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tion to Dr. Macauley, a respectable physician, whose acquaintance 
was the more agreeable to me, as I found him to be an accom¬ 
plished man. In his company I rode to Fort McHenry; this fort 
is situated two miles from Baltimore, at the latter extremity of 
the isthmus formed by the eastern and western arms of the Pa- 
tapsco, which empties into the Chesapeake Bay. This fort*was 
rendered interesting by the repulse of an attack made by the 
British the 12th of September, 1814, by water; this well-sustain¬ 
ed defence contributed much to the safety of Baltimore. The 
English disembarked their troops on the eastern shore of the Pa- 
tapsco-—-these were to attack the city by land, meanwhile the 
fleet was to bombard, and to take Fort McHenry. The landed 
troops, whose general, Ross, was killed, met with such resistance 
from the citizens that they were compelled to retire with consi¬ 
derable loss; the attack on Fort McHenry had no better success. 
The English bomb-ships were anchored too far from the fort to 
allow the shells to do much mischief. Not being able to ob¬ 
tain any advantage from this side, they embarked troops in boats 
the following night, which, by aid of the darkness, passed the 
fort, and entered the western branch of the Patapsco. But they 
were discovered in time, and repelled by the batteries situated 
above the fort. The fort itself is very small, and ill-shaped; a 
pentagon with five little bastions, where at most but three large 
guns can be mounted 1 ; in front of the entrance is a little ravelin 
which defends nothing. There is no counterscarp; the ram¬ 
parts are sodded. The fort is separated from the land by a wall, 
which might rather prove injurious than advantageous. Near the 
water’s edge there is a battery which can contain more than fifty 
guns for firing over the beach. There are also some furnaces 
for heating cannon balls. It was this battery which offered the 
greatest resistance to the British. It contained heavy guns for¬ 
merly belonging to a French man of war, which were served 
by American sailors. One thousand five hundred men stood 
in this narrow space, without a single bomb-proof building in 
the fort, not even the powder-magazine, and notwithstanding, not 
more than thirty men were killed and wounded. Since that time, 
the engineers have erected bomb-proofs on each side of the gate, as 
well as a bomb-proof powder-magazine, and a bomb-proof roof 
over the pump. The fort is in a decayed condition, and is to be 
abandoned on account of its unimportant situation. The engineers 
intend to construct new fortifications several miles farther off in 
the Chesapeake Bay. Moreover, the situation of this fort is so 
unhealthy that the garrison leave it during the summer. From 
this spot there is a fine view of both branches of the Patapsco, on 
whose shores the trees in their autumnal dress of variegated leaves 
presented a very handsome appearance. On returning, we as- 
