[Recently I completed a 3000-mile driving loop to visit some genealogical sites I’d never seen, about 20 in all. This was from the eighth day of stops.]
On the night of September 13th, 1814, the bombardment of Ft. McHenry was visible from this Baltimore hilltop. One witness on the hill proclaimed it “the handsomest sight I ever saw”. Inspired by what he saw from a different location, the next day Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the national anthem.
Twelve thousand men were gathered on the hill, then called Hampstead Hill, that night to oppose the British advance on Baltimore. Included was the 36th Regiment of Maryland militia, and in that regiment was my ancestor, corporal Richard Brown (1782/3-aft 1849). Did he witness the bombardment? Probably, though not certainly. A later county history merely stated that he had been “a valiant soldier in the war of 1812”. After the war he moved successively to Fairfield county, Ohio, and Cass county, Indiana, where he pursued the quieter life of a farmer.
What was visible in 1814 is less so today due to construction and the growth of trees. Somewhere to the right of the distant bridge, which can be seen just above the gap in the trees, is Ft. McHenry. A skyrocket or two would help, I know.
A late-19th-century pagoda was constructed on the hill, and it is possible the fort is visible from its upper floors. However, it is only open on Sunday — and nothing would get me up those stairs anyway! I think it’s a pretty classy adornment for an ancestral location, especially given its line of defensive cannon.
The line of ascent goes Boles -> Bowers -> Russell -> Brown.
As always, referenced genealogical information appears in the latest edition of my book, The Omnibus Ancestry: 785 Documented American and European Lines.
Picture attributions: All original.
The Genealogist's Craft 