The Bombardment of Fort McHenry: A Rare Eyewitness Account of the Battle that Inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner” Offered at Freeman’s
As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, Freeman’s is pleased to offer a remarkable eyewitness account of one of the defining moments in American history: the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The manuscript logbook kept aboard the HMS Trave by Royal Navy midshipman Charles Robert Malden (Lot 264, estimate $60,000 – $80,000) is a highlight of How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X.
Exceptionally rare, Malden’s log is one of only a small number of known contemporary accounts of the September 1814 shelling of Fort McHenry, the battle that inspired Francis Scott Key’s “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Believed to be the only contemporary English eyewitness account of the bombardment to appear on the market, the manuscript provides a firsthand record of the attack as it unfolded from aboard a British warship.
“Apart from its incredible rarity, what I find most moving about this amazing logbook is that it records an incident that would forever be remembered by every American thanks to Francis Scott Key,” says Darren Winston, Head of the Books & Manuscripts department. “Like so many things in this sale, its incredible ordinariness is a big part of its magic: a young British midshipman, simply doing his duty and recording what he was witnessing every day—the wind, military engagements, and the events unfolding around him. Who could have known that what he was writing with his quill pen would one day be immortalized in ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ the national anthem of the United States? That is history unfolding on paper.”
Kept by Charles Robert Malden, then a young Royal Navy midshipman who would later become First Lieutenant and an accomplished explorer, the log documents the movements of the HMS Trave during the Chesapeake Campaign. The Pallas-class frigate, captured from the French during the Napoleonic Wars and commissioned into British service in 1814, sailed as part of Admiral Alexander Cochrane’s fleet during the advance on Baltimore. Malden recorded the ship’s position, weather conditions, naval operations, and daily activities aboard the vessel.
Detail
On the night of September 13, 1814, as British forces launched their prolonged assault on Fort McHenry, Malden recorded the bombardment in real time: “Bombs and Frigates weigh and stand in...commenced a tremendous heavy fire on the batteries near Baltimore...Midnight squally with rain Bombs &c keeping up a heavy bombardment on Fort McHenry...AM squally with rain Bomb &c keeping up a heavy fire...” His account captures the hours-long attack as British forces fired cannon, mortars, and rockets against the fort while American troops held their position through the night.
The bombardment became one of the defining moments of American history. Witnessing the attack from aboard the British ship HMS Tonnant, Francis Scott Key was inspired by the sight of the American flag flying over Fort McHenry the following morning to write the poem that became “The Star-Spangled Banner,” later adopted as the national anthem in 1931.
Only a handful of contemporary accounts of the bombardment are known, including Key’s original handwritten draft, preserved at the Maryland Historical Society, and the official report of Fort McHenry commander George Armistead, held by the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Malden’s log offers a rare British perspective on the battle and an extraordinary survival from a pivotal moment in American history.
How to Bid
How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X will be offered at auction on June 30 at 10 AM ET in our Philadelphia saleroom. Bidding will be available in person, over the phone, and via absentee or live online bidding.