Dunmore's Proclamation

Dunmore's Proclamation is a historical document signed on November 7, 1775, by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, royal governor of the British colony of Virginia. The proclamation declared martial law and promised freedom for slaves of American Patriots who left their owners and joined the British Army, becoming Black Loyalists. The same right was offered to indentured servants. Most relevant historians agree that the proclamation was chiefly designed for practical rather than moral reasons.

Formally proclaimed on November 15, its publication prompted between 800 and 2000 slaves (from both Patriot and Loyalist owners) to run away and enlist with Dunmore. It also raised a furor among Virginia's slave-owning elites (again of both political persuasions), to whom the possibility of a slave rebellion was a major fear. The proclamation ultimately failed in meeting Dunmore's objectives; he was forced out of the colony in 1776, taking about 300 former slaves with him. The 1779 Philipsburg Proclamation applied to all the colonies. During the course of the war, between 80,000 and 100,000 slaves escaped from the plantations. While Dunmore's Proclamation freed many slaves and enlarged the size of Lord Dunmore's army, it alienated slaveholders and caused many of them to turn against the British.

Background
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, originally from Scotland, was the royal governor of the Colony of Virginia from 1771 to 1775. Then, in 1771 he was named governor of Virginia after the previous governor, Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt died. During his tenure, he worked proactively to extend Virginia's western borders past the Appalachian Mountains, despite the British Royal Proclamation of 1763. He notably defeated the Shawnee nation in Dunmore's War, gaining land south of the Ohio River. As a widespread dislike for the British crown (as a result of the American Revolution) became apparent, however, Dunmore changed his attitude towards the colonists; he became frustrated with the lack of respect towards the British Crown. Dunmore's popularity worsened after, following orders, he attempted to prevent the election of representatives to the Second Continental Congress.

On April 21, 1775, he seized colonial ammunition stores, an action that resulted in the formation of an angry mob. The colonists argued that the ammunition belonged to them, not to the British Crown. That night, Dunmore angrily swore, "I have once fought for the Virginians and by God, I will let them see that I can fight against them." This was one of the first instances that Dunmore overtly threatened to institute martial law. While he had not formally passed any rulings, news of his plan spread through the colony rapidly. A group of slaves offered their services to the royal governor not long after April 21. Though he ordered them away, the colonial slaveholders remained suspicious of his intentions.

As colonial protests became violent, Dunmore fled the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg and took refuge aboard the frigate HMS Fowey at Yorktown on June 8, 1775. For several months, Dunmore replenished his forces and supplies by conducting raids and inviting slaves to join him. When Virginia's House of Burgesses decided that Dunmore's departure indicated his resignation, he drafted a formal proclamation now named after him, signing it on November 7. It was publicly proclaimed a week later.

While most historians agree that Dunmore's Proclamation was done for practical rather than ethical reasons, there was one incident which marked the start of a growing cooperation between Dunmore and his slaves. One day Dunmore felt he needed a new mast for one of his ships, so he went to Porto Bello, his hunting lodge. While having dinner with George Montague, one of his naval captains, Dunmore’s men cut down a tree for the new mast. However, his slaves spotted multiple men from the Patriot army approaching the hunting lodge and warned Dunmore. He then escaped a few minutes ahead of the oncoming rebel troops, but the men working on the mast were unable to escape. These slaves completely changed the course of the war in Virginia. By not getting captured, Dunmore would now be able to continue his campaign against the rebellion. Yet, this incident also helped increase the possibility of freedom for not only the individual African slaves who helped Dunmore escape but also African slaves in all 13 colonies. After this incident, African slaves became Dunmore’s most important allies and opened the possibility of greater partnership in the future. The relationship between Dunmore and coastal Virginia, by contrast, was one in which Britain was trying to extract as many resources out of the economy as possible, and African slaves helped with this endeavor.

Dunmore's Proclamation only applied to slaves who were held by individuals opposed to the British. This meant that if slaves were held by people who were pro-British, they could keep their slaves, as shown by the phrase “appertaining to Rebels” within the document. This gives further evidence to the thesis that Dunmore's Proclamation was motivated by the desire to win the war rather than by genuine concern for the slaves.

Dunmore's Proclamation
"By His Excellency the Right Honorable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, His / Lieutenant and Governor General of the Colony and Dominion of /, and Vice Admiral of the same.

A PROCLAMATION.

As I have ever entertained Hopes that an Accommodation might have / taken Place between and this colony, without being / compelled by my Duty to this most disagreeable but now absolutely necessary / Step, rendered so by a Body of armed Men unlawfully assembled, bring on His / M Tenders, and the formation of an Army, and that Army now on / their March to attack His M troops and destroy the well disposed Sub- / jects of this Colony. To defeat such unreasonable Purposes, and that all such / Traitors, and their Abetters, may be brought to Justice, and that the Peace, and / good Order of this Colony may be again restored, which the ordinary Course / of the Civil Law is unable to effect; I have thought fit to issue this my Pro- / clamation, hereby declaring, that until the aforesaid good Purposes can be ob- / tained, I do in Virtue of the Power and Authority to ME given, by His M, determine to execute Martial Law, and cause the same to be executed / throughout this Colony: and to the end that Peace and good Order may the / sooner be restored, I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to resort / to His M STANDARD, or be looked upon as Traitors to His / M Crown and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty / the Law inflicts upon such Offences; such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of / Lands, &c. &c. And I do hereby further declare all indentured Servants, Negroes, / or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, / they joining His M Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily / reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His M / Crown and Dignity. I do further order, and require, all His M Leige / Subjects, to retain their Quitrents, or any other Taxes due or that may become / due, in their own Custody, till such Time as Peace may be again restored to this / at present most unhappy Country, or demanded of them for their former salu- / tary Purposes, by Officers properly authorised to receive the same.

GIVEN under my Hand on board the ship WILLIAM, off / the 7th Day of, in the  Year of His M Reign.

DUNMORE.

(GOD save the KING.)"

In the official document, he declared martial law and adjudged all revolutionaries as traitors to the British Crown. Furthermore, the document declared "all indentured servants, Negroes, or others...free that are able and willing to bear arms..." Dunmore expected such a revolt to have several effects. Primarily, it would bolster his own forces, which, cut off from reinforcements from British-held Boston, numbered only around 300. Secondarily, he hoped that such an action would create a fear among the colonists of a general slave uprising and would force them to abandon the revolution.

Colonial reaction
The Virginia Convention was outraged and responded on December 14, 1775, with an unambiguous declaration that all fugitive slaves would be executed:

"WHEREAS Lord Dunmore, by his proclamation, dated on board the ship William, off Norfolk, the 7th day of November 1775, hath offered freedom to such able-bodied slaves as are willing to join him, and take up arms, against the good people of this colony, giving thereby encouragement to a general insurrection, which may induce a necessity of inflicting the severest punishments upon those unhappy people, already deluded by his base and insidious arts; and whereas, by an act of the General Assembly now in force in this colony, it is enacted, that all negro or other slaves, conspiring to rebel or make insurrection, shall suffer death, and be excluded all benefit of clergy: We think it proper to declare, that all slaves who have been, or shall be seduced, by his lordship's proclamation, or other arts, to desert their masters' service, and take up arms against the inhabitants of this colony, shall be liable to such punishment as shall hereafter be directed by the General Convention. And to that end all such, who have taken this unlawful and wicked step, may return in safety to their duty, and escape the punishment due to their crimes, we hereby promise pardon to them, they surrendering themselves to Col. William Woodford, or any other commander of our troops, and not appearing in arms after the publication hereof. And we do farther earnestly recommend it to all humane and benevolent persons in this colony to explain and make known this our offer of mercy to those unfortunate people."

Newspapers such as The Virginia Gazette published the proclamation in full, and patrols were organized to look for any slaves attempting to take Dunmore up on his offer. The Gazette not only criticized Dunmore for offering freedom to only those slaves belonging to revolutionaries who were willing to serve him, but also questioned whether he would be true to his word, suggesting that he would sell the escaped slaves in the West Indies. The paper therefore cautioned slaves to "Be not then...tempted by the proclamation to ruin your selves." Since very few slaves were literate, this was more a symbolic move than anything. It was also noted that Dunmore himself was a slaveholder.

On December 4, the Continental Congress recommended to Virginian colonists that they resist Dunmore "to the uttermost..." On December 13, the Virginia Convention responded in kind with a proclamation of its own, declaring that any slaves who returned to their masters within ten days would be pardoned, but those who did not would be hanged without the benefit of clergy.

Estimates of the number of slaves that reached Dunmore vary, but generally range between 800 and 2,000. The escaped slaves Dunmore accepted were enlisted into what was known as Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment. The only notable battle in which Dunmore's regiment participated was the Battle of Great Bridge in early December 1775, which was a decisive British loss.

Dunmore's strategy was ultimately unsuccessful as his forces were decimated by a smallpox outbreak less than a year later. When Dunmore ultimately left the colony in 1776 he took 300 of the former slaves with him.

In 1779, British General Sir Henry Clinton issued the Philipsburg Proclamation, which freed slaves owned by revolutionaries throughout the rebel states, even if they did not enlist in the British Army. It resulted in a significantly larger number of runaways. It is estimated that up to 100,000 attempted to leave their owners and join the British over the course of the entire war. At the end of the war, the British relocated about 3,000 former slaves to Nova Scotia.