OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT MCHENRY IN BALTIMORE PAPER.


Baltimore Patriot & Evening Advertiser, Vol IV, no 66. Baltimore: Munroe & French, September 28, 1814. 2 pp. Folio (490 x 305 mm). Leaf toned, left margin rough, chipping at lower margin.NEWS OF THE BATTLE OF BALTIMORE IN THE PAPER THAT FIRST PRINTED "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER." Page 2, column one leads off with a transcription of Lt. Col Armistead's letter to the Secretary of War (James Monroe) from September 24, 1814: "On the night of Saturday the 10th inst. the British fleet, consisting of ships of the line, heavy frigates, and bomb vessels, amounting in the whole to 30 to sail, appeared at the mouth of the river Patapsco, with every indication of an attempt on the city of Baltimore." Armistead describes the makeup of his own force on land and sea before detailing the attack:"On Monday morning very early, it was perceived that the enemy was landing troops on the east side of the Patapsco, distant about ten miles." Armistead reinforced the fort with artillery and volunteers before the attack began. "On Tuesday morning about sunrise, the enemy commenced the attack from his five bomb vessels, at the distance of about two miles, when finding that his shells reached us, he anchored and kept up an incessant and well-directed bombardment. We immediately opened our batteries, and kept a brisk fire from our guns and mortars, but unfortunately our shot and shells all fell considerably short of him. This was to me a most distressing circumstance; as it left us exposed to a constant and tremendous shower of shell without the most remote possibility of our doing him the slightest injury."The shelling kept up throughout the night: "The enemy continued throwing shells, with one or two slight intermissions, till one o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, when it was discovered that he had availed himself of the darkness of the night, and had thrown a considerable force above to our right; they had approached very near to Fort Covington, when they began to throw rockets; intended, I presume, to give them an opportunity of examining the shores--as I have since understood, they had detached 1250 picket me, with scaling ladders for the purpose of storming this fort. We once more had an opportunity of opening our batteries, and kept up a continued blaze for nearly two hours, which had the effect again to drive them off." A clipping of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from the September 20, 1814 edition of the Baltimore Patriot & Evening Advertiser sold in 2018 for $75,000.
|"The only means we had of directing our guns, was by the blaze of their rockets and the flashes of their guns."