People

Baltimore-born Continental Army officer whose bayonet charge at Cowpens in January 1781 helped destroy Tarleton's force and turn the tide of the Southern Campaign. Later served as Maryland governor and senator; his statue stands in Mount Vernon Place.

Baltimore-area lawyer (distinct from Charles Carroll of Carrollton) who drafted the Maryland Declaration of Rights in 1776 — guaranteeing freedom of conscience, jury trial rights, and limits on government power that anticipated the U.S. Bill of Rights by fifteen years. His Mount Clare estate is Baltimore's oldest surviving structure.

Baltimore merchant and Continental Army officer who commanded Fort McHenry's defenses in 1814, coordinating land and naval forces that repulsed the British attack. He had served throughout the Revolution and used his merchant connections to supply the Continental Army and privateers from Baltimore.

Maryland lawyer who watched the British bombardment of Fort McHenry on September 13–14, 1814 from a truce vessel in the Patapsco. His poem "Defence of Fort McHenry," written aboard ship while negotiating a prisoner exchange, became "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Baltimore flagmaker who sewed the 30-by-42-foot garrison flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the 1814 bombardment. A professional maritime flagmaker, she and her team laid sections in a nearby malthouse to complete the enormous commission. Her Pratt Street house is now a museum.

Maryland general who served as Nathanael Greene's adjutant general throughout the Southern Campaign, managing the retreats of 1781 that exhausted Cornwallis's force. Among the most capable staff officers in the Continental Army; buried in Baltimore.

Commander of the Maryland Line at Long Island in August 1776, where his regiment's rearguard action became one of the war's celebrated acts of sacrifice. His "400 Marylanders" charged British forces repeatedly — at a cost of roughly 250 casualties — to allow Washington's army to escape.

Baltimore-born naval officer who ran privateer operations from Chesapeake Bay ports during the Revolution and later commanded the Chesapeake Flotilla during the War of 1812 — one of the most celebrated American naval officers of the era.