s
general safety. Unlike many colonies whose interim governments fell into
the hands of men previously excluded from high office, the Virginia
Committee of Safety comprised men of the first rank, respected leaders
from throughout the colony: Pendleton, Mason, Bland, John Page, Thomas
Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, William Cabell, Carter
Braxton, James Mercer, and James Tabb. Pendleton was the chairman. This
committee met in almost continuous session during the crises of 1775.

The convention established a Virginia army of three regiments commanded
by Thomas Nelson, Jr., William Woodford, and Patrick Henry, with Henry
designated as commander. The choice of the great orator for a field
command post turned out to be a mistake which even his most loyal
supporters subsequently admitted. The error was later rectified, but not
without creating considerable hard feelings.

Throughout the late summer and early fall Dunmore, in command of several
ships and British regulars brought up from St. Augustine, blockaded the
Chesapeake, raided several plantations, and built bases at Gosport, at
the shipyard of Andrew Sprowle used by the Royal Navy near Portsmouth,
and in Norfolk. There he was joined by a number of Loyalists, mostly
Scots, and 300 former slaves whom Dunmore made into a military company he
dubbed "his Loyal Ethiopians". On October 25-27, 1775, Dunmore sent five
ships to burn Hampton. Reinforcements were sent from Williamsburg. Except
for a severe salt shortage resulting from the blockade and the irritation
of seeing former slaves in British uniform with the mocking motto
"Liberty for Slaves" replacing the colonial slogan "Liberty or Death",
most Virginians saw Dunmore as a nuisance rather than a serious threat.

Then on November 7,1775, Dunmore, exercising one last gasp of royal
power, declared Virginia to be in rebellion, imposed martial law, and
announced that all slaves belonging to rebels were emancipated. This
action cost Dunmore his creditability and destroyed his reputation among
the colonists. Until this time the Virginians had been very respectful of
both Lord and Lady Dunmore, whom they assumed were following orders which
could not be ignored. Now with this personal act Dunmore had shown
himself to favor a determined policy against the colonists.

Deciding to wait no longer, the Committee of Safety which had been
criticized for its inaction, dispatched Woodford with an army independent
of Henry's