November 1775

On November 7, 1775, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore and Royal Governor of Virginia, issued his proclamation from aboard a British warship off Norfolk, declaring martial law and offering freedom to any enslaved or indentured person belonging to 'rebel' colonists who could reach British lines and bear arms. Dunmore had been building toward this for months: in April 1775 he had seized Williamsburg's gunpowder supply; by June 8 he abandoned the Governor's Palace entirely, fearing patriot militia attack. Over the following months, between 800 and 2,000 enslaved people — willing to risk capture, return to slavery, or death — escaped their enslavers and enlisted with Dunmore. He formed them into the Ethiopian Regiment, which bore the motto 'Liberty to Slaves.' Politically, the proclamation was devastatingly effective: it drove wavering Virginia planters into the patriot camp, as the prospect of British-backed slave insurrection terrified the slaveholding class more than any tax dispute. For enslaved people it represented a calculated gamble — many would die of smallpox in British camps — but thousands took it, recognizing that the Revolution offered a potential opening for Black freedom on both sides.

On November 7, 1775, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore and Royal Governor of Virginia, issued his proclamation from aboard a British warship off Norfolk, declaring martial law and offering freedom to any enslaved or indentured person belonging to rebel colonists who could reach British lines and bear arms. Over the following months, between 800 and 2,000 enslaved people escaped their enslavers and enlisted with Dunmore. He formed them into the Ethiopian Regiment, which bore the motto 'Liberty to Slaves.' Politically, the proclamation drove wavering Virginia planters into the patriot camp, as the prospect of British-backed slave insurrection terrified the slaveholding class more than any tax dispute. For enslaved people it represented a calculated gamble — many would die of smallpox in British camps — but thousands took it, recognizing that the Revolution offered a potential opening for Black freedom on both sides.

Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, issued his proclamation offering freedom to enslaved people belonging to rebel colonists who could bear arms and reach British lines. Roughly 800 enslaved men joined his Ethiopian Regiment, wearing sashes reading 'Liberty to Slaves.' The regiment fought at the Battle of Kemp's Landing and Great Bridge. By mid-1776 smallpox devastated the regiment; survivors were abandoned on Gwynn Island. Some were recaptured and re-enslaved. A few hundred eventually reached freedom in Nova Scotia, Sierra Leone, or the Caribbean via British evacuation.

Virginia's royal governor offers freedom to enslaved people who join the British; thousands flee.