A drama beginning the famous Supreme Court case involving the night arrest in Baltimore County and imprisonment here of John Merryman and the upholding of his demand for a writ of habeas corpus for release by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney occurred at the gates between Court and Federal Marshals and the commander of Union troops occupying the Fort under orders from President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
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In 2005 the Living History volunteer unit, the Fort McHenry Guard, was awarded the George B. Hartzog award for serving the National Park Service as the best volunteer unit.
McKenry has been given the nickname "Fort McKenry" or simply "The Fort" by fans and media in Pittsburgh due to his defensive skills behind the plate as the Pirates' catcher and the similarity of his name to Fort McHenry, the famous fort in Baltimore known for its role in the War of 1812.
Comissiona and his wife became American citizens on July 4, 1976, at a special Bicentennial ceremony at Fort McHenry on Baltimore Harbor.
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This was done in anticipation of the bicentennial commemoration at Fort McHenry in 2014 of the battle which inspired Francis Scott Key to write his inspirational poem which later became our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.
It is said that the first public singing of the future National Anthem occurred on the stage here in late September 1814, when the poem of "The Defence of Fort McHenry" written by Francis Scott Key aboard a truce ship downriver from the British fleet as it bombarded Fort McHenry during September 12–14, 1814 several weeks earlier and set to music with the tune "To An Anacreon in Heaven", a so-called English drinking song.
The completion of the Orpheus statue at Fort McHenry further emphasized the story of the writing of the "Star Spangled Banner" following the bombardment of the fort by British naval forces, instead of the commemoration of Battle of North Point and Baltimore’s Battle Monument.
The American defenses were far stronger than anticipated, and U.S. defenders at Fort McHenry successfully stopped British naval forces from advancing close enough to lend artillery support, and British attempts to flank the defense were countered.