d Dunmore took refuge on board his vessels.

{1776}

{January.}

[Sidenote: And burnt.]

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, Lord Dunmore determined
to destroy the houses immediately on the shore; and, on the night of
the first of January, under cover of a heavy cannonade, landed a body
of troops, and set fire to a number of houses near the river. The
provincials, who entertained strong prejudices against this station,
saw the flames spread from house to house without making any attempt
to extinguish them. After the fire had continued several weeks, in
which time it had consumed about four-fifths of the town, Colonel
Howe, who had waited on the convention to urge the necessity of
destroying the place, returned with orders to burn the remaining
houses; which were carried into immediate execution.

{February.}

Thus was destroyed the most populous and flourishing town in Virginia.
Its destruction was one of those ill-judged measures, of which the
consequences are felt long after the motives are forgotten.

After Norfolk was laid in ashes, Lord Dunmore 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 was held through the country. At length, his
wretched followers, wearied with their miserable condition, were sent
to Florida.[31]

[Footnote 31: Virginia Gazette.]

As the war became more serious, the convention deemed it necessary to
increase the number of regular regiments from two to nine, which were
afterwards taken into the continental service.

[Sidenote: Transactions in North Carolina.]

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

A body of ignorant and disorderly men on the western frontier, styling
themselves regulators, had attempted by arms, some time before the
existing war, to control and stop the administration of justice. After
failing in this attempt, they became as hostile to the colonial, as
they had been to the royal government.

The province also contained many families who had lately emigrated
from the highlands of Scotland; and who, retaining their attachment to
the place of their nativity, t