The attack began on September 13, as nineteen ships of the British fleet began pounding Fort McHenry which was defended by a thousand soldiers. After an initial exchange of fire, the British withdrew to just beyond the range of Fort McHenry's cannons and continued to bombard the fort for the next twenty-seven hours. Over 1500 cannonballs were shot at the fort during the battle.

An American lawyer and poet, Francis Scott Key, was on a mission for the release of a prisoner of war, Dr. William Beanes of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The British agreed to his release but not until after the attack on Baltimore. Keys watched the fierce day and night of fighting on a ship in the Patapsco River. By the dawns early light, the smoke cleared and he saw the oversized American flag still waving above Fort McHenry. Inspired by the endurance of the American army, he wrote a poem on the back of a letter. "Defence of Fort McHenry" was later printed on September 17, 1814. In 1931, these words official became our national anthem.

The Battles of Washington and Baltimore were the last major conflicts of the war. Looking back today, we can see the providence of God though the storm and the fight to transform the lives of people impacted by the war. On September 13-15, 2014, we celebrate the bicentennial of the Star Spangled Banner and remember the Battle of Baltimore.

The annexed song was composed under the following circumstances - A gentleman had left Baltimore, in a flag of truce for the purpose of getting released from the British fleet, a friend of his who had been captured at Marlborough, - He went as far as the mouth of the Patuxent, and was not permitted to return lest the intended attack on Baltimore should be disclosed. He was therefore brought up the Bay to the mouth of the Patapsco, where the flag vessel was kept under the guns of a frigate, and he was compelled to witness the bombardment of Fort McHenry, which the Admiral had boasted that he would carry in a few hours, and that the city must fall. He watched the flag at the Fort though the whole day with an anxiety that can be better felt than described, until the night prevented him from seeing it. In the night he watched the Bomb Shells, and at early dawn his eye was  again greeted by the proudly waving flag of His country.
---- Baltimore American and Commercial Daily Advertiser, September 17, 1814

O say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

On August 24, 1814 during the War of 1812, the American army was defeated at the Battle of Bladensburg in Maryland. With no resistance, the British entered Washington and burned the White House, Capitol and other federal buildings. That same day, a great thunderstorm or hurricane blew into Washington, put out the fires and caused the British military to retreat back to their ships.

The Battle of Baltimore on September 13-15, 1814 (28th of Elul-1st of Tishri-Rosh Hashanah) was the next big land and sea conflict between British and American forces. The previous day they fought the Battle of North Point which caused major British causalities and their failure to pass Fort McHenry. The fight delayed the next battle and allowed time for the defenders of Baltimore to prepare.