RODGERS’ BASTION & THE BATTLE FOR BALTIMORE

During the War of 1812, many best know Baltimore’s role in this war against the British for the famous Battle of Baltimore, during which Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner. But the very spot on which the Pagoda stands here in Patterson Park played a pivotal role in this conflict.

The United States had declared war on the British because they were interfering with our free trade with the world by blockading our ships, stealing the ship’s cargo, and forcing our sailors to work and fight on British ship. The U.S. developed faster ships that could do the same to the British as they did to us. These were called Clippers, and they were built in Baltimore. Because of our successful privateering, the London Times called Baltimore “a nest of pirates.”

On August 24, 1814, the British burned much of Washington, DC. They next turned their attention to Baltimore, because they wished to put an end to the privateering. They intended to sail their ships past Fort McHenry, and into the Baltimore Basin. From there they would bombard the city at close range, and at the same time, send foot soldiers from North Point into Downtown Baltimore, burning and looting as they went along.

The British flotilla of war ships entered the North Branch of the Patapsco (where Key Bridge is today), landed troops at North Point, and preceded to fire away at Fort McHenry. The troops there managed to hold them off.
At North Point, where the British troops were massed, things went terribly wrong. First, the famous British General Ross, who had defeated Napoleon, was shot off his horse by two Baltimore teenagers (Henry McComas and Daniel Wells); then a fierce storm made the march toward Baltimore miserable.

But the worst was yet to come. Up on Hampstead Hill (site of the Pagoda), Commodore John Rodgers of the U.S. Navy, set up a large battlement called Rodger’s Bastion, made up of 12,000 men (mostly volunteers from Baltimore) and 100 cannons. As the British troops approached, they knew they could no longer get support from their ships because of Fort McHenry’s gallant fight. They soon realized that they could not get past the assemblage at Rodger’s Bastion without heavy casualties. So, they retreated and left Baltimore unscathed.

The Pagoda stands on the site of Rodger’s Bastion, and was built to commemorate this proud day for Baltimore. You can still see the Bastion’s mounded earth around the base.

For more information, ask for Heritage Paper #1 in the Pagoda lobby.