In 1775 protest and rioting turned into a Revolution. The infamous shot heard round the world began a war that was brewing for several years. Each colony had its own reasons for rebellion, or loyalty. Virginia was unique in that it was perhaps the only colony to be almost completely Whig. Such support for the Revolution was in direct contrast to a century and a half of imitating England. Years before the Revolution were filled with a longing to be purely English, only to be stripped away in order to become American. While a number of issues influenced the minds of Virginia's revolutionaries, the one issue always present was social class.
Virginians were infuriated by numerous grievances, but slavery was the most immediate threat. In pre-Revolutionary Virginia there was a great fear, not of a rebellion against England, but against the labor force. Slave riots were nothing new, but by the French and Indian war there was widespread fear. Governor Dinwiddie in 1755 realized that any emergency that divided white Americans could give blacks the opportunity to launch rebellions. Virginia worried that France could inspire their Indian allies to terrorize the colony by incorporating slaves into their war parties, and advocating a Virginia-wide uprising. These fears increased during Pontiac's rebellion as well as the hostilities of 1775. During Dunmore's War, the governor not only secured Virginia land speculation, and pacified the frontier, but kept out hostile Indians who could influence slave rebellion.
The year 1775 was marked with more violence and fear. The coming revolution led many slaves to believe that it would be a war of liberation. As gossip spread through slave communities, England became more and more of a savior in their eyes. At the same time, Dunmore's threats to free Virginins slaves became all the more a reality. Dunmore, the great savior of Virginia from the Shawnee was now one of the most hated men in the colony. The first signs of gossip and rumors of freeing the slaves were enough to increase mounted patrols. Madison and Lee stirred up more trouble when they blamed Parliament for planning to pass measures to dissolve slavery in Virginia. Dunmore's removal of the powder from the Williamsburg Magazine was the straw that broke the camels back. What followed was a call to arms.
The call to arms was answered by Independent companies of Virginia. These companies were comprised of courageous men looking to preserve their liberty, and demanded a return of their powder for defense of the colony. These same members were part of the gentry, looking to lead the revolution, and were slaveholders looking to get back powder to defend their land from slave rebellion. Many of these companies had their own uniforms and weapons. They may have looked professional, but they were little more than hot-tempered Virginia elite who created their own social group under the guise of a military company. Regardless of their composition, their intent was clear, they wanted their powder back, and they wanted it immediately.
What came next was a series of threats that almost led to the first blood shed in the colony. The Independent companies threatened to march on Williamsburg. Dunmore countered with a warning, "If any high-ranking British official is harmed, I will declare freedom to the slaves, and reduce the city of Williamsburg to ashes." Such a declaration sent chills down the spines of members of the House of Burgesses. Some men like Patrick Henry were leading the Independent companies, and advocating armed protest, while others like Peyton Randolph were more interested in preserving peace. Randolph saw more danger in causing Dunmore to release the slaves than going without powder.
Dunmore had a trump card that he could use against any threat from the perturbed colonials. Revolts in Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina gave even more power to Dunmore. The idea of a Southern-wide uprising was a scary reality to many planters, one that swelled the ranks of militias. Bloodshed at Lexington and Concord signaled a start of the war. The colonies were officially in rebellion in the eyes of England. New England was invaded by the Armies of England, and Whigs feared that the same would happen in Virginia. They feared even more the idea that thousands of slaves in neighboring farms, down the road, and even in their home could rise up in rebellion. Gossip and fear came to fruition when Governor Dunmore officially emancipated all able-bodied slaves who could bear arms and preserve the monarchy in Virginia.
Mass hysteria and violence that were so feared by Whigs never occurred. Instead some 800 slaves fled to Dunmore to help create the Ethiopian Regiment. "In seeking their own freedom, black Virginians indirectly helped motivate white Virginians to declare Independence from Britain" (Holton 161). The former slaves who joined the ranks of the Ethiopian Regiment risked harm from battle, death from disease, and treatment harsher than they had ever suffered if recaptured. The men of the regiment were free, and it was up to them as liberators to put down the Whig rebellion, and liberate Virginia's remaining slaves. In stark contrast, the Whigs saw Dunmore and his men as rebels who needed to be put down so peace could be restored, and life in Virginia could go back to the way it was.
The Whigs who stood against loyalists at the battle of Hampton and Great Bridge were not the same men who flocked to Fredericksburg months earlier. The new recruits were from another social class, and began their own revolt within the ranks of rebels. The new minute service that was introduced to face Britain and its allies was designed to replace the Independent Companies of Virginia. This new system led to a lack of recruitment. Virginians didn't want mandatory service. They didn't want to be told when to train. The gentry wanted to lead the revolution. They were interested in being officers, and controlling the revolution politically and militarily. Meanwhile planters couldn't afford to leave their farms for extended periods of time.
The new members of Virginia's armed forces were interested in social equality. The lower class and small time farmers saw the Revolution as their way to revolt against class structure. They didn't want to pay deference anymore. By the summer of 1775, "Social distance inevitably reduced, special advantages derived from cosmopolitan education were diminished, and distances of rank were rendered less sharp" (McDonnell 962). They wanted the Revolution to be an equalizer where men of all backgrounds and classes fought shoulder to shoulder against tyranny. By serving or refusing to do so, the middling sort demonstrated their ability or political concerns to be heard. When the new minutemen system was established, it meant that the lower class and small time farmers would be taught discipline, subordination, respect, and above all, deference. Such men didn't want to fight and die, let alone respect plantation owners only to preserve slaves they didn't own. Eventually men like Morgan and Stark would prove that uneducated men of the lower class could attain high rank with proper skill and courage, but they were an exception. Farmers wished for less hierarchy and subordination and more democratic, or at least consensual, modes of organization.
In Virginia, and throughout the colonies, another social class was revolting against its traditional role. Women proved that an army required more than just men to properly function. There are a few cases of women serving as men-at-arms, but their most important role was as a support staff. Whether Washington liked it or not, women were essential for laundry, cooking, baking, sewing, and nursing. Women from a variety of classes followed the army. Most women were either married to soldiers or widows of former soldiers. They suffered hard conditions many times along with their children. Even the wives of officers and staff members visited their husbands, inspiring them and reminding them of what they fought for. Most women stayed behind and took care of farms and businesses while their husbands served their new nation. Others sacrificed a father, husband, or son to the cause for independence. Wives and mothers caring for spouses and soldiers depended on the army for food, shelter, clothing and a free country. In the same respect, the army depended on them for cooking, cleaning, clothing, food, and preventing desertion.
The American Revolution was more than just a rebellion against the English Monarchy and its control over the colonies. For slaves it was liberation. For Whigs it was a war to put down the slave rebellion and regain control of not only labor, but trade as well. Meanwhile the lower class saw the war as their opportunity to remove deference and social privilege from Virginia. Last but not least, women transcended their traditional place in society, serving in what was traditionally a man's war. Taxes and acts were a small part of the puzzle that led to rebellion. At the wars end only 3000 slaves escaped America and slavery. Women returned to the home, and to some level deference remained as the gentry led the colonies into becoming a new nation. Various groups of rebels made their own small revolts during the war. Some rebels fought each other, while others fought alongside one another. The American Revolution gave the colonies their independence, but it did not end the war on class struggle.