 Commemorating the soldiers and officers that fell in the defense of the city against the British land and sea attack in the Battle of Baltimore with the Battle of North Point and subsequent Bombardment of Fort McHenry on September 12-13-14th, 1814, during the War of 1812.The memorial was begun with a cornerstone laying one year after the attack on September 12, 1815, (later observed annually as Defenders Day, a city/county/state legal holiday) and completed in 1822, seven years later.The design was by French emigre architect Maximilian Godefroy and five years later was placed as the central figure with the city incorporation date of 1797 underneath on the city's newly designed oval official seal in 1827.