Existing comment:
15ยข FORT MCHENRY AND 15-STAR FLAG LARGE DIE PROOF (AMERICANA ISSUE)
When Baltimore became the target of a British invasion in the waning days of the War of 1812, Fort McHenry withstood 25 hours of continuous shelling and blocked the Royal Navy's advance up the Patapsco River. Unable to enter the harbor and short of ammunition, the British fleet retreated. Eight miles downriver, "by the dawn's early light," Francis Scott Key penned a celebratory poem that became the U.S. national anthem more than a century later in March 1931. |