Freedom for the Enslaved

When the war started, the colonies all had banned free blacks from being able to bear arms. Well, after the British were just kicking butt, then you started seeing the northern states going, okay, and we're not getting enough white men to volunteer for the army. And so they started saying, okay, we will grant freedom to the enslaved men who fight for us because Lord Dunsmore had promised freedom for the enslaved black men who fought for the British.