. For twenty-five hours the British bombarded the fort.

But then, sometime during the night, the shelling stopped. All was quiet. Had McHenry fallen? Did the British break through to Baltimore? Key did not know. He could not see anything. And he was worried.