Page "Battle of Craney Island" Paragraph 4

Two days later, the British crossed the Hampton Roads from Craney Island to take revenge on Hampton, Va. – the town was burned and left in ruins.

Most of the atrocities were committed by men of the Independent Companies of Foreigners, former French prisoners of war recruited from British prison hulks.

While they were renowned for indiscipline, their actions at Hampton were not entirely unprovoked.

During the landing, a boat containing 17 men of the Independent Companies became stranded on a shoal off shore, and the men were massacred by the American defenders despite their attempts to surrender.

Enraged by the merciless treatment of their comrades by the Americans, the remainder of the Independent Companies ran amok when they landed.

A British officer recorded the result in his diary: " Every horror was perpetrated with impunity – rape, murder, pillage – and not a single man was punished.