Smallpox Devastates the Ethiopian Regiment — Hundreds Die

By mid-1776, a smallpox epidemic swept through Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment and the Black freedom seekers sheltering aboard British ships off the Virginia coast. Hundreds died. Dunmore wrote that disease had killed more of his Black soldiers than enemy action. Bodies were buried on small islands or thrown overboard. Survivors — perhaps 300–500 — were evacuated with British forces as the Revolution continued. Their sacrifice for British promises of freedom ended for most not in liberty but i