Fort McHenry, in Maryland, is a star fort best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in Chesapeake Bay. It was during this bombardment of the fort that Francis Scott Key was inspired to write The Star-Spangled Banner, the poem that would eventually be turned into the national anthem of the United States, set to the tune of a British song "To Anacreon in Heaven." ~wikipedia