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During the tumultuous summer of 1775, Virginians across the colony grappled with the question of whether to join the revolt against Britain. At the center of this debate stood the second Royal Governor, John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore. Dunmore’s actions during the revolution did much to galvanize the patriot movement in Virginia, and he has gone down in history as one of the most maligned men in Virginia. A villain to most, Lord Dunmore was also seen as a liberator by many enslaved men and women. By the summer of 1776, Norfolk lay in ashes, and Virginia was freed from British control.