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Williamsburgh, Virginia, Friday, February 9, 1776.
By advices from the army under Colonel Howe, we learn that they abandoned Norfolk last Tuesday, after removing the poor inhabitants, with what effects they could carry along with them, and demolishing the intrenchments which Lord Dunmore threw up a little before he fled on board the fleet now lying before that place. What few houses remained after the late bombardment were, likewise,
Thus, in the course of five weeks, has a town which contained upwards of six thousand inhabitants, many of them in affluent circumstances, a place that carried on an extensive trade and commerce, consequently affording bread to many thousands, been reduced to ashes, and become desolate, through the wicked and cruel machinations of Lord North and the junto, aided by their faithful servants, my Lord Dunmore, with his motley army, and the renowned Captain Bellew, Commodore of his Britannick Majesty' s fleet in Virginia, and his generous and valiant crew. Truly may it be now said,
"Never can true reconcilement grow,
Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep."
The troops are now stationed at Kemp' s Landing, the Great-Bridge, and in and about Suffolk.
Williamsburgh, Virginia, Friday, February 9, 1776
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destroyed, after being valued, to prevent our enemies taking shelter in them.