Major Armistead's Report on Battle of Fort McHenry-- Part 3: A British Landing

"The Enemy continued throwing Shells with one or two Slight intermissions, till One OClock in the Morning of Wednesday, when it was discovered that He had availed himself of the darkness of the Night and had thrown a considerable force above to our right, they had approached very near to Fort Covington, when they began to throw  Rocketts, intended, I presume, to give them an opportunity of examining the Shores, as I have since understood, they had detached 1250 picked Men with Scaling ladders for the purpose of Storming  this Fort.

"We once more had an opportunity of opening our Batteries, and Kept up a continued blaze for nearly two Hours, which had the effect again to drive them off."

--Brock-Perry