Major Adam Muir, the local British commander, ordered the Norfolk Militia to assemble, first at Culver's Tavern in Woodhouse township, then in Burford. McArthur arrived at Oxford on November 4, where his men ransacked the village in search of forage and provisions. He learned that the militia were assembling at Burford and warned the inhabitants of Oxford that the property of anyone who warned them would be destroyed. Two men nevertheless alerted the militia under Bostwick, they were betrayed and their dwellings were duly razed.