Britain’s offer of freedom drew enslaved Virginians to the royalist side in large numbers

Evidence

In the face of a growing Patriot insurgency, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, issues a proclamation offering freedom to all enslaved people held by colonists sympathetic to the Patriot cause in return for their joining the British Army. More than eight hundred enslaved men escape to Dunmore’s lines and enlist, wearing uniforms with the motto “Liberty to Slaves.” Dunmore’s regiment sees action in one major battle and several skirmishes, but smallpox soon decimates its ranks. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 411

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to the book’s thesis that slavery was foundational to the Revolutionary War’s meaning — the Dunmore Proclamation is a concrete episode of enslaved people choosing sides based on freedom offers. Also relates to the Revolutionary-War-cause dispute the reader wants to trace as a case study. — connects to: Dunmore’s emancipation offer drove white Virginians toward destroying Norfolk — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 19
• QUESTION: Smallpox decimating the regiment is a striking detail — how much did disease, not British defeat, decide the fate of this Black Loyalist force?