XXXII. ascended Elizabeth River to the Great Bridge, the only CHAPTER pass by which Norfolk can be approached from the land side; dispersed some North Carolina militia collected 1775. there; made several prisoners; and then, descending the river, took possession of Norfolk. The rise of that town Nov. 23. had been very rapid. Within a short time past it had become the principal shipping port of Virginia. Its population amounted to several thousands, among whom were many Scotch traders not well disposed to the American cause. Fugitive slaves and others began now to flock to Dunmore's standard. A movement was made in his favor on the east shore of Maryland, which it required a thousand militia to suppress. The Convention of Virginia, not a little alarmed, voted four additional regiments, afterward increased to seven, all of which were presently taken into continental pay. Among the colonels of the new regiments were Mercer, Stephen, and Muhlenberg, the latter a clergyman, who laid aside the surplice to put on a uniform. The Committee of Safety were authorized to imprison all persons guilty of taking up arms against the colony, and to appropriate the produce of their estates to the public service. Woodford, with the second Virginia regiment, took possession of the causeway leading to the Great Bridge, which was still held by Dunmore's troops. An attempt to dislodge the Virginians having failed with loss, Dunmore aban- Dec. 7. doned the bridge and the town, and again embarked. Norfolk was immediately occupied by Woodford, who was promptly joined by Howe's regiment from North Carolina. Jan. After a descent on the eastern shore of Virginia, to 1776. whose aid marched two companies of Maryland minute men, being re-enforced by the arrival of a British frigate, CHAPTER Dunmore bombarded Norfolk. A party landed and set it XXXII. on fire. The town was mostly built of wood, and that 1776. part of it nearest the water was rapidly consumed. The part which escaped was presently burned by the provincials, to prevent it from becoming a shelter to the enemy. Thus perished, a prey to civil war, the largest and richest of the rising towns of Virginia. Dunmore continued, during the whole summer, a predatory warfare along the rivers, of which his naval superiority gave him the command, burning houses and plundering plantations, from which he carried off upward of a thousand slaves. He was constantly changing his place to elude attack; but watched, pursued, and harassed, he finally found it necessary to retire to St. Augustine with his adherents. and his plunder. Feb. The squadron from Boston, which had alarmed Washington for the safety of New York, was destined, in fact, for the coast of Carolina. General Clinton was on board with a small body of troops. Clinton, like Howe, was not wholly disconnected with America, being an offshoot of that Lincoln family so intimately associated with the early history of Massachusetts. His father, also, had been governor of New York. After touching at New York, where he arrived the same day with General Lee, having held a conference with Tryon, who had formerly been governor of North Carolina, Clinton sailed again for that coast. Governor Martin, aware of his approach, and anticipating aid also from an armament to be dispatched from Ireland, had kept up a constant intercourse with the Regulators, and especially with the Scotch Highlanders, settled in great numbers in the southern counties. He had given commissions, as general and colonel, to two recent immigrants, officers of the British army, leading persons of the clans M'Donald and McLeod, In CHAPTER XXXII. Feb. whose members were numerous in North Carolina. the settlements about Cross Creek (now Fayetteville), and among the Regulators in the more northern counties, 1776. M'Donald enlisted some fifteen hundred men, with whom he attempted to reach the coast. Informed of this movement, Moore marched from Wilmington with his regiment and some detachments of militia, amounting in the whole to about a thousand men. When the two parties had approached within four miles of each other, M'Donald sent a letter to Moore, requiring him to join the royal standard, under pain of being treated as an enemy. Moore, who was hourly expecting re-enforcements, politely declined, but promised a more explicit answer the next day. Accordingly, the next day, he sent to M'Donald, requiring him to sign the Association agreed upon by the North Carolina Congress. Without returning any answer, M'Donald marched hastily off toward the coast. Having sent one detachment to Cross Creek, to cut off his retreat in that direction, and another to join and reenforce Caswell, who was marching from Newbern with the militia of that district, and who presently took post at Moore's Creek Bridge, about sixteen miles from Wilmington, with the rest of his troops, to which considerable accessions had been made, Moore marched in pursuit. To reach Wilmington, M Donald must cross Moore's Creek Bridge. Finding it occupied by Caswell, he ordered an attack. M'Leod advanced bravely at the head of the column; but, at the first fire, he fell, pierced with twenty balls, and his followers, seized with a sudden panic, fled in the greatest disorder. Moore was just behind; and not less than eight hundred and fifty of the Loyalists were made prisoners. The common men were disarmed and dismissed; M'Donald and his officers were detained, and presently were sent northward for safe keeping. CHAPTER The North Carolina Congress ordered four more regiXXXII. ments to be raised, and the Highlanders and Regulators 1776. to be disarmed. The defeat of M Donald disconcerted April 1. the plans of Martin and Clinton, whose force was not large enough to effect any thing without local support. The troops expected from Ireland met with great delays, and did not arrive till two months afterward. Jan. 20. Sir James Wright had called together the Assembly of Georgia at the beginning of the year; but, instead of paying any attention to his communications, they proceeded to choose an executive council, of which Archibald Bullock was appointed president. Wright was made a prisoner in his own house; but he presently forfeited his parole, and escaped on board a ship in the river. A proFeb. 4. vincial regiment was ordered to be formed, of which Lachlan McIntosh, a protégé of Oglethorpe, was appointed colonel. There were, however, many persons in Georgia not well inclined to observe the American Association. Eleven vessels at Savannah had loaded with rice, and the king's ships in the river below came up to assist them in escaping to sea. M'Intosh, however, took measures to prevent it, in which he was presently aided by a detachment sent from Charleston. In the course of the operations which followed, all but two of the vessels were taken or destroyed. CHAPTER XXXIII. RECOVERY OF BOSTON. AMERICAN ARMY DRIVEN OUT OF INDEPENDENCE. By great efforts and unwearied assiduity, Washington CHAPTER Y XXXIII. had brought the army before Boston into a tolerable state of organization, and he was now exceedingly anxious to 1776. expel the British. While their attention was distracted by a cannonade from several advanced batteries on the eminences of Cambridge nearest to Boston, taking advantage of a dark night, he sent a strong detachment to March 4. Occupy Dorchester, now South Boston, Heights, an elevation corresponding on the south to Breed's Hill on the north, and overlooking and commanding both the harbor and the town of Boston. During the night a strong redoubt was thrown up, from which the provincials must be dislodged, or the town be abandoned. Preparations for attack were immediately made; but a violent storm delayed the embarkation; and the works in the mean time were so strengthened, that the recollection of Bunker Hill left but little hope of successful assault. Had Howe made an attack, it was Washington's plan to embark four thousand men in boats in Charles River, and to land in the town. An indirect communication was presently opened with Washington through the selectmen of Boston, and it was tacitly understood that the town should be left uninjured on condition that the parting troops were not harassed. These troops amounted to seven thousand men, besides |