Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment

(noun)

A British colonial military unit organized during the American Revolution by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore and last Royal Governor of Virginia.

Related Terms

Examples of Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment in the following topics:

  • The First Emancipation

    • Lord Dunmore's Proclamation was the first mass emancipation of enslaved people in United States history.
    • In November 1775 Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, issued a controversial proclamation, later known as Lord Dunmore's Proclamation.
    • After Dunmore's Proclamation, 500 Virginia slaves promptly abandoned their Patriot masters and joined Dunmore's ranks.
    • The governor formed them into the Ethiopian Regiment, also known as Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment.
    • Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment was probably the first black regiment in the service of the Crown during the revolution.

  • Slavery During the Revolution

    • In fact, Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation was the first mass emancipation of enslaved people in United States history.
    • Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation offering freedom to all slaves who would fight for the British during the Revolutionary War.
    • Five hundred such former slaves from Virginia formed Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment, which is most likely the first black regiment to ever serve for the British crown.
    • Many African Americans, believing that the Patriot cause would one day result in an expansion of their own civil rights and even the abolition of slavery, had already joined militia regiments at the beginning of the war.