British Advance

In the days when Bladensburg was a busy port town, this house stood near the Old Post Road traveled by George Washington. On August 24, 1814, the British established an artillery position nearby and fired cannon and rockets at American defenders. Local tradition claims that the walls of the house were scarred by cannonballs, but no evidence exists. Three weeks before Francis Scott Key immortalized the "rockets red glare" over Fort McHenry in the "Star Spangled Banner," British rockets flew over the battlefield here. Congreve rockets reached targets a mile or more away, and British artillery also included one 6 pounder and two 3 pounders, named for the weight of their cannonballs.

Bladensburg, Maryland · United States