LORD DUNSMORE
(John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore)
loyalty oath to the King of England His “Ethiopian Regiment” was the first Black military regiment in North America. Soon after, Rhode Island organized a Black military unit—see {613949}.
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore PC (1730 – 25 February 1809) was a Scottish peer, military officer, and colonial administrator in the Thirteen Colonies and The Bahamas. He was the last royal governor of Virginia. Dunmore was named governor of New York in 1770. He succeeded to the same position in the colony of Virginia the following year after the death of Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt. As Virginia's governor, Dunmore directed a series of campaigns against the trans-Appalachian Indians, known as Lord Dunmore's War. He is noted for issuing a 1775 document, Dunmore's Proclamation, offering freedom to slaves who fought for the British Crown against Patriot rebels in Virginia. Dunmore fled to New York after the burning of Norfolk in 1776 and later returned to Britain. He was Governor of the Bahamas from 1787 to 1796.
