A party of Virginia riflemen came to the camp. They were a strange looking set of men, in half-savage equipments, with deer-skin hunting shirts, fringed and ruffled. As they were strolling about, they met a party of Marblehead fishermen. To the Virginians, the costume of the fishermen was grotesque, with tarpaulin hats, flowing trousers, and round jackets. The two parties began to banter each other. There was snow upon the ground; and snow-balls began to fly thickly. The contest grew warm. It was a battle between Virginia and Massachusetts. Both sides were reinforced. Angry feelings were excited. From snow-balls they proceeded to blows. It became a serious tumult, in which more than a thousand were engaged. At this moment Washington appeared, mounted, and followed by a single servant. There was something in his majestic frame and commanding air which impressed the common mind with awe. He sprang from his horse, plunged into the thickest of the mêlée, and seizing two of the most brawny Virginians, held them at arm’s length, as though they had been children, while he administered a very severe reproof. The other combatants instantly dispersed. In three minutes there was not one left upon the ground.[110] In December a vessel was captured, which was conveying supplies, from Lord Dunmore, in Virginia, to Boston. In a letter to General Howe, found in the vessel, Lord Dunmore urged that the war should be transferred from New England to the southern States. He said that by liberating and arming the negroes, their force could be greatly augmented, consternation could be thrown into all the southern provinces, and victory would thus be speedy and sure. The despatch alarmed Washington. He said: “If this man is not crushed, before spring, he will become the most formidable enemy America has. His strength will increase as a snow ball.” This proposition of Dunmore, and the barbarous treatment, by the British officers, of the American prisoners of war, roused the indignation of General Charles Lee to the highest pitch. He wrote: “I propose to seize every governor, government man, placeman, tory, and enemy to liberty on the continent, and to confiscate their estates; or at least lay them under heavy contributions for the public. Their persons should be secured in some of the interior towns, as hostages for the treatment of those of our party, whom the fortune of war shall throw into their hands.”[111] Had these decisive measures been adopted, it would probably have saved many American captives from an untold amount of misery. The month of December was, to Washington, a period of great anxiety and perplexity. The troops, whose time of service had expired, were rapidly leaving, and but few came to occupy their places.