Black Loyalist A Black Loyalist was an inhabitant of British America of African descent who joined British colonial forces during the American Revolutionary War . Many had been enslaved and decided to join the British in return for promises of freedom . Some 3 , 000 Black Loyalists were evacuated from New York to Nova Scotia ; they were individually listed in the " Book of Negroes " as the British gave them certificates of freedom and arranged for transport . The original of the " Book of Negroes " and an authenticated transcript are now online . Some of the United Empire Loyalists who migrated to Nova Scotia brought enslaved African Americans with them , a total of 2500 people . These African Americans were not regarded as Loyalists , since they had no choice in their fates . Some Black Loyalists were evacuated to London . They were included in the population of the Black Poor . With government assistance , 4 , 000 blacks were transported from London for resettlement to the colony of Sierra Leone in 1787 . Five years later , another 1 , 192 Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia also chose to migrate to Sierra Leone . They became known in Sierra Leone as the Nova Scotian settlers and were part of creating a new nation and government . The modern - day Sierra Leone Creole people ( Krios ) are their descendants . The American leader Thomas Jefferson referred to the Black Loyalists as " the fugitives from these States . " Prior to the War . Slavery in England had never been authorized by statute . It was made illegal at common law by a decision of Lord Mansfield , Chief Justice of the King ' s Bench , in 1772 , but this decision did not apply in the colonies . A number of cases for emancipation were presented to the English courts . Numerous runaways hoped to reach England where they hoped to be free . The slaves ' belief that King George III was for them and against their masters rose as tensions increased before the American Revolution ; colonial slaveholders feared a British - inspired slave revolt . In early 1775 Lord Dunmore wrote to Lord Dartmouth of his intent to take advantage of this situation . Proclamations . Lord Dunmore ' s Proclamation . In November 1775 Lord Dunmore issued a controversial proclamation , later known as Lord Dunmore ' s Proclamation . Faced with rebellion and short of troops , Virginia ' s royal governor called on all able - bodied men to assist him in the defense of the colony , including enslaved Africans belonging to rebels . He promised such slave recruits freedom in exchange for service in the British Army . . . . 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 Offences ; such as forfeiture of Life , confiscation of Lands , & c . & c . 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 . - - - Lord Dunmore ' s Proclamation , November 7 , 1775 Within a month about 800 formerly enslaved African Americans had escaped to Norfolk , Virginia to enlist . It is likely that far more heard the call and would have joined if not for the fear of reprisal . Outraged Virginia slave owners decreed that runaway slaves would be executed . They also engaged in a smear campaign of the British Army ' s promises , saying that slaves who escaped to the British would be sold to sugar cane plantations in the West Indies . Despite this , many slaves were willing to risk their lives for a chance at freedom . Dunmore ' s Proclamation was the first mass emancipation of enslaved people in United States history . The 1776 Declaration of Independence refers obliquely to the Proclamation by citing as one of its grievances , that King George III had ' excited domestic Insurrections among us ' . After the American Revolutionary War began , a number of British generals issued proclamations calling for Loyalists to free their slaves so that they could join the undermanned British army and bolster its numbers . Among those issuing proclamations were John Murray , 4th Earl of Dunmore , Governor of Virginia , and Sir Henry Clinton . The Governor of Jamaica , John Dalling , drafted a proposal in 1779 for the enlistment of a regiment of mulattoes and a regiment of Negro es . The Philipsburg Proclamation . With the arrival of 30 , 000 Hessian troops , the need for Black soldiers greatly diminished . Sir William Howe banned the formation of new Black regiments and disbanded his own . But freeing slaves still held value as economic warfare against the rebels . In 1779 Sir Henry Clinton issued the Philipsburg Proclamation . In it he expanded Lord Dunmore ' s Proclamation to promise freedom to any escaped slave of a rebel . The British often returned escaped slaves to Loyalist masters and requested the owner to refrain from punishment . In 1778 the Patriots promised freedom to escaped slaves of Loyalists . Most slaves who escaped to one side or the other ended up being sold back into slavery . During the disruption of war , however , tens of thousands of slaves escaped to freedom ; others died from disease and warfare . Regiments . Lord Dunmore ' s proclamation , among others , led to the formation of several Black regiments in the British army . The most notable were Dunmore ' s Ethiopian Regiment and Clinton ' s Black Pioneers . Other regiments included the Jersey Shore Volunteers , the King ' s American Dragoons , the Jamaica Rangers , and the Mosquito Shore Volunteers . It was also common for Blacks to serve the military in non - combat positions . The Royal Ethiopian . Dunmore organised his 800 Black volunteers into the Royal Ethiopian Regiment . The unit was quickly trained in the rudiments of marching and shooting before engaging in their first conflict at the Battle of Kemp ' s Landing . The Patriot militia at Kemp ' s Landing was unprepared for the attack and quickly retreated . Next , Dunmore led the Royal Ethiopians into the Battle of Great Bridge . But this time Dunmore was overconfident and he had been misinformed about the Patriot numbers . The Patriot forces overwhelmed the British troops . After the battle , Dunmore loaded his troops onto the British fleet , hoping to take the opportunity to train them better . The cramped conditions led to the spread of smallpox . By the time Lord Dunmore retreated to New York , only 300 of the original 800 men had survived . The Black Pioneers and Guides . The largest Black regiment was the Black Pioneers . ( In the military terminology of the day , a " pioneer " was a soldier who built roads , dug trenches , and did other manual labor . ) These soldiers were typically divided into smaller corps and attached to larger armies . While not a combat regiment , the Black Pioneers worked to build fortifications and other necessities . They could often be called upon to work under fire . The Pioneers served under General Clinton in a support capacity in North Carolina , New York , Newport , Rhode Island , and Philadelphia . The Black Pioneers did not sustain any casualties because they were never used in combat . In Philadelphia , their general orders to " . . . attend the scavangers , assist in cleaning the streets & removing all newsiances being thrown into the streets " made them essentially laborers , but they freed other soldiers for combat . The Black Brigade . The Black Brigade was a small combat unit of elite commandos , led by a veteran of Lord Dunmore ' s Ethiopian Regiment named Colonel Tye . The title Colonel was not an official military designation , as Blacks were not then formally commissioned as officers . Instead , such titles were permitted in an unofficial capacity . Tye , a former slave , and the Black Brigade were the most feared Loyalists in New Jersey , which was his home territory . They participated in several raids from 1778 at the Battle of Monmouth to 1780 . Tye was wounded in the wrist during a raid on a patriot militia leader . Within weeks he died from gangrene . Associators . Many Blacks were denied entry into regular units because of racism or distrust by British and Loyalist officers . Many joined the irregular Associators ( also known as Refugees ) , where they often served in mixed - race units . Postwar treatment . When peace negotiations began after the Battle of Yorktown , a primary issue of debate was the fate of Black British soldiers . Although General Cornwallis abandoned his Black troops to re - enslavement , many other British commanders were unwilling to do the same . Loyalists who remained in the United States wanted Black soldiers returned so their chances of receiving reparations for damaged property would be increased . But British military leaders fully intended to keep the promise of freedom made to Black soldiers despite the anger of the Americans . In the chaos as the British evacuated Loyalist refugees , many American slave owners attempted to recapture their former slaves . Some would capture any Black , including those born free before the war , and sell them into slavery . The US Congress ordered George Washington to retrieve any American property , including slaves , from the British , as stipulated by the Treaty of Paris ( 1783 ) . Since Sir Guy Carleton intended to honor the promise of freedom , the British proposed a compromise that would compensate slave owners , and provide certificates of freedom to any Black person who could prove his , plus the right to be evacuated to one of the British colonies . The group of refugees who arrived in Nova Scotia were the greatest number of people of African descent to arrive there at any one time . One of their settlements , Birchtown , Nova Scotia was the largest free African community in North America for the first few years of its existence . Black Loyalists found the northern climate and frontier conditions in Nova Scotia difficult , and were subject to discrimination by other Loyalist settlers , many of them slaveholders . The land given to the Black Loyalists was the most rocky and hard to cultivate compared to that given to White Loyalists . In 1792 , the British government offered Black Loyalists the chance to resettle in a new colony in Sierra Leone , Africa . The Sierra Leone Company was established to manage its development . Half of the Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia , nearly 1200 , departed the country and moved permanently to Sierra Leone . They set up the community of Freetown . In 1793 , the British transported another 3 , 000 Blacks to Florida , Nova Scotia and England as free men and women . Their names were recorded in the " Book of Negroes " by General Carleton . Not all were as lucky . In the South , blacks were seen as easy targets , and planters often ignored their claims of freedom . Many British officers and Loyalists saw them as spoils of war . When Britain ceded Florida to Spain , many of the freedmen who had been transported there from the United States were left behind when the British pulled out . Descendants . Many descendants of Black loyalists have been able to track their ancestry by using General Carleton ' s " Book of Negroes " . Nova Scotia . Between 1776 and 1785 , around 3 , 500 Blacks were transported to Nova Scotia from the United States , part of a larger migration of about 34 , 000 Loyalist refugees . This massive influx of people increased the population by almost 60 % , and led to the establishment of New Brunswick as its own colony in 1784 . Most of the free Blacks settled at Birchtown , the largest Black township in North America at the time . The indentured servants and newly freed slaves mostly settled in the town of Shelburne . Among the descendants of the Black Loyalists are noted figures such as Rose Fortune , a Black woman living in Nova Scotia who became a police officer and a businesswoman . The Canadian opera and concert singer , Measha Brueggergosman ( née Gosman ) , is a New Brunswick native and descendant of a Black Loyalist through her father . Her paternal four - times - great - grandfather and grandmother left the United States and settled in Shelburne with their first child , born free behind British lines in New York . Commemoration . The Black Loyalist settlement of Birchtown , Nova Scotia was declared a National Historic Site in 1997 . A seasonal museum commemorating the Black Loyalists was opened in that year by the Black Loyalist Heritage Society . A memorial has been established at the Black Loyalist Burying Ground . Built around the historic Birchtown school and church , the museum was badly damaged by an arson attack in 2008 but rebuilt . The Society began plans for a major expansion of the museum to tell the story of the Black Loyalists in America , Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone . < / ref > Sierra Leone . Sympathy for the former black soldiers who had fought for the British stimulated support for the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor . This organization backed the settlement of the black poor from London to the colony of Sierra Leone in West Africa . About half the Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia were given passage there as well . Today their descendants are known as the Sierra Leone Creole people , or Krios . They live primarily in the Western Area of Freetown , Sierra Leone . Black Loyalists from the American South brought their languages , such as Gullah and African American Vernacular English , to Freetown ; their " lingua franca " was a strong influence on their descendants , who speak " Krio " . Many of the Sierra Leone Creoles or " Krios " can trace their ancestry directly to their Black Loyalist ancestors . One of George Washington ' s slaves , Henry Washington , escaped to British lines , and went to Nova Scotia . He later migrated to Freetown , where he became the leader of a rebellion against colonial rule . His descendants are part of the Creole population , who make up 5 . 8 % of the total .