bandoned
the forlorn city and returned to camp at Bladensburg. But more vexation
for the Americans was to follow, for a British fleet was working its way
up the Potomac to anchor off Alexandria. Here there was the same
frightened submission, with the people asking for terms and yielding up
a hundred thousand dollars' worth of flour, tobacco, naval stores, and
shipping.

The British squadron then returned to Chesapeake Bay and joined the main
fleet which was preparing to attack Baltimore. The army of General Ross
was recalled to the transports and was set ashore at the mouth of the
Patapsco River while the ships sailed up to bombard Fort McHenry, where
the star-spangled banner waved. To defend Baltimore by land there had
been assembled more than thirteen thousand troops under command of
General Samuel Smith. The tragical farce of Bladensburg, however, had
taught him no lesson, and to oppose the five thousand toughened regulars
of General Ross he sent out only three thousand green militia most of
whom had never been under fire. They put up a wonderfully good fight and
deserved praise for it, but wretched leadership left them drawn up in an
open field, with both flanks unprotected, and they were soon driven
back. Next morning--the 13th of September--the British advanced but
found the roads so blocked by fallen trees and entanglements that
progress was slow and laborious. The intrenchments which crowned the
hills of Baltimore appeared so formidable that the British decided to
await action by the fleet and attempt a night assault.

General Ross was killed during the advance, and this loss caused
confusion of council. The heavy ships were unable to lie within
effective range of the forts because of shoal water and a barrier of
sunken hulks, and Fort McHenry was almost undamaged by the bombardment
of the lighter craft. All through the night a determined fire was
returned by the American garrison of a thousand men, and, although the
British fleet suffered little, Vice-Admiral Cochrane concluded that a
sea attack was a hopeless enterprise. He so notified the army, which
thereupon retreated to the transports, and the fleet sailed down
Chesapeake Bay, leaving Baltimore free and unscathed.

Among those who watched Fort McHenry by the glare of artillery fire
through this anxious night was a young lawyer from Washington, Francis
Scott Key, who had been detained by the British fleet down the bay while
endeavoring to effect an excha