Wednesday, March 23, 2011

January 8, 1776

In his diary for Jan. 8, 1776 Richard Smith wrote, "An Express came with Letters from Baltimore informg. that Ld. Dunmore has destroyed the Town of Norfolk in Virginia."

Richard Smith was a lawyer who represented New Jersey in the Continental Congress from July 1774 to June 1776.

On Jan. 1, 1776, British forces set Norfolk, VA ablaze. Earlier, on Oct. 18, 1775, British forces burned the town of Falmouth, Mass. (now Portland, Maine). In the Declaration of Independence, American grievances against Britain's King George III included, "He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People."

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