Photo: the large 15-star, 15-stripe "Star-Spangled Banner" flag that inspired Francis Scott Key's poem (which became the lyrics of the U.S. national anthem) when it flew above Fort McHenry in the 1814 Battle of Baltimore. Shown here on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of History and Technology, around 1964. Credit: Smithsonian Institution Archives; Wikimedia Commons.

210th Anniversary of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’

By Jane Cook on September 16, 2024

In this article, Jane Hampton Cook tells the story of how Francis Scott Key’s poem eventually became the U.S. national anthem... (Read More)

Illustration: General Andrew Jackson leads his troops at the Battle of New Orleans, War of 1812, by Edward Percy Moran. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Genealogy Tips: Your Ancestor’s War of 1812 Pension (part 3)

By Katie Rebecca Garner on November 2, 2023

In this article – the third and final part in this series – Katie Rebecca Garner gives tips for researching your ancestor’s War of 1812 pension... (Read More)

Genealogy Tips: Your Ancestor’s War of 1812 Pension (part 2)

By Katie Rebecca Garner on October 18, 2023

In this article – the second in a three-part series – Katie Rebecca Garner gives tips for researching your ancestor’s War of 1812 pension... (Read More)

Illustration: close-up from a portrait of Captain William Nichols, attributed to Charles Delin. Courtesy of Museum of Old Newbury, Newburyport, Massachusetts.

War of 1812 ‘Holy Terror’ Privateer: Captain William Nichols (part 3)

By Melissa Berry on October 17, 2023

In this article, Melissa Berry concludes her story about a bold privateer who raided British shipping and helped the U.S. greatly in the War of 1812... (Read More)

Genealogy Tips: Your Ancestor’s War of 1812 Pension (part 1)

By Katie Rebecca Garner on October 11, 2023

In this article – the first in a three-part series – Katie Rebecca Garner gives tips for researching your ancestor’s War of 1812 pension.. (Read More)

War of 1812 ‘Holy Terror’ Privateer: Captain William Nichols (part 2)

By Melissa Berry on October 10, 2023

Melissa Davenport Berry writes more about a bold and successful privateer who raided British shipping and helped the U.S. greatly in the War of 1812... (Read More)

War of 1812 ‘Holy Terror’ Privateer: Captain William Nichols (part 1)

By Melissa Berry on October 6, 2023

Melissa Davenport Berry writes about a bold and successful privateer who raided British shipping and helped the U.S. greatly in the War of 1812... (Read More)

Illustration: "The Signing of the Treaty of Ghent, Christmas Eve, 1814," by Amédée Forestier, 1914. Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum; Wikimedia Commons.

Did ‘Peace on Earth’ Come to America in Time for Christmas in 1814?

By Jane Cook on December 22, 2020

In this article, Jane Hampton Cook describes how negotiators for the U.S. and Great Britain tried to forge a peace treaty by Christmas 1814... (Read More)

Illustration: Battle of the Thames and the death of Tecumseh, by the Kentucky mounted volunteers led by Colonel Richard M. Johnson, 5th October 1813. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

On This Day: U.S. Defeated British & Killed Their Ally Tecumseh

By Tony Pettinato on October 5, 2018

An article about the American victory over the British during the Battle of the Thames on 5 Oct. 1813, in which Shawnee Chief Tecumseh was killed... (Read More)

Tag: War of 1812