War if 1812 the battle at Fort McHenry was the decisive battle of the war. And it prompted Francis Scott Key to write the Star Soangled Banner from watching desperately from aboard a British ship in the harbor as dawn came up to see if the flag still flew.
The fort did not have enough troops there so the entire town emptied to help. That fact is often forgotten. The entire town went they knew the fight was that desperate. If you go see the actual star soangled banner today the gosh is shredded from the bombardment
What else they no longer teach us that when the sun came up, key could see the flag but it was leaning crazily. The flagpole had been hit and it had come down
The soldiers and townspeople had piled the bodies of the dead around it to help hold it up. Along with whatever else they could find at hand.