Though never the scene of actual hostilities, Baltimore lacked neither employment nor excitement. Early in 1776, a demonstration was made against the town, which had hitherto been entirely defenceless, by a British sloop of war and some smaller vessels. Fortifications were hastily erected upon Whetstone Point, where Fort McHenry later was to check the entrance of another British fleet; vessels were sunk in the channel, and the ship _Defense_ was hurriedly fitted out and put under the command of Captain James Nicholson. The British commander did not risk an action, but stood off down Chesapeake Bay, leaving behind a valuable prize that he had shortly before captured. “Such was the ardor of the militia,” wrote Samuel Purviance, Secretary of the Committee of Safety of Baltimore town, “that not a man w^d stay in Comm^{ee} room with me but Mr. Harrison.” Captain Nicholson was complimented as having “first had the honor of displaying the Continental colors to a British man-of-war without a return.” [Illustration: BOOS HOUSE NEAR WHICH LAFAYETTE’S TROOPS ENCAMPED.] Upon Baltimore, formerly Market, Street, between Sharp and Liberty, a tablet commemorates the site of “Congress Hall” a “three story and attic” brick building, which, in 1776, belonged to one Jacob Fite, and was at that time one of the most imposing buildings in the town. Hither the Congress of the United States adjourned in 1776,--when the British approached the Delaware,--and remained several weeks, during which period Washington was made a virtual dictator. A few squares to the east was the Fountain Inn, which entertained Washington and many other statesmen and soldiers who came to Baltimore, or passed through the town on their way north and south. Among these visitors was the Duc de Lauzun, whose legion lay encamped around the knoll where later, in 1806, was commenced the erection of the Roman Catholic Cathedral. Upon Bond Street, Fell’s Point, there was standing, not many years ago, an old farmhouse belonging to a German named Boos, near which Lafayette’s troops were encamped, and at which they obtained milk for their syllabub, and other products of the dairy and the garden.