At 7:30 a.m. on September 14, 1814, after 25 hours of shelling, the bomb ship HMS Volcano fired the last bursting bomb at Fort McHenry. As silent minutes passed and the eastern horizon brightened, the exhausted, wet defenders of Fort McHenry looked downriver and wondered whether the British would resume the attack, while fearful citizens in Baltimore wondered too. With the British still in view, the Americans assembled on the parade ground for morning colors, and the flash of white sails two miles away revealed the British fleet withdrawing. At 9:00 a.m., the garrison hoisted the Star-Spangled Banner over the ramparts as the morning salute gun fired and 1,000 defenders cheered the improbable victory.