Putnam History Museum

. July 13, 1779, “The Royal American Gazette” published the Philipsburg Proclamation. Issued on June 30, 1779, by General Sir Henry Clinton, the Philipsburg Proclamation offered freedom to any enslaved person who deserted rebel service and who made it to British lines. The Proclamation had a major influence on New York and its enslaved community during the American Revolution.

By 1779, Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of the British Army was frustrated. He felt his Army lacked sufficient manpower once France had pledged support to the rebels. London had reallocated over 15,000 of his troops to the Caribbean but sent less than 5,000 new troops to replace them. He was expected to conquer rebellious South Carolina, take the Hudson Valley from George Washington, and ravage the coast of New England all at once.

The Proclamation was likely written by Clinton on the boat ride south from Verplanck’s Point. On June 30 he landed at the wharf on the Saw Mill River and, striding up the hill to his headquarters at Philipse Manor Hall, likely handed it off to his secretary John Smith to deliver to the printers.

The first section of the Proclamation targeted the Patriot use of Black men in their regiments; however, it is most famous for the second paragraph, which frees any person of African descent enslaved by a Patriot who escapes to British lines. This had perhaps the largest impact on slavery in the American colonies of any of the proclamations on either side of the war.

It went further than military service, writing that “every Negroe” who deserted a rebel household or the rebel forces, would automatically be freed upon escaping to British-controlled territory. This was interpreted to include women, children, men unable to enlist, as well as those able to fight and covered all American colonies. Whole families could escape bo***ge if they made it to British lines. Its promise of freedom, however, did not include those enslaved by Loyalists, or Black rebel troops captured in battle.

Image: Front page of "The Royal American Gazette," Tuesday, July 13, 1779, featuring the Philipsburg Proclamation as the first article.

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