In the mean time, Nicholls made an attempt on Fort Bowyer, a small redoubt, garrisoned by one hundred and twenty men, and defended by twenty pieces of cannon. This fortress commanded the entrance from the Gulf to Mobile. [Sidenote: Sept. 12.] To capture it, four British ships, carrying ninety guns, and a land force of over seven hundred men were despatched from Pensacola. On the 15th, the ships took up their position within musket-shot of the fort, and opened their fire. The land force, in the mean time, had gained the rear, and commenced an attack. Major Lawrence, with the brave little garrison under his command, met this double onset with the coolness of a veteran. Scattering the motley collection under Nicholls, with a few discharges of grape-shot, he turned his entire attention to the vessels of war. Being in such close range, the cannonading on both sides was terrific. The incessant and heavy explosions shook that little redoubt to its foundations; but at the end of three hours, the smoke slowly curled away from its battered sides, revealing the flag still flying aloft, and the begrimed cannoniers standing sternly beside their pieces. After the firing of the enemy ceased, the ship Hermes was seen drifting helplessly on a sand-bank, while the other vessels were crowding all sail seaward. The former soon after grounded within six hundred yards of the fort, whose guns opened on her anew with tremendous effect, and she soon blew up. Out of the one hundred and seventy who composed her crew, only twenty escaped. The other ships suffered severely, and the total loss of the enemy was one ship burned, and two hundred and thirty-two men killed and wounded, while only eight of the garrison were killed. Nicholls effected his retreat to Pensacola, where the governor received him as his guest, and threw open the public stores to the soldiers. On the flag-staff of the fort were "entwined the colors of Spain and England," as if on purpose to announce that all neutrality was at an end.