Note 382 — Chapter XXIV

British Annual Register, Vol. XIX., p. 31.

Mr. Bancroft's account of this barbarous conflagration is as follows:

"New Year's day, 1776, was the saddest day that ever broke on the women and children then in Norfolk; warned of their danger by the commander of the squadron, there was for them no refuge. The Kingfisher was stationed at the upper end of Norfolk; a little below her, the Otter; Belew, in the Liverpool, anchored near the middle of the town; and next him lay the Dunmore; the rest of the fleet was moored in the harbour. Between three and four in the afternoon, the Liverpool opened its fire upon the borough; the other ships immediately followed the example, and a severe cannonade was begun from about sixty pieces of cannon. Dunmore then himself, as night was coming on, ordered out several boats to burn warehouses on the wharves; and hailed to Belew to set fire to a large brig which lay in the dock. All the vessels of the fleet, to show their zeal, sent great numbers of boats on shore to assist in spreading the flames along the river; and as the buildings were chiefly of pine wood, the conflagration, favoured by the wind, spread with amazing rapidity, and soon became general. Women and children, mothers with little ones in their arms, were seen by the glare running through the shower of cannon balls to get out of their range. Two or three persons were hit; and the scene became one of extreme horror and confusion. Several times the British attempted to land, and once to bring cannon into the street; but they were driven back by the spirit and conduct of the Americans. The cannonade did not abate till ten at night; after a short pause it was renewed, but with less fury, and was kept up till two the next morning. The flames, which had made their way from street to street, raged for three days; till four-fifths, or, as some computed, nine-tenths of the houses were reduced to ashes and heaps of ruins." (History of the United States, Vol. VIII., Chap. lvi., pp. 230, 231.)