The Ethiopian Regiment

Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed



In 1775 Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, was in a separate position.  Several hundred armed rebels controlled the streets and fields of Virginia.  Dunmore had been forced to flee the the capital of Williamsburg for the safety of the naval town of Norfolk, Virginia.  Williamsburg was a nest of patriots and Dunmore no longer felt it was safe for him to stay there.  His loyal forces had been reduced to desertion and harassment to about 300 troops.  In desperation, Lord Dunmore called on all able bodied men to assist him in the defense of the colony, including the slaves of rebels.  These blacks were promised their freedom in exchange for their service in the Army.  This was controversial at the time, especially among Loyalist slave holders who had feared a mass slave rebellion.  Some thought Dunmore had gone mad.  Still, this strategy was extremely successful.  Within a month Dummore had raised up 800 soldiers.

The Virginia Proclamation immediately replied to Dunmore's Proclamation with the Virginia Declaration, which denounced his offer of freedom as striking at the foundations of Virginia's society.  After decrying Dunmore for filling slaves with false hopes and causing them great suffering.  It proceeded to threaten the death penalty to escaping slaves.  Lord Dunmore's Proclamation was the first mass emancipation of slaves in American history, and it deserves to be remembered as an important memory in history. 

Within a week of Dunmore's Proclamation, over 300 escaped slaves had flocked to his troops in Norfolk.  Every week hundreds more arrived, desperate for freedom.  Dunmore's desperate ploy had nearly doubed his army in a weeks, and the Patriots were both terrified and incensed by the steady stream of escapees.  By any measure, it was a success.  Some of these black troops fought in the early battle at Kemp's landing, where unprepared patriots were surprised by Dunmore's men and fled quickly. 

Dunmore hurried to have blacks trained in the basics of musket shooting and formation marching, and had special uniforms made for them with the provocation insignia "Liberty to Slaves" embroidered on their breasts.  Some of these first recruits fought in the fall of the south side of Norfolk and worked extensively preparing the fortifications at Great Bridge. 

To read more of this story, go onto the website link Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People to learn the rest of the story.  This particular website is where I derived this information from.