Dunmore's New World

Dunmore's New World tells thestranger-than-fiction story of Lord Dunmore, the last royal governor of Virginia, whoselong-neglected life boasts a measure of scandal and intrigue rare in the annals of the colonialworld. Dunmore not only issued the first formal proclamation of emancipation in American history, healso undertook an unauthorized Indian war in the Ohio Valley, now known as Dunmore's War, thatwas instrumental in opening the Kentucky country to white settlement. In this entertainingbiography, James Corbett David brings together a rich cast of characters as he follows Dunmore onhis perilous path through the Atlantic world from 1745 to 1809.Dunmore was aScots aristocrat who, even with a family history of treason, managed to obtain a commission in theBritish army, a seat in the House of Lords, and three executive appointments in the Americancolonies. He was an unusual figure, deeply invested in the imperial system but quick to break withconvention. Despite his 1775 proclamation promising freedom to slaves of Virginia rebels, Dunmorewas himself a slaveholder at a time when the African slave trade was facing tremendous popularopposition in Great Britain. He also supported his daughter throughout the scandal that followed hersecret, illegal marriage to the youngest son of George III-a relationship that produced twoillegitimate children, both first cousins of Queen Victoria. Within this singlenarrative, Dunmore interacts with Jacobites, slaves, land speculators, frontiersmen, Scotsmerchants, poor white fishermen, the French, the Spanish, Shawnees, Creeks, patriots, loyalists,princes, kings, and a host of others. This history captures the vibrant diversity of the politicaluniverse that Dunmore inhabited alongside the likes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Atransgressive imperialist, Dunmore had an astounding career that charts the boundaries of what waspossible in the Atlantic world in the Age of Revolution.