<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Murray,_4th_Earl_of_Dunmore" id="mwWQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore">John Murray</a> (also known as Lord Dunmore), the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Governor_of_Virginia" id="mwWg" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Royal Governor of Virginia">Royal Governor</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Virginia" id="mwWw" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Colony of Virginia">Colony of Virginia</a>, starts the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunmore's_Proclamation" id="mwXA" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Dunmore's Proclamation">Lord Dunmore's Offer of Emancipation</a>, which offers freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters to fight with Murray and the British.