6. Late in the summer Admiral Cochrane arrived off the coast of Virginia with an armament of twenty-one vessels. General Ross, with an army of four thousand veterans, came with the fleet. The American squadron, commanded by Commodore Barney, was unable to oppose so powerful a force. The enemy entered the Chesapeake with the purpose of attacking Washington and Baltimore. The larger division sailed into the Patuxent, and on the 19th of August, the forces of General Ross were landed at Benedict. Commodore Barney was obliged to blow up his vessels and take to the shore. From Benedict the British advanced against Washington. At Bladensburg, six miles from the capital, they were met, on the 24th of the month, by the forces of Barney. Here a battle was fought. The militia behaved badly; Barney was defeated and taken prisoner. The President, the cabinet, and the people betook themselves to flight; and Ross marched unopposed into Washington. All the public buildings except the Patent Office were burned, together with many of the public archives. The unfinished Capitol and the President's house were left a mass of ruins. [Sidenote: The Siege of Baltimore.] 7. Five days afterwards a portion of the British fleet reached Alexandria. The inhabitants purchased the forbearance of the enemy by the surrender of twenty-one ships, sixteen thousand barrels of flour, and a thousand hogsheads of tobacco. After the capture of Washington, General Ross proceeded with his army and fleet to lay siege to the city of Baltimore. The militia, to the number of ten thousand, gathered under command of General Samuel Smith. On the 12th of September the British were landed at the mouth of the Patapsco, and the fleet began the ascent of the river. The land-forces were met by the Americans under General Stricker. A skirmish ensued, in which General Ross was killed; but Colonel Brooks assumed command, and the march was continued. Near the city the British came upon the American lines and were brought to a halt. 8. Meanwhile the British squadron had ascended the Patapsco and begun the bombardment of Fort McHenry. From sunrise of the 13th until after midnight, the guns of the fleet poured a tempest of shells upon the fortress.[C] At the end of that time the works were as strong as at the beginning. The British had undertaken more than they could accomplish. Disheartened and baffled, they ceased to fire. The land-forces retired, and the siege of Baltimore was at an end. [Footnote C: During the night of this bombardment, Francis S. Key, who was detained on board a British ship in the bay, composed _The Star Spangled Banner_.]