Excerpt from The Star-Spangled Banner By: Joanne Quaglia

On board the British flagship, the officers were kind to Key and Skinner and agreed to the release of Key's friend on the condition that the three men wait until the Battle of Baltimore ended before returning home. The officers placed Key and his friends back on their boat in Battimore Harbor, where they anxiously waited for the skirmish to end. From a distance of approximately eight miles, the three men observed the British attack on Fort McHenry.

I’m this passage, the word skirmish means

A) appearance.
B) Flight.
C) History.
D) Location.