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Show !:114 LIFE OF GEN. JACKSON. CHAP. The next day some disposition was manifested \ I[ ' . · by those who had been landed, to brmg on the attack; ~·but a fire from the fort forced them from their position, 1814. .1 and compelled them to retire about two m1 es ; whence, attempting to throw up fortifications, they were again made to retreat. Until the 15th, nothing definitive took place. Early on that day, the signals passing from the ships to the shore, led Lawrence to believe an assault was intended, and would shortly be made. At half after four o'clock in the evening, every thing being arranged, the Hermes in the van, commanded by sir W. H. Percy, and the others close in the rear, anchored within musket shot fire of the fort. From her near position, support· ed by the Caron, and brigs Sophia and Anaconda, ~!;~~0~ mounting, in all, ninety guns, she opened her broad· yer. side. Colonel Nicholls and captain Woodbine, at the head of their detachment, commenced a simultaneous attack by land, with a twelve pound howitzer, at point blank distance ; but, from their sand bank fortifications they were too quickly driven, to be enabled to produce the slightest injury ; whilst their courage was wholly inadequate to carry it by storm. The action now raged with considerable violence. From the fort and ships was pouring a continual fire. The Hermes, having at length received a shot through her cable, was driven from her anchorage, and floated with the stream. In this situation, she was thrown into a position, where, for twenty minutes, she re· ceived a severe raking fire, which did her considerable damage. ln her disabled condition, it was no longer LIFE OF GEN. JAtJI(SON. 215 possible to control her, whence, drifting with the cur- CHAP. rent, she ran upon a sand bank, about seven hundred~ yards distant, where, until late at night, she remained 1814_ exposed to the guns from the fort. Her commander, finding it impracticable to get her off, set her on fire, and abandoned her. She continued burning, until eleven o'clock, when she blew up. The Caron, next in advance to the Hermes, was considerably injured, and with difficulty got out to sea. It is worthy of remark, to show the difference in battle, between the two nations, to mark the conduct of British and American officers, under circumstances precisely similar. Whilst the battle raged, the flag of tl1e van ship was carried away, and at this moment she had ceased to fire. What had caused its disappearance, none could tell : no other opinion was, or could with propriety be indulged, than that it had been hauled down, with a view to yield the . contest, and surrender. Influenced by this belief, Lawrence, with that generosity characteristic of American officers, immediately desisted from further firing. The appear.mce of a new flag, and a broadside from the ship next the Hermes, was the first intelligence received, that such was not the fact; and the contest again ra<>'ed with renewed violence. It was but a few minu~es however, before tile flag staff of the fort was also car: ried away : but so far from pursuing the same generous course that had just beeri witnessed, the zeal of the enemy was _increased, and the assault more furiously urged. At th1s moment, Nicholls and Woodbine, at the head of their embattled train, perceiving what had happened, that our "star-spangled banner" had sunk, |