As the American Revolution broke out in New England in the spring of 1775 dramatic events unfolded in Virginia that proved every bit as decisive as the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill in uniting the colonies against Britain. Virginia, the largest, wealthiest, and most populous province in British North America was led by Lord Dunmore. But the Scottish earl lacked troops, so when patriots imperiled the capital of Williamsburg, he threatened to free and arm enslaved Africans to fight for the Crown. Virginia’s tobacco elite was reluctant to go to war with Britain but was outraged at this threat to their human property. Dunmore fled the capital to build a stronghold in the port of Norfolk. As enslaved people flocked to his camp, skirmishes broke out. With a patriot army marching on Norfolk, the royal governor freed those enslaved and sent them into battle against their former owners. In retribution, furious rebels burned Norfolk to the ground on January 1, 1776. The port’s destruction and Dunmore’s emancipation prompted Virginia’s patriot leaders to urge the Continental Congress to split from Britain, breaking the deadlock among the colonies and leading to adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Chronicling these stunning and widely overlooked events in full for the first time, A Perfect Frenzy offers a striking new perspective on the American Revolution that reorients our understanding of its causes, highlights the radically different motivations between patriots in the North and South, and reveals the seeds of today’s racial divide.
Andrew Lawler is a journalist, author, and National Geographic Explorer who has written more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles. He is also author of three books, including The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke and A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution.
