Lt. Levi Claggett and Sgt. John Clemm Died at Fort McHenry

Lieutenant Levi Claggett was killed at Fort McHenry on September 13, 1814.

He was a part of the Baltimore Fencibles, a militia composed of local merchants, business owners and prominent citizens of Baltimore.  Claggett was a 34-year-old flour merchant when he died.

While the British fleet was bombarding the fort, he was standing on Bastion #3.  According to eyewitness accounts, a British mortar shell hit the bastion and dismounted the 24-pounder long gun.  It broke the wheel of the cannon and the cannon fell on the lieutenant, crushing him.

Almost immediately after this, a bomb burst overhead and a piece of the shell "the size of a dollar and two inches thick" struck sergeant John Schultz Clemm in the abdomen.  He died within a matter of minutes.  It is said that friends took the piece of shrapnel out of him as a momento of the battle.

--Brock-Perry