der the leadership of Major
William Lawrence. On September 12 the British appeared before the
fort with land and naval strength and demanded the surrender of the
little structure. Major Lawrence refused to surrender.

The British strength on this occasion consisted of the _Hermes_
of 22 guns, the _Sophia_ of 18 guns, the _Caron_ of 20 guns,
_Anaconda_ of 18 guns, all vessels of large size, under the
command of Captain Percy. It was a squadron which Jackson had
driven from Pensacola Bay and it was thirsting for revenge. There
was, in addition, a land force under Colonel Nichols of a few
marines and about 600 Indians which assailed Fort Bowyer from the
rear.

The battle began early on the morning of the 15th. The word for
the day in the American ranks was “Don’t give up the fort,” and
this originated an oft-repeated phrase. A heavy cannonade continued
without interruption until 5.30 o’clock in the afternoon. The
flag-staff of the _Hermes_, Captain Percy’s flag-ship, was shot
away and Lawrence gave the order to cease firing while he hailed
the vessel to find out whether she had lowered her colors. The only
answer was a murderous volley of grape-shot from another quarter.
The flag-staff of the fort then happened to be struck, and the
Indians and British on shore, thinking that the plucky little
garrison had surrendered, ran forward with terrible cries. They
were met by a terrific hail of lead which drove them back for good.

Finally the battered English vessels drew off. The _Hermes_ was
found to be in such bad shape that she was set on fire by her crew
and abandoned. Her destruction was completed by the explosion of
her magazine. The British loss was 232, of which number 163 were
killed. The American loss was 4 killed and 4 wounded. The British
in this engagement outnumbered the Americans more than six times.

The great adventure of Fort Morgan’s life, however, was in the
Civil War at the time of the taking of Mobile. The stronghold
had been considerably enlarged and strengthened and had been
re-christen