On the evening of September 13th, and the early morning of September 14th, 1814, the British navy bombarded Fort McHenry on the shore of Baltimore Harbor during The Battle of Baltimore [in The War of 1812]. Francis Scott Key, imprisoned aboard one of the British vessels, watched the perilous fight, as the 15 broad stripes and 15 bright stars of the flag, streamed over the ramparts. The rockets glared red over the water, the bombs burst in the air. It wasn't till twilight's last gleaming, at dawn's early light, that Key learned victory was ours, and that star-spangled banner waved in victory, over the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
