The battle at Fort McHenry: what this site will and will not tell you
Why there are no numbers on this page
Because I am not going to invent them. Search results for this battle are full of confident figures for its length, its outcome and its cost in lives, and the confident ones do not always agree with each other. Rather than add another version, this page sends you to the body that runs the site and keeps its own account: the National Park Service page for Fort McHenry.
That is a deliberate choice about what this site is for. It is written to stop people wasting a morning or a fee, and the things it can verify — the fence, the hours, the flag’s real location, the toll on the road with the same name — are the things it states.
What the 1814 bombardment left you to visit
A 43-acre park in Locust Point with a star fort in the middle of it. The fee area is the star fort and the outer battery, inside a wooden fence, at $15 for an adult aged 16 or over and free for anyone under 16. Everything else, including the visitor center and the film, is free. The film and the visitor center are also where to take the historical questions this page declines: both cost nothing. What you will see is set out on what to see.
The visitor center is free to walk into and is staffed by people whose job is exactly this question. Ask them, not a search result.
The flag, which is the part everyone half-remembers
The original Star-Spangled Banner connected with this site is not held here. It is in Washington, DC, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where admission is free and no ticket is needed. That is verified, and it is on where the flag actually is. Why the site carries the reputation it does is covered on why Fort McHenry is famous.
Seeing the site from the water
A 45-minute Inner Harbor sightseeing cruise that names Fort McHenry as a sight and passes it from the water. None of it includes entry to the star fort. That is a National Park Service ticket, sold at the gate and nowhere else.
Frequently asked questions
How long did the battle of Fort McHenry last?
We have not verified the duration and will not print a figure we cannot stand behind. The National Park Service publishes its own account of the 1814 bombardment at nps.gov/fomc.
Who won the battle at Fort McHenry?
This site does not answer questions of historical record it has not verified. The National Park Service, which runs the site, publishes the account of the 1814 bombardment.
What can I see at Fort McHenry today?
A 43-acre park whose fee area is the star fort and outer battery inside a wooden fence. The grounds, seawall, visitor center and film are free; the fort is $15 for adults 16 and over.