Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine

O! Say can you see by the dawn's early light, a large red, white and blue banner? Whose broad stripes and bright stars... were so gallantly streaming...over Fort McHenry! The valiant defense of the fort during the Battle of Baltimore on September 13-14, 1814, inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words that became the U.S. national anthem. The fort's history holds many other stories too, from the Civil War to WWII.