October 24, 1775

General George Washington to President of Congress John Hancock, 24 Oct. 1775:

"Sir: My conjecture of the destination of the late squadron from Boston, in my last, has been unhappily verified, by an outrage exceeding in barbarity and cruelty every hostile act practised among civilized nations. I have enclosed the account given me by Mr. Jones, a gentleman of the Town of Falmouth, of the destruction of that increasing and flourishing village. He is a very great sufferer, and informs me that the time allowed for the removal of effects was so small that valuable property of all kinds, and to a great amount, has been destroyed."

The British burned Falmouth, Massachusetts (now Portland, Maine) on October 18, 1775. Throughout the Revolutioanry War (1775-1783), British forces sporadically burned American towns and cities.

In the Declaration of Independence, Congress included the destruction of towns in a list of grievances against Britain's King George III: "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people."

Sadly,Continental forces burned the towns of several Native American peoples, destroying homes and crops, and taking the residents (men, women and children) prisoner. For a John Bell's mention of the Continental Army burning Seneca towns, please visit: http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2007/03/not-george-washington.html.

Retaliation?

On March 25, 1776, Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull wrote wrote to Congressmen John Adams and George Wythe, "Burning and destroying our Towns...and cruel treatment of the persons so unhappy as to fall into their hands, are injuries of the first magnitude." Trumbull wrote, "The prisoners in our custody meet generous entertainment. Is it not time the law of retalliation should take place?" Robert Joseph Taylor, ed., Papers of John Adams: Vol. 4: February-August 1776 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979), 64.

Threats of retaliation figured in the unwritten laws of war in the late-1700s. Months later, Trumbull would get more accounts of cruel treatment and lethal neglect of American prisoners in British custody. Americans agonized over the option of retaliation. For the destruction of towns, please consult entries on Norfolk, Virginia and Falmouth, Massachusetts (currently Portland, Maine).

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."