Up to 90,000 enslaved Blacks fled patriot owners for British lines during the Revolution.

Evidence

Across the South, tens of thousands of enslaved Blacks did flee their patriot owners for the promise of liberty behind British lines—perhaps up to one-fifth of their total number or as many as 90,000 by the war’s end. They never mounted a viable insurrection, however, and those that reached Lord Dunmore during the first six months of 1776 in response to his proclamation of freedom, and survived the ensuing ravages of war and disease, left with him in July when the Virginia militia drove him from Gwynn’s Island, his final redoubt in the Chesapeake Bay region. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 273

Categorization

• XREF: Quantifies the scale of enslaved flight behind British lines — a counterpoint to the framers’ rhetoric of liberty that shows enslaved people acting on the same liberty principle. Useful for the course’s foundational-values theme. — connects to: Enslaved people emancipated themselves by fleeing to Union lines in massive numbers. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 592; Far more enslaved people joined the British than fought for the Patriots — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 94; More enslaved people freed themselves by serving the British than the patriots

Broader Connections

• Far more enslaved people joined the British than fought for the Patriots #corroborates (0.95) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 94
• More enslaved people freed themselves by serving the British than the patriots #corroborates (0.95)
• Enslaved people emancipated themselves by fleeing to Union lines in massive numbers. #exemplifies (0.85) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 592