...one is Baltimore (my home town), two is the national anthem was written during the war of 1812, and three-it was here that saved the country from going under English rule again. Huh? What? For real? "We had our independence after the Revolutionary War though," you are thinking.
Well, here's what happened...the British were causing trouble in the newly formed country, hoping it wouldn't be a success so it would come begging back for mercy. They were imposing trade restrictions, supporting American Indian tribes against expansion, keeping America from annexing Canada, capturing American merchant sailors, and putting them in the British navy... When America annexed western Ontario, ended the hope of an independent Indian State in the west under British control, and destroyed the strength of the Creek nation, the British sent 3 large invading armies. They won the Battle of Bladensburg, captured and burned Washington DC, blockaded the Atlantic Ocean, and marched toward Baltimore. The land and sea battle in Baltimore where the commander of the invading British army was killed was the turning point. The defense of Fort McHenry inspired Francis Scott Key to compose the poem "Defense of Fort McHenry" which became our nation's anthem.
Fort McHenry is a star shaped fort named after James McHenry, a signer of the US Constitution from Maryland, delegate to the Continental Congress from MD, the US Secretary of War under President Washington and John Adams. The fort sits on Locust Point, a peninsula in the opening of Baltimore Harbor, built to defend the Port of Baltimore from attacks. It is most famous for the War of 1812. During the Civil War it was a military prison for Confederate soldiers and Maryland political figures such as the Baltimore Mayor, city council, the police commissioner...after all Maryland was a southern state. 
During WWI additional buildings were constructed to convert the entire fort into a US Army hospital, only a few remain. The fort has been restored to its condition during the War of 1812. It has been a tradition that when a new official flag was made for additional states it first flies over Ft. McHenry.
The fort is not only a tourist and school trip destination but as a great park for area residents.
A detailed explanation of the battle: The British landed 5,000 troops (under General Ross who ordered the burning of DC) who marched toward Baltimore, the first engagement was the Battle of North Point-5 miles from the city which was under the command of General Samuel Smith of the Maryland Militia. He sent 3000 men to stall the British so the defenses in Baltimore could be completed. Ross was killed by a sharpshooter, according to legend Daniel Wells, 19 and Henry McComas, 18 of the 5th Maryland Militia were responsible for his death. With Ross's death a less competent Colonel took command of the British forces. A 3 mile wide earthworks from Canton to Hampstead Hill (Patterson Park) to Belair Road was dug to defend the east side of Baltimore. The day after the Battle of North Point 4,300 British troops advanced along Rt 7 and camped at the Sterret House (Armistead Gardens) 2 miles ENE of Hampstead Hill.
On September 13, at Ft. McHenry, 1000 soldiers under General Armistead waited for the British naval bombardment. A line of American merchant ships had been sunk at the entrance of the Baltimore Harbor putting the British ships at maximum firing range. The British fleet, just out of the reach of the Fort's cannons, bombarded for 25 hours. Close to 1800 cannonballs and rockets were launched at the fort but damage was light. The next morning, September 14, the British ceased their attach when they ran out of ammunition, the 30 x 42 foot oversized American flag, which was made by a local Baltimore flag maker Mary Pickersgill and her 13 year old daughter, was raised over Ft. McHenry. The British, seeing they had failed to take the Ft. withdrew and sailed for New Orleans.
An American lawyer, Francis Scott Key, aboard a British vessel trying to procure the release of Dr. William Beans, a prisoner of the British, were forced to stay with the British until the attack on Baltimore was over. Key watched from a ship in the Patapsco River. Inspired by the huge flag flying on the morning of the 14th, he composed a poem to the tune of a British drinking song "To Anacreon in Heaven." Congress made it the national anthem in 1931.
The flag that flew over Ft. McHenry is at the National Museum of American History in DC. It's extremely fragile and no longer huge since so much was snipped off for souvenirs.
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