The war of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain, which had Canada's help for they were a part of Great Britain. The battle of Fort McHenry was the main battle of the war, and took place in Baltimore, Maryland. The battle started when the British attacked Fort McHenry on September 1814. The war started in 1812 and ended in stalemate in 1815.

           The fourth president, James Madison, requested a declaration of war to protect American sailors on the high sea. At the time the United States was very small and by fighting this war, James Madison hoped to expand America by taking control of control of Canada. Even though James Madison was the one to start the war he was also the one to end the war. He asked for a peace treaty on February 20 1814 because he saw that neither side was winning and both Great Britain's people and America's people were dieing.

         The original fort was built during the war and was very expensive. The fort cost 35 million dollars and was made of rough-hewn stone. The thirty-three brave men that protected the fort took on about 380 Indians and two officers who brutally guarded the fort were killed.

         Even though the peace treaty to end the war was signed in Europe in December 1814 (which established the border of the US and Canada) the war of 1812 was also called the second war of independence. British soldiers entered the US capitol in Washington DC and burnt down the White House to the ground.

           The British attacked in September 1814. For 25 whole hours the British bombarded Fort McHenry from ships off the cost of Baltimore Harbor. In the middle of the night a lawyer named Francis Scott key wrote a poem which we now no as the Stars Spangled Banner.

        Today the fort is a national monument and you can go through and tour it.
                       
                                  Written By Paul and Edan

Works Cited:
encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761571913
encarta.msn.com/find/concise.asp?ti=761571913&sid=32#s32
www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl%3FID%3D35804
www.historychannel.com/cgi-bin/frameit.cgi?p=http%3A//