[2] His ancestors had emigrated from Britain to Gloucester County in the Virginia colony, and moved to what was then the frontier before the American Revolutionary War, during which they aligned with the Patriot cause.

When he arrived at Fort McHenry, located in the outer harbor of Baltimore, Maryland, Armistead ordered "a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance".

When a shell crashed through the roof of the magazine but failed to explode, Armistead ordered the powder barrels cleared out and placed under the rear walls of the fort.

Historian Benson Lossing, wrote "the tax upon his nervous system during that bombardment left him with a disease of the heart ... on the 25 of April, 1818 he expired, at the age of thirty eight years.

Not only was the flag displayed during significant events (such as Lafayette's visit to Baltimore, which happened after this man's death), his widow and later family members distributed pieces as souvenirs, damaging the historic object.