PRIMARY DOCUMENT

Excerpt from Dixon & Hunter’s Virginia Gazette (August 31, 1776)

CONTEXT

This report in the August 31, 1776, issue of Dixon & Hunter’s Virginia Gazette contains a list of formerly enslaved Black people on board the fleet of John Murray, fourth earl of Dunmore. The list includes fifteen people who had participated in the Great Willoughby Slave Escape in April of 1776.

FULL TEXT

The following are copies of some MORNING RETURNS of Lord Dunmore’s black banditti, distinguished by their owners surnames, and found by our troops when they took possession of Gwyn’s Island.

Women embarked at MILL POINT, May 21, 1776 on board the
DUNLUCE.                            Opened a cask of flour (WK. 17)

Mary Williams
Patience Butt, a child
Hannah Williams
Jenny Cook
Esther Willoughby
Jenny Boush
Mary Bradley Brown
Hannah Griffin
Abby Nimmo
Abby Willoughby
Rose Moseley
Dinah Willoughby
Esther Herbert
Lucy Robinson
Manda Willoughby
Hannah Parker
Susanna Savage
Grace Thompson

Sent to hos-
pital-brig
same day
Pleasant Robinson
Penelope Hopkins
Elizabeth Williams
Dinah Morris
Elizabeth K llick
Abby Robinson
Kate Willoughby
Let. Willoughby
Hannah Hester
Jenny Hurt
Mary Willoughby
Judith Willoughby
Mary Taylor
Grecian Hopkins
Jenny Willoughby

Phillis Thorowgood, sen.
Phillis Thorowgood, jun.
Sarah Veal
Alice Everidge
Susan Nimmo
Kate Thorowgood
Elizabeth Willoughby
Fanny Moseley
Rachel Love
Belinda Edwards
Esther Willoughby
Jenny [Illegible]
Nelly McClennan
Phillis Hamilton
China Ivy
Dilly Love, alias Free-
man
Judith Boush

Major BYRD’s company on board the DUNMORE, May 22, 1776.

Max. Villeroy
Francis Thorowgood
George Thorowgood
Lawrence Ambler
Owen Woodhouse
Philip Jones
Arculla Willoughby
Peter Thorowgood
Glasgow Willoughby
William Anderson
Moody Nimmo
Sampson Ellegood

Jonas Ivy
James Reed
Bristol Mitchell
Jasper Jones
Michael *****
Samuel Gorden
Owen Lovatt
Max. Boush
Moses Holsture
Davie Nimmo
Charles Griffin
Samuel Gimer

James Savage
Annaki Whitler
Robert Willoughby
Peter Godwin
Peter Willoughby
John Talbot
Sepper Tinnible
Argyle Sawyer
James Daniel
Scipio Thorowgood
Thomas White
John P. Royal, Corp.

Present at the camp on GWYN’S ISLAND, May 29, 1776.
My LORD’s Company.

Benj. Campbell
Navin Parker
Max. Woodhouse
Robert Ellegood
Jeffe Damerom
Abel Keeling
Mingo Peeding
Jeff Keeling
Gabriel Minge
Charles Frazer
William Byrd
Philip Harrison
Roger Cornicks
Frank Newton
Benjamin King
Thomas Raud

Robert Flemming
James Savage
John Everidge
Gabriel Armstead
Samuel Goodwin
Lewis Wells
Robert Tucker
Michael Wallace
Benjamin Longworth
Africa Corneck
Jacob Hawes
John Stevens
Thomas Essex
George Bivan
Francis Jackson

Norfolk Macki
Robert Wallace
Neal Robinson
Daniel Hogwood
Joseph Tucker
George Tucker
Toby Lawrence
Caesar Stuart
Serjeants.
Curry ——- on bord
Crouch
Corpral Brittain
30th entered,
Lewis Paden
Curry’s Son——

My LORD’s Company 30th of May entered at GWYN’S ISLAND.

John Crocus
Owen Jones
Henry Drew
Quash Ashley
Tony Parker
and 4 more

Sampson Portsmouth
Samuel Fry

George Woodhouse
from the fleet
flour rum beef

Major Byrd’s
do.
do.
Capt. MacKay.

N.B. June 1. Capt. MacKay’s company — 34
On board the hospital brig Adonis — 64

names not
mentioned

CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
Virginia Gazette. Excerpt from Dixon & Hunter’s Virginia Gazette (August 31, 1776). (2026, April 02). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/excerpt-from-dixon-hunters-virginia-gazette-august-31-1776.
MLA Citation:
Virginia Gazette. "Excerpt from Dixon & Hunter’s Virginia Gazette (August 31, 1776)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (02 Apr. 2026). Web. 25 Aug. 2026
Last updated: 2026, April 02
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