WI early ARW is focused on Chesapeake, effects on slavery?

raharris1973

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What if after evacuating Boston, the British war effort focused on the chesapeake colonies of Virginia and Maryland instead of NY, NJ and Pennsylvania?

the tides of war are often credited with weakening slavery and setting in motion both fast and slow emancipation in the northern colonies. Could a similar effect occur in Virginia and Maryland, which in OTL saw little campaigning and that on their fringes?
 

raharris1973

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Follow-on to existing discussion on ARW in Chesapeake— Could British capture Baltimore or Norfolk with the same ease and speed that they seized New Work City. - Where could they go from there? What would the American approach toward defending those cities or any other targets in the Chesapeake (Annapolis, Alexandria, Williamsburg, Richmond) from a major British force be?
 

raharris1973

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Unless the fighting is too quick and easy for the British I could see a lot of property destruction in Virginia and Maryland and opportunities for slaves to escape to British lines. The Delmarva peninsula could be a little like the Carolina sea islands in OTLs Civil War, with freed slaves settling and growing crops for sale to the British army.
 
It's a bit late to go to Virginia and Maryland. If troops were diverted there in late 1775 to support Dunmore and his proclamation then the scenario you are talking about might come to pass. But by January 1776 Dunmore and his "Ethiopian Regiment" had fled offshore where many died of disease.

Ship even a few hundred regulars to Dunmore in November and he probably holds Norfolk until Boston is evacuated.
 
Winkler suggests the victory at Point Pleasant (1774) gave the Virginians confidence they could organize and fight successful military campaigns. Had the 1774 Ohio campaign gone badly could this alter the enthusiasm of the Virginans for secession?
 

raharris1973

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It's a bit late to go to Virginia and Maryland. If troops were diverted there in late 1775 to support Dunmore and his proclamation then the scenario you are talking about might come to pass. But by January 1776 Dunmore and his "Ethiopian Regiment" had fled offshore where many died of disease.

Ship even a few hundred regulars to Dunmore in November and he probably holds Norfolk until Boston is evacuated.

We could change the PoD to the 1775 you suggested. Perhaps the troops leaving Boston reinforce Dunmore in Norfolk, and then later in 1776 launch some aggressive campaigning in Virginia.

Winkler suggests the victory at Point Pleasant (1774) gave the Virginians confidence they could organize and fight successful military campaigns. Had the 1774 Ohio campaign gone badly could this alter the enthusiasm of the Virginans for secession?

I am going to have to read up more on this Ohio campaign and Point Pleasant - sounds very interesting.
 
Logistically and strategically speaking for the British, this would be a disastrous move. New York City and its resources and location made it the ideal North American base for them. It had access to the Hudson, an overland capacity to threaten Philadelphia, and could do a joint campaign with British Canada. Virginia and Maryland had ports, sure, but that was about it. The Americans would control the richest and most populous parts of the colonies outside of Virginia almost unopposed. There is also the fact that support for Loyalism in Maryland was almost dead and in Virginia, it was limited to the High Anglican coastal tidewater areas. There would be hostile militia constantly harassing any attempts at movement (and this is not a joke of a threat; the New Jersey militia was a massive pest to the British throughout the war, and there was a reason that they never made a single attempt to penetrate deep inside New England). The Continental Army could afford to put less men in the Albany region simply because of a lack of a true threat from the North, and the Army would be able to swell to a large force.

The only upside I can think of is that it would force the Continental Army out of their OTL entrenchments in the Hudson Valley and Morristown areas and onto more open ground, which would benefit the British. But that was no guarantee of success, and any attempts at marching on Philadelphia would be opposed falling back river by river with harassment on the whole way, and any attempts at marching southwards would leave supply ports in danger.

As for effects on slavery, it probably would lead to more contraband labourers for the British in their coastal areas (and many would likely be deported to the Caribbean due to food constraints), but that would probably be about it.
 
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