The hot season was now at hand, and both the British and American troops began to suffer severely from fever. In order, therefore, to have an eligible retreat for his army during the intense heats and the unhealthy season which was commencing, and at the same time to keep hold on South Carolina, General Prevost determined to secure possession of Beaufort, in Port Royal, by placing a garrison there under Colonel Maitland, after which he retired to Savannah with his main army. While these events were occurring in South Carolina, Sir Henry Clinton despatched from New York a fleet under command of Commodore Collier, now appointed to the naval command in America, with 2,000 troops under Major-General Mathews, to make a descent upon Virginia, and by devastating the coast and plundering the country, to inflict as much misery and ruin on the colonies as possible. Entering the Chesapeake, the squadron which escorted the troops advanced up Elizabeth River, and took possession of the town and fort of Portsmouth, the garrison of which, knowing themselves incapable of defence, fled at the approach of the enemy. On the opposite side of the river stood the town of Norfolk, which having already been destroyed in the present war was just recovering from its ruin, and now also fell into the hands of the enemy. These two towns were the seats of the Virginian foreign export trade, which, spite of the war, was considerable; and higher up the river lay Gosport, where the state of Virginia had established a navy yard. A great number of ships lay at these different places, among the rest two large French merchantmen laden with tobacco, which the Americans burnt, together with several of their own ships, on the approach of the fleet, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. In the meantime detachments having landed carried fire and sword inland. The town of Suffolk was attacked and plundered, as were the villages of Kempes’, Shepherd’s and Tanner’s Creeks. “Within a fortnight,” says the British chronicler of that day, “while the fleet and army continued on the coast, the loss of the Americans was prodigious.” To say nothing of cruelty, outrage, and general devastation practised on defenceless people, above 130 ships and vessels of various kinds were destroyed. “Seventeen were brought away as prizes, all that were on the stocks were burnt, naval stores were carried off or destroyed, as well as everything relative to the building or fitting up of ships. Among other booty carried off were 3,000 hogsheads of tobacco. The damage done in this expedition was estimated at above half a million sterling.”[26]