Battle at Kemp's Landing

On this day in 1775, Brit forces defeat American Patriots at the Battle of Kemp's Landing in Virginia. Joseph Hutchings, commander of the Americans, is captured by two persons he'd formerly enslaved. Lord Dunmore makes public his proclamation offering freedom to slaves who will fight for the Brits. The Virginia Convention responds on December 14, 1775, with its own declaration threatening punishment of death to slaves who continue to fight but amnesty to those who return to enslavement, and ordering the Committee of Safety to force slaves to work in the lead mine in Fincastle county. Earlier in 1775, the convention had praised Dunmore for fighting against the Shawnee and Mingo the year prior. Now, the convention claimed that the Quebec Act of 1774 was intended "to draw down upon us a merciless and savage enemy..."