During the course of this year may be noticed the active duties of some small parties of Marines, in supporting the legal authority of Lord Dunmore in the Province of Virginia, which had not yet disavowed its allegiance. The spirit of rebellion beginning to shew itself, the Governor, after having sent off his family, entrusted his personal safety to the detachment from his Majesty's sloop Fowey, who fortified his house at Williamsburgh, planted artillery, and from which he issued all his proclamations, and, as long as was prudent, continued to exercise in it, his official functions. It was at last judged proper, under this escort of Marines, to proceed on board the Fowey, from whence his Lordship still corresponded with the Province. The political discussions that ensued, are foreign to my review. His Lordship's military exertions to reclaim or to conquer the disaffected, were fatal in their issue, from being impotent in the means. By the combined attack, however, of a few ships of war, and two parties of Sailors and Marines which were disembarked, the town of Norfolk, first in rank for commercial wealth, was set on fire and reduced to ashes, upon the New Year's Day of 1776. Many other hostile measures against the sea coasts of America, and her different interior Provinces, spread widely the calamities of war and the mutual desire of retaliation. Amongst the augmentation to his Majesty's forces, 6665 Marines were voted for the year 1776; being an additional number of 2378. FOOTNOTE: [1] Charlestown is separated from Boston by Charles River; a distance little more than that which divides London and the Borough, between which there is also a similar connexion. Bunker's Hill is situated just within the neck of land that joins the Peninsula of Charlestown to the Continent. CHAP. XXIX. The sufferings of the troops in cantonments at Boston were uncommonly great, from the want of fuel and other supplies, while these of the regiments and Marines upon Bunker's Hill, exposed in tents to all the storms of winter, and necessarily for ever on the alert, in the vicinity of a superior enemy, were proportionally still more severe. Military enterprize, however, fell asleep on both sides, and it did not awaken but with the return of spring. A dread of famine floating in the minds of many, superadded to their temporary evils. During these existing hardships, a detachment of Marines, under the escort of an armed ship, was sent to Savannah, in Georgia, with a view to procure provisions, either by purchase or by force. The Militia assembled to oppose their landing, and after some unpleasant discussions, erected batteries along the shores of the river so named. Proceeding to extremities, a short contest ensued, which terminated in burning seven vessels deeply laden, and the loss of a few lives; after which the party returned to Boston.