him, were easily dispersed, and he flattered himself that he should soon bring the lower country to submit to the royal authority.

Intelligence of these transactions being received at Williamsburg, a regiment of regulars, and about two hundred minute-men, were ordered down, under the command of Colonel Woodford, for the defence of the inhabitants. Hearing of their approach, Lord Dunmore took a very judicious position, on the north side of Elizabeth River, at the Great Bridge, where it was necessary for the provincials to cross, in order to reach Norfolk, at which place he had established himself in some force. Here he erected a small fort, on a piece of firm ground, surrounded by a marsh, which was only accessible on either side by a long causeway. The American troops took post within cannonshot of the enemy, in a small village at the south end of the causeway, across which, just at its termination, they constructed a breast-work; but, being without artillery, were unable to make any attempt on the fort.

In this position both parties continued for a few days, when Lord Dunmore, participating probably in that contempt for the Americans which had been so freely expressed in the House of Commons, ordered Captain Fordyce, the commanding officer at the Great Bridge, though inferior in numbers, to Between storm the works of the provincials. day

day-break and sun-rise, this officer, at the head of about sixty grenadiers of the 14th regiment, who led the column of the enemy, advanced on the causeway with fixed bayonets against the breastwork. The alarm was immediately given; and, as is the practice with raw troops, the bravest of the Americans rushed to the works, where, unmindful of order, they kept up a tremendous fire on the front of the British column. Captain Fordyce, though received so warmly in the front, and taken in flank by a small body of men, who were collected by Colonel Stevens, of the minute-battalion, and posted on an eminence something more than one hundred yards to the left, marched up, under this terrible fire, with great intrepidity, till he fell dead within a few steps of the breast-work. The column immediately broke, but the British troops, being covered in their retreat by the artillery of the fort, were not pursued.

In this ill-judged attack, every grenadier is said to have been killed or wounded, while the Americans did not lose a single man. The next night the fort was evacuated. The provincial troops proceeded to Norfolk, and Lord Dunmore found it necessary to take refuge on board his vessels. He was followed by the most offensive of the disaffected, with their families.

After taking possession of the town, the American soldiers frequently amused themselves by

firing into the vessels in the harbour, from the buildings near the water. Irritated by this, or some other cause, it was determined to destroy the houses immediately on the shore; and, on the night of the 1st of January, a heavy cannonade was commenced, under cover of which a body of the enemy landed, and set fire to a number of houses near the river.

A strong prejudice had been entertained, among. the provincial troops, against this station. It was believed to be a very dangerous one, from which, if the enemy should be reinforced, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to escape; and they saw, with great composure, the flames spread from house to house, without making any attempt to . extinguish them. It is not certain that they did not themselves contribute to extend them. After the fire had continued for several weeks, in which time it had only made slow progress, as the wind set against it, and had consumed about four-fifths of the town, Colonel Howe, who commanded a regiment of North Carolina regulars, which had come to the assistance of Virginia, and who had waited on the Convention, to press on them the necessity of destroying the place, returned with orders to burn the remaining houses. These orders were carried into immediate execution: after which, the troops marched from Nor

folk

folk to the different stations which were assigned them *.

Thus was destroyed by far the most populous and flourishing town in Virginia. That part of the destruction, effected by order of the Convention, was produced by the fear that it would be held by the enemy as a permanent post, and the hope, that, after it was burnt down, the seat of war would be entirely removed from the province.

It was one of those ill-judged measures, founded on a course of false reasoning, to which the inexperienced are often exposed.

After Norfolk was laid in ashes, Lord Dunmore frequently changed his position, and continued a predatory war on the rivers, burning houses, and robbing plantations, which served only to distress a few individuals, and to increase the detestation in which he and his cause were held through the country. At length, his wretched followers, wearied with their miserable condition, and no longer willing to continue in it, were sent in about fifty vessels to Florida †.

As the war became more serious, the Convention deemed it necessary to increase the number of regular regiments from two to nine; six of which, in the first instance, and afterwards the remaining three, were taken into the continental service.

* Virginia Gazette.

+ Ann. Reg.

In

In North Carolina, Governor Martin, though obliged to take refuge on board a ship of war, in Cape Fear River, still indulged the hope of being able to reduce that colony.

A body of ignorant and disorderly men on the frontiers, styling themselves regulators, who were enemies to all government, had attempted, by arms, some time before the existing war, to control and stop the administration of justice. Having failed in this attempt, they had now become as hostile to the colonial, as they had before been to the royal government.

There were also in the province a large number of families who had lately emigrated from the Highlands of Scotland, and who, retaining their attachment to the place of their nativity, transferred it to the government under which they had been bred. From the union of these parties, who were bold, active and numerous, Governor Martin entertained sanguine hopes of making a successful struggle for the province. His confidence was much increased by the certainty that Sir Henry Clinton was coming on with a small party; and that Sir Peter Parker and Lord Cornwallis were to sail with a squadron, and seven regiments, early in the year, from Ireland, on an expedition to the southern provinces, and that North Carolina would be their first object.

To

prepare to co-operate with this force, should