and confiscate supplies of public gunpowder
at Williamsburg and transfer it to ships off-
shore. This act, coming in the wake of the
Battles of Lexington and Concord outside
Boston, alarmed radicals and even convinced
many moderates that there was, in fact, an im-
perial conspiracy against them. Murray fur-
ther compounded his mistakes by threatening
to arm slaves and employ them against their
former owners. This cost the governor what
little support remained among the slavehold-
ing planter class. Men around the colony
began taking up arms against the governor,
and Murray, fearing for his life, fled the capital
on June 8, 1775. He reestablished the seat of
government onboard a British warship, HMS
Fowey, at Norfolk. There he maintained a
floating government in exile over the next 14
months.
As other Loyalists drifted into Norfolk,
Murray could muster around 3,000 armed
followers and a flotilla of 90 boats. From
them he recruited the Queen’s Own Loyal
Regiment and—more significantly—the all-
black Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment.
This was the first African American military
unit in American history. He then assumed
the offensive, storming several river planta-
tions and seizing gunpowder and supplies.
On November 15, 1775, Murray carried
through on his threat and issued his Emanci-
pation Proclamation, which offered freedom
to any African American slaves who would
flee, join, and fight. He then continued con-
solidating his position until December 9,
1775, when the main rebel army appeared off
Norfolk. During the Battle of Great Bridge,
the British and Loyalists were badly beaten
when ordered by Murray to cross a narrow
causeway raked by Virginian riflemen. The
Loyalists had no recourse but to withdraw
from Norfolk to their fleet, and they bom-
barded the town. Subsequent fighting re-
duced Norfolk to ashes, which only hard-
ened colonial attitudes toward Virginia’s
erstwhile ruler. Murray took temporary
refuge on Gwynn’s Island offshore, where he
lost another engagement, this time to Gen.
Andrew Lewis, a veteran of Lord Dunmore’s
War. Unable to obtain British reinforce-
ments, Murray finally departed from Chesa-
peake Bay on August 7, 1776, taking the last
vestiges of imperial rule with him.
Back in England, Murray returned to Par-
liament, where he remained until 1781. That
year he was authorized to raise another Loyal-
ist army and reclaim Virginia, in concert with
the army of Lord Charles Cornwallis.How-
ever, by the time Murray reached his staging
area at Charleston, South Carolina, word was
received of Cornwallis’s surrender at York-
town. He thereupon returned to England a
second time and spent several years working
diligently on behalf of fellow Loyalists. In
1786, Murray received an appointment as gov-
ernor of the Bahamas, where he helped es-
tablish a lucrative trade throughout the
Caribbean, as well as with the Creek nation
under William McGillivray. However, he fell
from favor when his daughter married the
younger son of George III of England, a viola-
tion of the Royal Marriage Act, and he was
dismissed in 1796. Lord Dunmore retired to
private life in Ramsgate, Kent, where he died
on February 25, 1809. His inability or refusal
to deal forthrightly with moderates in Vir-
ginia, along with his provocative political ac-
tions, led to the swift and possibly premature
collapse of British authority within that vital
colony.Bibliography
Carey, Charles W. “Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regi-
ment.” Unpublished master’s thesis, Virginia Poly-
technic Institute and State University, 1995; Craw-
ford, David B. “Counter-Revolution in Virginia:
Patriot Response to Dunmore’s Emancipation
Proclamation of November 7, 1775.” Unpublished
master’s thesis, Ball State University, 1993; Fought,
Leigh K. “Lord Dunmore’s War, 1768–1774.” Unpub-
lished master’s thesis, University of Houston, 1994;
Hagerman, James A. Lord Dunmore: Last Royal
Governor of Virginia.Hampton, VA: Wayfarer En-
terprises, 1974; Luykx, John M. “Fighting for Food:
British Forage Operations at St. George’s Island.”MURRAY, JOHN