Loyalty or Liberty?

Stuart Farm: November 1775

Farmer's wife talkingShe says: "It was when we heard news that Governor Dunmore was going to free the slaves, turn them into an army and have them march against us. That's when my William decided he must go enlist in the Patriot army. He figured it was the only way to defend his home and family against a man like Lord Dunmore and an army of slaves. So he up and joined Colonel Woodford's Regiment of volunteers he did.

"And that," she adds, "leaves me with all the work to do here on the farm. And I don't mind telling you I've been afraid too. I've been afraid that Lord Dunmore's army will march up to my door. And I've been a might worried about strangers too, but you're a likely young man. You don't look like the sort of young man who would run off to join Lord Dunmore's slave army, are you?"

"Oh, no ma'am," you say because you know that's what she wants to hear. You ask, "How do you feel about revolution?"

I've learned a secret!

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