"Centipede,"
passing through her diagonally, leaving death and wounds in its track.
The shattered craft sunk, and was soon followed by four others. The
order for retreat was given; and, leaving their dead and some wounded
in the shattered barges that lay in the shallow water, the British
fled to their ships. Midshipman Tatnall, who, many years later, served
in the Confederate navy, waded out with several sailors, and, seizing
the "Centipede," drew her ashore. He found several wounded men in
her,--one a Frenchman, with both legs shot away. A small terrier dog
lay whimpering in the bow. His master had brought him along for a run
on shore, never once thinking of the possibility of the flower of the
British navy being beaten back by the Americans.

So disastrous a defeat enraged the British, who proceeded to wreak
their vengeance upon the little town of Hampton, which they sacked and
burned, committing acts of shameful violence, more in accordance with
the character of savages than that of civilized white men. The story
of the sack of Hampton forms no part of the naval annals of the war,
and in its details is too revolting to deserve a place here. It is a
narrative of atrocious cruelty not to be paralleled in the history of
warfare in the nineteenth century.

Leaving behind him the smoking ruins of Hampton, Cockburn with his
fleet dropped down the bay, and, turning southward, cruised along the
coast of the Carolinas. Anchoring off Ocracoke Inlet, the British sent
a fleet of armed barges into Pamlico Sound to ravage the adjoining
coast. Two privateers were found lying at anchor in the sound,--the
"Anaconda" of New York, and the "Atlas" of Philadelphia. The British
forces, eight hundred in number, dashed forward to capture the two
vessels. The "Atlas" fell an easy prey; but the thirteen men of the
"Anaconda" fought stoutly until all hope was gone, then, turning their
cannon down upon the decks of their own vessel, blew great holes in
her bottom, and escaped to the shore. After this skirmish, the British
landed, and marched rapidly to Newbern; but, finding that place well
defended by militia, made their way back to the coast, desolating the
country through which they passed, and seizing cattle and slaves. The
latter they are said to have sent to the West Indies and sold. From
Pamlico Sound Cockburn went to Cumberland Island, where he established
his winter quarters, and whence he continued to send out marauding
expeditions d