Sunday: Invaders on the March

The next day (August 21), the British were on the march again, determined to do better than yesterday. They headed toward Nottingham. The good news was the road was shaded with great trees as was the countryside. The bad news is that flanking parties, which go ahead and along the sides of the way to guard against ambush, had to cut thru the vines and overgrowth to make their way.

While the British army marched along, Cockburn and his "navy" of small boats, barges, sailors and Marines, was going up the Patuxent River alongside. The soldiers reached Nottingham and set up camp to stay the night. All along the way, the British noticed there had been no attacks, no cannon fire, no cavalry charges. All was very peaceful. It made some happy, worried some others, and mostly made the British disrespect the Americans for "leaving the door wide open".