British Royal Navy ships in the harbor of Norfolk, Virginia, began shelling the town, and landing parties came ashore to burn specific properties.

Although the Patriots worked to drive off the British landing parties, they did nothing to impede the progress of the flames, and began burning and looting Loyalist-owned property instead.

Tensions in the British Colony of Virginia were raised in April 1775 at roughly the same time that the hostilities of the American Revolutionary War broke out in the Province of Massachusetts Bay with the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

[1] Although the incident was resolved without violence, Dunmore, fearing for his personal safety, left Williamsburg in June 1775 and placed his family on board a Royal Navy ship.

General Thomas Gage, the British commander-in-chief for North America, had ordered a small detachment of the 14th Regiment of Foot to Virginia in response to pleas by Dunmore for military help.

This activity continued through the end of October, when a small British ship ran aground and was captured by Patriot forces during a skirmish near Hampton.

Navy boats sent to punish the townspeople were repulsed by Continental Army troops and militia in a brief gunfight that resulted in the killing and capture of several sailors.

[4] Dunmore reacted to this event by issuing a proclamation on November 7 in which he declared martial law, and offered to emancipate Patriot-owned slaves in Virginia willing to serve in the British forces.

He adopted a hard line in dealings with Dunmore and the Royal Navy captains, denying the delivery of supplies to the overcrowded ships, and insisting on parity in the exchange of prisoners.

[13] On Christmas Eve, Liverpool's captain, Henry Bellew, sent what amounted to an ultimatum into the town, stating that he preferred to purchase provisions instead of taking them by force.

[14] On December 30, Bellew demanded that Patriot forces cease parading and changing the guard on the waterfront because he found it offensive,[15] and suggested that it would "not be imprudent" for women and children to leave the town.

[14] Damage to the town by Patriot forces significantly exceeded that done by the British, destroying 863 buildings valued at £120,000 (an estimated £20.4 million[17] in modern pounds sterling).

[16] A newspaper account published by Lord Rawdon prompted some questions in Patriot circles about the event, but many assumed that British forces were responsible for most of the damage, and no inquiries were made in the immediate aftermath.