And earthworks were prepared outside the city on the path that British soldiers would likely take if troops landed to invade the city.įort McHenry, a brick star-shaped fort guarding the mouth of the harbor, prepared for battle. Old ships were sunk in the harbor's narrow shipping channel to create obstacles for the British fleet. And a popular news magazine published in Baltimore, Nile's Register, also published detailed accounts of the burning of the Capitol and the White House (called "the president's house" at the time).Ĭitizens of Baltimore prepared themselves for an expected attack. Reports of the destructive raid on Washington appeared in the Baltimore newspaper, the Patriot and Advertiser, in late August and early September. Referring to the Baltimore privateers, an English newspaper had called Baltimore as "a nest of pirates." And there was talk of teaching the city a lesson. The city had long been a thorn in the side of the British, as privateers sailing from Baltimore had been raiding English shipping for two years. After the British raid on Washington, D.C., it seemed apparent that the next target was Baltimore.
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