Subject: Royal Ethiopian irregular infantry
Culture: Afro-British freedman
Setting: American Revolution, eastern America 1775-1781
Evolution:
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Virginia Historical Society > Sites and Stories -- African American History in Virginia
"... In the American Revolution, African Americans had to decide whether to believe the rhetoric of liberty employed by Virginia's patriot leaders -- mostly slave owners -- or the promise of Royal Governor Lord Dunmore to free slaves who would fight for King George III. Dunmore organized escaped slaves into what he called the Royal Ethiopian Regiment."
* Chartrand/Embleton 2008 p11
"Ethiopian Regt (aka Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regt) Raised from November 1775 at behest of Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, from seized African American slaves belonging to American rebels against the Crown. The slaves were promised their freedom in exchange for their service, and the regiment soon had about 200 men led by white Loyalist officers and NCOs. Elements were defeated at Great Bridge near Norfolk, VA, on December 9, 1775. Lord Dunmore's forces remained in the Norfolk area until evacuated to New York in August 1776. The regiment seems to have dissolved at that time, its men being taken into other corps such as a 'Virginia Company of Blacks,' reported in 1778 as employed as laborers by the Royal Artillery in New York."
* Schenawolf 2017-02-10 online
"The Ethiopian Brigade was the brainchild of John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore, Royal Governor Lord Dunmore of Virginia. On November 7, 1775, he issued a proclamation that rattled the chains of slavery; that which fueled the economy of both the northern and southern thirteen rebellious British Colonies in North America. Open warfare had erupted in New England seven months previously and the ties between the royal governor and the Virginian Provincial government, the House of Burgesses, had erupted in open hostilities leading to a direct confrontation between the Virginia militia and His Majesty’s Troops. Lord Dunmore pleaded for British ground troops to be sent to restore order to America’s largest colony. The Commander of North American forces, General Thomas Gates, had his hands full dealing with Boston’s overwhelming numbers of armed colonials. He could only respond with a small detachment of troops; the 14th Regiment of Foot, led by Colonel Alexander Leslie, which had been posted to Florida and had been devastated by disease and sickness. Lord Dunmore’s beleaguered forces were grossly outnumbered by militia forces and he soon realized that unless he found additional men, his remaining presence in Virginia was highly questionable.
"He knew of a large, untapped flow of manpower within his region eager to fight for the British; for a price – liberty. “Negros are double the number of white people in this colony,” said Dunmore, noting at the start of the war that bondsman in Virginia alone numbered 186,000 souls. He first proposed the idea in 1772 to Colonial Secretary William Legge, the Earl of Dartmouth, that rebellious owners of slaves, “with great reason, trembled at the facility that the enemy [themselves] would find in such a body of men, attached by no tie to their master nor to the country.” He went on to write “It was natural to suppose that their condition must inspire them with an aversion to both, and therefore are ready to join the first that would encourage them to revenge themselves, by which means a conquest of this country would inevitably be effected in a very short time.” Dunmore knew he had the answer to England’s manpower problem to subdue a large country with limited resources. His proclamation declared martial law and guaranteed freedom to all slaves of Whigs (patriots) who left their rebellious masters and joined the British forces in and around Norfolk; taking up arms against the colony in the name of the Crown."
Costume
* Chartrand/Embleton 2008 p42
"An account of December 1775 mentioned that the men of Lord Dunmore's 'black regiment' had the slogan 'Liberty to Slaves' as an 'inscription on their breasts' -- or rather, on the breast of the clothing they wore. Since they were armed and equipped from British ships lying off Norfolk, VA, it is believed that the men of the regiment generally wore smock-like 'slop' shirts of linen or old sailcloth with the slogan written on the chest. A red ribbon may have also been worn around the crown of their hats." [reference omitted]
* Virginia Historical Society > Sites and Stories -- African American History in Virginia
"... There was no time for proper uniforms, but frocks reading 'Liberty to Slaves' were issued to them."
Weapons
* Chartrand/Embleton 2008 p42
"The arms would have consisted of Sea Service muskets for those who were trained to handle firearms, and of boarding pikes and sabers for the others." [reference omitted]
