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Mary Young Pickersgill

It was 1814, and the United States and Great Britain had been at war for two years. The city of Baltimore had been preparing for an eventual attack, but sitting in the way of the British was Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry ((Named after James McHenry, a Scotch-Irish immigrant and surgeon-soldier who became Secretary of War under President George Washington, Fort McHenry was built to defend the port of Baltimore from future enemy attacks after America had won its independence. It was positioned on the Locust Point peninsula which juts into the opening of Baltimore Harbor, and was constructed in the form of a five-pointed star surrounded by a dry moat. Click to read more....