(gentle music) (typewriter bell rings) - I'm Andrew Lawler, author of "A Perfect Frenzy."

Virginia in that day was the largest, most populous, most important, wealthiest colony in all of British North America.

And Lord Dunmore was the royal governor who the king had sent over to run the place.

But when the revolution began to happen, Dunmore had to build an army because all of the forces were up in New England.

As soon as he began the fight against the Patriots, enslaved people began to show up.

And they said, "If you free us, we're happy to fight for the King."

And finally, he made it official.

On November 15th, 1775, he published North America's first Emancipation Proclamation.

(gentle music continues) - I am ashamed to admit that I did not know that enslaved people fought for the crown.

How is it that we don't know this?

- We know a lot about New England because you have those farmers fighting against the nasty redcoats.

And that's a, you know, a really good black and white story of villains and heroes.

But in the South, it's a little more complicated because it was much more of a civil war.

It was much more of a conflict that took place between communities.

And those communities included enslaved people, as well as free white people.

- Did any of them actually face the people who had enslaved them?

- Hmm.

Well, there's a great example of that.

The battle of Kemp's Landing took place on November 15th, a very important date, 1775.

And in that battle, Dunmore and his troops were marching through a swamp and the Patriots ambushed them.

And Dunmore, being an accomplished military officer, managed to encircle the Patriots.

And what really happened that's so important is that a Black man who was armed, who was a Black loyalist fighting for Dunmore, managed to capture the Patriot militia commander.

And the man, the Patriot militia commander, owned the Black man who had taken him into custody.

Now, Dunmore clearly was really impressed by this feat of bravery.

And so, immediately at that point, he released, he published this Emancipation Proclamation.

So it really was the bravery of these enslaved people that inspired Dunmore to take this radical step.

- Andrew, it's a great book and it's a really important book.

And I so appreciate you talking to me.

- Thank you, Jeremy.

I've enjoyed it.

- And thank you for watching "A Word on Words."

I'm Jeremy Finley.

Remember, keep reading.

(bell rings) - [Andrew] Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Lord Dunmore has commenced hostilities in Virginia and it has raised our country into a perfect frenzy."