PICKING SIDES
the summer of 1775, Virginia’s royal governor was forced to take refuge on a British warship in the James River. John Murray, Lord Dunmore, had indicated that he would not only arm the colony’s enslaved people but also free them as well. Given that the Virginia planters held some 180,000 enslaved people, even the hint of such a possibility was shocking to white colonists. They already lived in fear of a slave rebellion. On November 14, 1775, Dunmore carried out his threat. He published a proclamation
