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56 three • Promised Land, 1773–1774 In August 1774, Lord Dunmore left the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg to confront a coalition of Shawnee and Mingo warriors in the remote Ohio River Valley. It was an unusual step for someone in his position, traveling so many mountainous miles on such a dangerous mission. But Dunmore’s War, as the expedition came to be known, proved a triumph, and the earl returned home on 4 December to a hero’s welcome. In the days that followed, colonists clamored to extend their congratulations, not only for the defeat of the Indians, which they thought he had accomplished with exemplary fortitude and moderation, but also for the birth of his ninth child, a daughter, on 3 December . In a sign of optimism and goodwill, Lord and Lady Dunmore named the newborn Virginia. Despite so much cause for celebration, the homecoming was dampened by correspondence from London. Lord Dartmouth, the colonial secretary, had heard rumors that Dunmore was abiding the abuse of Native Americans on the frontier, sponsoring misdeeds along the contested border with Pennsylvania , and encouraging illegal land purchases. Many of the accusations originated with rival Pennsylvanians and could be answered, but to see them there on the page, in Dartmouth’s hand, was deeply unsettling. Dunmore had come to North America nearly five years earlier to rectify his financial situation and reestablish his family on a grand scale through the acquisition of lands. Apart from causing shame and insolvency, a recall from Virginia would sound the death knell for Dunmore’s American dream. The issues addressed in Dartmouth’s letters involved the western lands that Britain had acquired from France at the close of the Seven Years’ War (1756– 63).Victory in that conflict had come at staggering costs and,looking forward, entailed enormous challenges. In an effort to impose order on his new dominions , George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which in addition to Promised Land, 1773–1774 57 creating three new colonies in North America—East Florida, West Florida, and Quebec—also reserved the land west of the Appalachian Mountains for “the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who live under our Protection.” In the process, the proclamation restricted legal white settlement, “for the present,” to the area east of the mountains. Most in the ministry viewed the Proclamation Line (or Ministerial Line) as a temporary measure that, once removed, would allow the empire to expand into the trans-Appalachian West in a controlled manner. The basic objective was to maximize quitrent revenues (land taxes) without inciting costly con- flicts with the Indians. In truth, white settlers were already living and quarreling with Indians west of the Appalachian Mountains in 1763. The proclamation ordered these people to return east, but their numbers only grew. By 1774, as many as fifty thousand whites were living illegally in the West. Confusing matters further, the Proclamation of 1763 also required colonial governors to grant lands to veterans of the SevenYears’War residing in North America: AndWhereas,We are desirous,upon all occasions,to testify our Royal Sense and Approbation of the Conduct and bravery of the Officers and Soldiers of our Armies, and to reward the same, We do hereby command and impower our Governors . . . to grant without Fee or Reward, to such reduced Officers as have served in North America during the late War, and to such Private Soldiers as have been or shall be disbanded in America, and are actually residing there,and shall personally apply for the same,the following Quantities of Lands. The architects of the proclamation intended for these grants, which ranged between fifty and five thousand acres according to rank, to be made within the limits of the Proclamation Line and only to those who had served in the regular British army (and Royal Navy),as opposed to provincial regiments.In a perplexing oversight, these criteria were not made clear in the proclamation itself. And since the only region that could comfortably accommodate grants for all war veterans was reserved for Indians in the very same document, this provision caused considerable confusion in the coming years. Against this backdrop,a bewildering array of interests converged in the Ohio Valley in 1773 and 1774. More settlements led to more clashes with Indians, who were themselves divided, both across and within nations, over the map of the region and what to do about white encroachment. The grants...

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