The British Navy’s Leopard stops the U.S. naval vessel Chesapeake off the coast of Virginia. Three U.S. sailors are killed and four are captured by the British Navy on suspicion of being subjects of Great Britain. Two of the sailors were later returned (one was executed for treason and one died in jail) and the British paid for damages to the Chesapeake. The incident sparks outcries and raised tensions between the United States and Great Britain.

The British intercept Baltimore-based Sophia and demand a tax on each gallon of Dutch gin carried. When Sophia returns to Baltimore, angry citizens order the gin “condemned to flames.” Thousands of sailors and civilians parade to Hampstead Hill (now Patterson Park) to watch the destruction of 720 gallons of gin.

In the Indiana Territory, U.S. forces clash and defeat warriors of the Shawnee tribe, led by Tecumseh. Americans discover the Shawnee used weapons supplied by the British, further heightening tensions with Britain.  

Incited by anti-war editorials in the newspaper Federal Republican, an angry mob destroys the newspaper’s Gay Street office in June 1812. Rioters return when publication resumed from a Charles Street site on July 27. The editor and about 25 supporters are escorted to jail for protection. A mob storms the jail, killing or wounding the occupants.

Furious with the British impressment of sailors, harassment of U.S. trade, and supply of weapons to American Indian tribes, the U.S. Congress narrowly votes to declare war on Great Britain. Over the following months, U.S. troops make several attacks on Canada.

The British blockade the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to disrupt trade and movement of U.S. naval vessels. Over the next months, British forces attack towns throughout the Chesapeake Bay region.

U.S. troops attack York (today Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada. The city is looted and burned by American troops. 

Major George Armistead, the commander of Fort McHenry, commissions local seamstress Mary Pickersgill to create a garrison flag (30x42 feet) and a smaller storm flag.

A U.S. fleet, under the command of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, defeats the British and takes control of the lake. The British lose a critical supply line to the west. 

Napoleon abdicates the French throne. With the Napoleonic Wars over, Britain commits additional troops and ships to their efforts in the United States.

With replenished forces, the British continue attacks on towns and farms along the Chesapeake Bay. Commodore Joshua Barney’s Chesapeake Bay Flotilla, a contingent of small armed barges conceived to harass the British, are instead bottled up in the Patuxent River.

More than 4,500 British troops land at Benedict, Maryland along the Patuxent River. The troops move north to Washington.

U.S. and British forces meet at Bladensburg, just a few miles from Washington. The British easily overcome the ill-trained and poorly commanded American forces, many of which flee the battle, leading to the term “The Bladensburg Races.”

In retaliation for the American destruction of towns such as York, British forces burn many of Washington’s public buildings, including the White House and Capitol.

Knowing Baltimore would likely be the next target of the British, the city hastily improves its defenses. In three weeks, a series of earthworks are dug on Baltimore’s east side (through what is now Patterson Park), troops assembled from surrounding states, and the city’s forts are strengthened.

Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and amateur poet, joins John Stuart Skinner, American agent for prisoner exchange, in Baltimore and sails down the Chesapeake on a truce ship to seek the release of American prisoner Dr. William Beanes. Although Skinner and Key are successful in getting Beane’s release, the British do not allow them to return as they now are aware of the British preparations to attack Baltimore.

The British invade the United States by attacking the garrison at Plattsburgh, New York on Lake Champlain. U.S. naval and land forces succeed in repelling the attack and the British withdraw to Canada. 

More than 4,000 British troops land at North Point to attack Baltimore by land. During the Battle of North Point, the British repel the U.S. forces and continue toward Baltimore. Upon seeing the city’s three-mile-long heavily armed defensive earthworks, the British commander decides to wait until Fort McHenry falls and the navy can assist taking the city.  

British bomb ships, stationed in the harbor outside the reach of the fort’s guns, begin a 25-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry.

The bombardment fails to destroy Fort McHenry, and the British fleet withdraws. British land forces also withdraw to North Point to rendezvous with the fleet. Key sees that the American flag still waves over the fort.

Key’s truce ship is released by the British and sails to Baltimore. He spends the night at the Indian Queen Tavern and puts to paper lyrics to a song detailing the battle and his emotions.

Friends of Key take the lyrics to the newspaper Baltimore American. The song is typeset as a handbill and hundreds of copies are distributed.

The Baltimore Patriot resumes publication of its newspaper and publishes Key’s lyrics on its front page.

The first public rendition of the song with Key's lyrics is performed at the Holliday Theater under a new title: “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

U.S. and British diplomats agree on terms to end the war and negotiate a treaty.

American forces, under the command of Andrew Jackson, win a commanding victory over a British attempt to gain control of New Orleans and the Mississippi River.

At the Octagon House in Washington, DC, President James Madison signs the Treaty of Ghent, which was ratified by the U.S. Senate the previous day. The War of 1812 is officially over. 

President Herbert Hoover signs the law that makes “The Star-Spangled Banner” the National Anthem.

Baltimore commemorates the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 with a series of events concluding with the Star-Spangled Spectacular in September 2014.