t while he would
not hang Dr. Beanes at the yard-arm, as he had threatened, yet he would
have to keep every man on board a close prisoner until certain
circumstances occurred which would render their release advisable.
When the ships arrived at their destination he assured them that it
would be only a matter of a few hours before they would be free.

From the admiral's flag-ship the Surprise, upon which he was then
detained, Key saw some of the finest soldiers of the British army,
under General Ross, disembarked at North Point, to the southeast of the
city of Baltimore. Then on Tuesday morning, September 13, 1814, the
fleet moved across the broad Patapsco, and ranged themselves in a
semicircle two and a half miles from the small brick and earth fort
which lay low down on a jutting projection of land guarding the water
approaches to Baltimore on that side.

Cockburn's boast to Key that the reduction of the city would be "a
matter of a few hours" did not look improbable. It was garrisoned by a
small force of regulars under General Armistead, assisted by some
volunteer artillerists under Judge Nicholson. It was armed with
forty-two pounders, and some cannon of smaller caliber, but all totally
ineffective to reach the British ships in their chosen position. In
addition, a small earth battery at the Lazaretto--which, it will be
seen, did good service--guarded the important approach to the city by
the north branch of the Patapsco; while Fort Coventry protected the
south branch. These batteries were armed only with eighteen and
twenty-four pounders.

From seven on the morning of Tuesday until after midnight of Wednesday
the fleet bombarded Fort McHenry at long range; occasionally the
gunners in the fort fired a useless shot at the ships. But at midnight
word was brought to Cockburn that the land attack on the North Point
road to the east of the city had failed. Therefore, unless the fleet
could take Fort McHenry on the west, retreat was inevitable.

Taking advantage of the darkness, a little after midnight sixteen
British frigates, with bomb-ketches and barges, moved up within close
range. At one o'clock they suddenly opened a tremendous and
destructive fire upon the fort. Five hundred bombs fell within the
ramparts; many more burst over them.

The crisis of the fight came when, in the darkness, a rocket ship and
five barges attempted to pass up the north channel to the city. They
were not perceived until the B