In every land engagement since the Royal Navy arrived in February to pummel the people of the Chesapeake Bay, Americans had run rather than face such odds. Two miles to the west, another British detachment of at least equal size had already landed and was making its way through the woods to the narrow tidal creek that separated the island from the mainland. Simple arithmetic told Beatty that these swarming boats carried two or three times the patchwork force of nearly 800 militiamen, army regulars and navy sailors that defended the channel to Norfolk and the U.S. Tall-masted British warships filled the American commander’s view of Hampton Roads from one side to the other - and rowing back and forth among the 22 vessels anchored off the mouth of the Elizabeth River were some 50 attack barges bristling with sailors and soldiers. Henry Beatty looked out over the earthworks at Craney Island on the morning of June 22, 1813, the vision of imperial might that stretched before his eyes could hardly have been more daunting.
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