On August 13, 1813, British soldiers approaching Queenstown by land had to cross a thin mile-long causeway through the marshes at The Narrows, the only road connection between Kent Island and the Eastern Shore mainland, a crude hand-dug and rutted wagon trail. The night crossing would have been difficult for the 300 men in wool uniforms and heavy leather boots. Major William H. Nicholson of the Maryland Militia wrote on August 16, 1813, that The Narrows was bordered on both sides by extensive marshes and that reaching the island required traversing a narrow causeway more than a mile long across the marsh. Nicholson also reported that his 214 soldiers and 100 cavalry might be facing 3,000 or more British. On August 13, his scouts brought what he called painful intelligence that enemy forces were arriving from Kent Narrows and from Queenstown Creek, threatening to trap the militia between the two.