battle of the Revolutionary War. Shortly afterward, negotiations between the United States and Great Britain began, resulting in the Treaty of Paris of 1783. Early operations, 1775–1778 Virginia In most colonies British officials quickly departed as the Patriots took control. In Virginia, the royal governor resisted. In the Gunpowder Incident of April 20, 1775, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, removed gunpowder stored in Williamsburg to a British warship in the James River. Dunmore saw rising unrest in the colony and was trying to deprive Virginia militia of supplies needed for insurrection. The Patriot militia, led by Patrick Henry, forced Dunmore to pay for the gunpowder. Dunmore continued to hunt for caches of military equipment and supplies in the following months, acts that were sometimes anticipated by Patriot militia, who would move supplies before his arrival. Dunmore issued an emancipation proclamation in November 1775, promising freedom to runaway slaves who fought for the British. After an incident at Kemp's Landing in November where Dunmore's troops killed and captured Patriot militiamen, Patriot forces defeated Loyalist troops (which included runaway slaves Dunmore had formed into his Ethiopian Regiment) at the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9. Dunmore and his troops retreated to Royal Navy ships anchored off Norfolk; these naval forces bombarded and burned the town on January 1, 1776. Patriot forces in the town completed the destruction of the former Loyalist stronghold. Dunmore was driven from an island in Chesapeake Bay that summer, and never returned to Virginia. Georgia Georgia's royal governor, James Wright, nominally remained in power until January 1776, when the unexpected arrival of British ships near Savannah prompted the local Committee of Safety to order his arrest. Georgia Patriots and Loyalists alike believed the fleet had arrived to provide military support to the governor; it had been sent from the besieged British forces in Boston, Massachusetts to acquire rice and other provisions. Wright escaped captivity and reached the fleet. In the Battle of the Rice Boats in early March, the British successfully left Savannah with a number of merchant vessels containing the desired rice supplies. The Carolinas South Carolina's population was politically divided when the war began. The lowland communities, dominated by Charleston, sided strongly with the Patriots, while the back country held a large number of Loyalist sympathizers. By August 1775, both sides were recruiting militia companies. In September, a Patriot militia seized Fort Johnson,