Veteran Of War Of 1812 Honored With Headstone

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Descendants are paying tribute to a War of 1812 veteran who, as a teenager, played a key role in the Battle of Baltimore.

The Baltimore Sun reports that a new headstone, listing rank, service and dates of birth and death, now marks the burial site of Henry Lightner at Baltimore Cemetery.

The family added an engraved footnote referring to Lightner as "Drummer Boy of Fort McHenry."

Lightner joined the militia when he was 16.

He's said to have played his drum during the march to Fort McHenry for the Battle of Baltimore.

He helped alert fellow soldiers that the British army was approaching.

Lightner died in 1883 at age 84 and was buried without a stone.

The federal government recently provided the headstone at the request of Lightner's descendants.

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