Dunmore took a significant political risk by issuing the proclamation, but his relatively weak political, security, and military positions may have forced him. His proclamation was intended to quell the growing rebellion in Virginia and draw those on the margins of Virginia’s political processes into the King’s camp, in opposition to the growing rebel insurgency. Dunmore’s Proclamation was an information document, capitalizing on the institution of slavery, designed to influence the population as Dunmore used all available resources to maintain control of Virginia while cultivating both internal and external support.
Information
Information is an important element of warfare and frequently overlooked as a critical tool to shape the military and political operating environment. Information operations seek to address “the cognitive dimension [of warfare and] encompasses the minds of those who transmit, receive, and respond to or act on information.” In other words, information is a tool to shape human behavior, and information provides advantage by impacting an individual or group’s perception, judgement, and ultimately their decision making. Information provides a tool to “influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp the decision making of adversaries and potential adversaries while protecting” friendly information. Many factors determine how information impacts a population: cultural beliefs, social norms, societal values, emotions, ideologies, vulnerabilities, and identities are all factors to consider when crafting messages to influence human behavior. Slavery was a powerful cultural, political, and social institution in Virginia, and Lord Dunmore understood Virginia’s social and economic order. Slavery created a vulnerability Dunmore attempted to utilize to his advantage to enhance his political and military power.
Dunmore’s Proclamation was a masterful information document and reads in part,
the Peace and good Order may the sooner be restored, I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to resort to His Majesty’s Standard, or be looked upon as Traitors to His Majesty’s Crown and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty the Law inflicts upon such Offenses; such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of Lands, &. &. And I do hereby further declare all indented Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His Majesty’s Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His Majesty’s Crown and Dignity.
Immediately upon issuance, Dunmore’s Proclamation caused each Virginian to reflect on their loyalties and livelihood, as well as the economic, security, and cultural implications of slavery. The events leading to Dunmore’s proclamation explain why he declared martial law and appealed specifically to enslaved persons of African descent to join him.