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Chapter III - Slaves and Indians
Slaves and Indians
The thousands of slaves who desperately longed to escape their bondage also worried the patriots. Would the men fight for or against their masters? Alliance with the British seemed more promising to most slaves because the British promised to liberate them. As a result, Southern planters increasingly feared a slave revolt. Delegates from Georgia at the Continental Convention of 1775 were cautioned by their constituents to remember the situation with slaves and Tories when voting on the question of independence. The slave holders' worst fears were realized in November when Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, specifically offered to free all slaves and indentured servants who would leave their masters to join British forces. George Washington countered this offer by ordering recruiting officers to do the same for slaves who joined the American Army. The image of armed, freed black men intensified fears of possible slave revolts, prodding many unenthusiastic Southerners to join the patriots.
A different threat which helped persuade reluctant colonists in the West to support the revolution came from the Indians. By 1775 many Indian tribes' angry over the aggressive colonists' steady appropriation of their lands, decided to join forces with the British. However, the British, considering the Indians' style of fighting and goals too different from their own, preferred a policy of neutrality wish the various tribes rather than alliance.
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