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Loyalist (American Revolution)
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Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain (and the British monarchy) during and after the American Revolutionary War. They were often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men by the Patriots, those that supported the American cause.
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Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain (and the British monarchy) during and after the American Revolutionary War. They were often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men by the Patriots, those that supported the American cause. When their cause was defeated, about 20% of the Loyalists left the U.S. to resettle in other parts of the British Empire, in Britain or elsewhere in British North America (especially New Brunswick), where they were called United Empire Loyalists; some went to the British West Indies, especially the Bahamas). Black Loyalists made up some of the Loyalist community.
Historians have estimated that between 15 and 20 percent of the white population were Loyalists. Historian Robert Middlekauff estimates that about 500,000 colonists, or 19 percent of the white population, remained loyal to Britain.
Loyalists in wartime
By July 4, 1776 the American Revolutionaries had gained control of virtually all territory in the 13 States by violently suppressing the Loyalists, demanding that they all give up their loyalty to the King. Those who refused to do so ran the risk of being tarred and feathered as a deterrent to others. Those that were still determined to remain loyal contributed to the war by giving aid and volunteering to fight with the British army.
The British had been forced out of Boston between March 4 and March 17, 1776; but they returned to New York in August to convincingly defeat the Continental army at Long Island and in doing so, captured New York City and its vicinity, where they remained until 1783. From time to time they also seized control of other cities such as Philadelphia (1777), Savannah (1778–83) and Charleston (1780–82), together with various slices of countryside. However, 90% of the colonial population lived outside the cities. The result was that the Congress controlled 80–90% of the population at all times. The British pulled out their governors from where the Patriots were in control. But Loyalist civilian government was re-established in coastal Georgia 1779–82, although the Americans still controlled some of the upstate. Elsewhere, the British were only able to maintain power where they had sufficient army or navy presence.
Canada
In Canada, American agents were active, especially John Brown, agent of the Boston Committee of Correspondence, along with Canadian-American merchant Thomas Walker and others, during the winter of 1774–5. They won over some inhabitants to sympathize with Congress. However others — probably the large majority — remained neutral, also not joining the militia which the British had called out to protect against the American invasion in late 1775. Although only a minority openly expressed loyalty to King George: about 1500 militia fought for the King in defence of Montreal. In the region south of Montreal occupied by the Americans, some inhabitants supported the Americans and raised two regiments to join them. In Nova Scotia, the large American settlement there tried to win more support and were said to have been tar and feathering Loyalists, but with the powerful British naval base there, this was quickly stamped out.
Loyalists in the Thirteen Colonies
Historian Robert Calhoun wrote concerning the number of loyalists and patriots:
Earlier estimates were somewhat higher, reaching one-third of the population, but are no longer accepted by most scholars. Adams did indeed estimate in another letter, that same year, that in the American Revolution, the Patriots had to struggle against approximately one-third of the population, while they themselves constituted about two-thirds of it. He made no mention of neutrals In the late 1960s Paul H. Smith arrived at the lower figure of 19.8% by statistical calculations based on the strength of the loyalist regiments fighting for the British.
Historian Robert Middlekauff summarizes scholarly research on who was a Loyalist as follows:
The largest number of loyalist were found in the middle colonies: many tenant farmers of New York supported the king, for example, as did many of the Dutch in the colony and in New Jersey. The Germans in Pennsylvania tried to stay out of the Revolution, just as many Quakers did, and when that failed, clung to the familiar connection rather than embrace the new. Highland Scots in the Carolinas, a fair number of Anglican clergy and their parishioners in Connecticut and New York, a few Presbyterians in the southern colonies, and a large number of the Iroquois Indians stayed loyal to the king.
New York City and Long Island (the British military and political base of operations in North America from 1776 to 1783) had a very large concentration of Loyalists, many of whom were refugees from other states.
Calhoun (1973) shows that Loyalists tended to be older, more likely merchants and wealthier, but there were also many Loyalists of humble means. Many active Church of England members became Loyalists. Some recent arrivals from Britain, especially Scots, had a high Loyalist proportion. Loyalists in the South, however, were suppressed by the local Revolutionaries who controlled local and state government. Many people — such as some of the ex-Regulators in North Carolina — refused to join the Revolutionaries as they had earlier protested against corruption by the local authorities who later became Revolutionary leaders. Such pre-Revolutionary War oppression by the local Whigs contributed to the reason that much of backcountry North Carolina tended to be loyalist.
In Revolutionary controlled areas — that is most of the country — Loyalists were subject to confiscation of property. Outspoken supporters of the king were threatened with public humiliation (such as tarring and feathering) or physical attack. It is not known how many Loyalist civilians were harassed by the Patriots, but the treatment was a warning to other Loyalists not to take up arms against the United States. In Philadelphia two locals were executed for actively aiding the British Army when it occupied the city. In September 1775 William Drayton and Loyalist leader Colonel Thomas Fletchall signed a treaty of neutrality in the interior community of Ninety Six, South Carolina.
Black Loyalists and slavery
As a result of the looming crisis in 1775 the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation that promised freedom to servants and slaves who were able to bear arms and join his Loyalist Ethiopian regiment. About 800 did so and were able to convincingly rout the Virginia militia at Kemp's Landing. They then fought the Battle of Great Bridge on the Elizabeth River, wearing the motto "Liberty to Slaves," but this time they were defeated. The remains of their regiment were then involved in the evacuation of Norfolk, after which they served in the Chesapeake area. Unfortunately the camp that they had set up there suffered an outbreak of smallpox and other diseases. This took a heavy toll, putting many of them out of action for some time. The survivors joined other British units and continued to serve throughout the war. Blacks were often the first to come forward to volunteer and a total of 12,000 Blacks served with the British from 1775 to 1783. This factor had the effect of forcing the Revolutionaries to also offer freedom for those who served in the Continental army, but after the war, most actually remained as slaves.
As the war ended and more Loyalists left the country, an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 Blacks decided to go with them, not all that wanted to go were able to do so, as they were being captured by Patriot owners. A large number of them arrived in the Bahamas and re-created cotton plantations, although these eventually failed, they have, as with other former British Islands in the area, inherited virtually the whole country. About 400 to 1000 free Blacks went to London and joined the community of about 10,000 free blacks there. About 3500 to 4000 went to the British colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where the British provided them with land. Over 1,500 settled in Birchtown, Nova Scotia, instantly making it the largest free Black community in North America. However, mainly because they were willing to work for less money than their white counterparts, some old prejudices crept back in. Britain, still wishing to stand by their commitment, offered to transport those that were dissatisfied elsewhere, so about 1,500 left Nova Scotia for the British colony of Sierra Leone in Africa where they named the capital, Freetown. After 1787 they became the country's ruling elite and because of this, the Krio, having African American ancestry, initially used dollars-and-cents as their units of currency..
Canadian Loyalists
Until 1783 the colonies that later formed modern Canada were administered by the British along with the Thirteen Colonies as a single entity British America. In spite of this when rebellion broke out in 1775, the Thirteen Colonies were not joined in revolt by the Canadians.
French Canadians had been appeased by the British government's Quebec Act of 1774, which offered religious and linguistic toleration, and were less receptive to the Declaration of Independence. While some Canadians took up arms for the republicans, the majority remained loyal to the King.
Because the British had only captured Quebec in 1759, most of the English-speaking settlers there were newly arrived and many were British-born - a group which was generally less likely to support separation from Britain. The older British colonies such as Nova Scotia and Newfoundland also remained loyal to the crown, and contributed military forces.
In 1775 the American Patriots sent a force to invade Canada, hoping to add it as a fourteenth colony to the United Colonies. They were defeated by a combination of difficult terrain, the British military and Canadian indifference.
1,500 Canadians also took part in a British expedition that eventually led to the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga in 1777.
After the entry of France into the war in 1778, many Canadians feared that an effort would be made by the French to reclaim their old Canadian lands, which contributed further to Anglo-Canadian support for the British crown.
During peace negotiations in Paris, negotiators from the United States made repeated attempts to acquire Canadian territory, but were unsuccessful in the final settlement, with the exception of what is now Michigan. Although the British posts at Detroit and Mackinac (administered as part of Canada) had never been challenged during the war, all of the territory "south of the lakes" was nevertheless included in the settlement. Michigan would not come under American control until 1796.
Military service
The Loyalists rarely attempted any political organization. They were often passive unless regular British army units were in the area. The British, however, assumed a highly activist Loyalist community was ready to mobilize and planned much of their strategy around raising Loyalist regiments. The British provincial line, consisting of Americans enlisted on a regular army status, enrolled 19,000 American loyalists (50 units and 312 companies). Another 10,000 served in loyalist militia or "associations." The maximum strength of the Loyalist provincial line was 9,700 in December 1780. In all about 50,000 at one time or another were soldiers or militia in British forces, including 15,000 from the main Loyalist stronghold of New York. The majority of Loyalists fought in the southern colonies and were not from the north. In addition a large number of Americans served in the regular British army and in the Royal Navy.
Emigration
The vast majority of the white Loyalists (450-500,000) remained in America during and after the war. Starting in the mid-1780s a small percentage of those who had left returned to the United States.
During and following the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, Loyalists (especially soldiers and former officials) could choose evacuation. Loyalists whose roots were not yet deeply embedded in the New World were more likely to leave; older men who had familial bonds and had acquired friends, property, and a degree of social respectability were more likely to remain in America.
About 10-15 percent of the Loyalists left, an estimated white 62,000 Loyalists, or about 2 percent of the total American population of 3 million in 1783. The figure of 100,000 Loyalists is often given for the number who actually went into exile, but this is more of guesstimate that could be regarded as somewhat accurate if Indian and Black Loyalists and emigrants to Canada from the USA from 1783-1800 are included. Many of these latter emigrants were motivated by the desire to take advantage of the British government's offer of free land, but many also were disillusioned by the continuing hostility to Tories and eventually decided to leave the new Republic.
About 46,000 went to British North America (present-day Canada). Of these 34,000 went to Nova Scotia, 2,000 to P.E.I. and 10,000 to Ontario. 7,000 went to Great Britain and 9,000 to British colonies in the Caribbean (most notably the Bahamas). In fact, the Loyalists were the first of Canada's political refugees, and the first true British settlers, as beforehand, Canada had been mostly French, though annexed by Britain. The 34,000 went to Nova Scotia, where they were not well received by the Nova Scotians who were mostly descendants of New Englanders settled there before the Revolution, so the colony of New Brunswick, until 1784 part of Nova Scotia, was created for the 14,000 who had settled in those parts. Of the 46,000 who went to Canada, 10,000 went to Canada proper, especially the Eastern Townships of Quebec and modern-day Ontario. The Haldimand Collection is the main source for historians in the study of American Loyalists settlement in Canada.
Realizing the importance of some type of consideration, on November 9 1789, Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec, declared that it was his wish to "put the mark of Honour upon the Families who had adhered to the Unity of the Empire." As a result of Dorchester's statement, the printed militia rolls carried the notation:
Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their Children and their Descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following Capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire.
The postnominals "U.E." are rarely seen today, but the influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains. Their ties to Britain and their antipathy to the United States provided the strength needed to keep Canada independent and distinct in North America. The Loyalists' basic distrust of republicanism and "mob rule" influenced Canada's gradual path to independence. In effect, the new British North American provinces of Upper Canada (the forerunner of Ontario) and New Brunswick were founded as places of refuge for the United Empire Loyalists.
The wealthiest and most prominent Loyalist exiles went to Great Britain to rebuild their careers; many received pensions. Many Southern Loyalists, taking along their slaves, went to the West Indies and the Bahamas, particularly to the Abaco Islands.
Many Loyalists brought their slaves with them to Canada (mostly to areas that later became Ontario and New Brunswick)where slavery was legal. An imperial law in 1790 assured prospective immigrants to Canada that their slaves would remain their property. However some black Loyalists were free and they arrived too.
Thousands of Iroquois and other Native Americans were expelled from New York and other states and resettled in Canada. The descendants of one such group of Iroquois, led by Joseph Brant Thayendenegea, settled at Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest First Nations reserve in Canada. A group of Black Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia but emigrated again for Sierra Leone after facing discrimination there.
Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) was a loyalist who fled to London when the War began. He became a scientist noted for pioneering thermodynamics and for his research on artillery ordnance. He expressed a desire to return to the United States in 1799 and was eagerly sought by the Americans (who needed help in fighting the Quasi-War with France). Rumford eventually decided to stay in London because he was engrossed with establishing the Royal Institution in England.
Many of the Loyalists were forced to abandon substantial amounts of property, and restoration of or compensation for this lost property was a major issue during the negotiation of the Jay Treaty in 1795.
Return of some exiles
The great majority of Loyalists never left the United States, staying on, although not recognized as citizens of the new country. A few who had disowned their past allegiance became nationally prominent leaders, including Samuel Seabury and Tench Coxe. Alexander Hamilton enlisted the help of the Tories in New York in 1782-85 to forge an alliance with moderate Whigs to wrest the state from the power of the radicals. Several thousand of those who had left for Florida returned to Georgia. There was a small, but significant trickle of returnees who found life in Nova Scotia too difficult. Some Massachusetts Tories settled in the Maine District. Nevertheless the vast majority never returned.
Of those who left Massachusetts, virtually none of them expressed a desire to return to what was their native home, as the wave of anti-Toryism persisted well after the peace treaty of 1783. All the laws passed against Loyalists were rescinded by 1790. Subsequently, the matter of loyalty to Britain became more and more a taboo subject and the myth arose that all but a small percentage of the population had been been 'Patriots, although for a long time some stalwarts expressed their true feelings. Apparently some people in Boston, for example, went into mourning on July 4 and closed the curtains of their homes.
Those Loyalists who were emotionally attached to the area and had stayed, were subjected to fines, land confiscation, no rights and triple taxation. Any making their way back to Massachusetts between 1784 and 1789 found their reception was as hostile as ever. They found that in Massachusetts in particular, they not only encountered extreme anti-Toryism, but society was so chaotic they could not re-integrate themselves back into society, unable to reclaim property, work in their profession, collect debts or join the political culture of the state. An exception was Captain Benjamin Hallowell, who, as Mandamus Councilor in Massachusetts, served as the direct representative of the Crown. In that role, he was considered by the insurgents as one of the most hated men in the Colony but as a token of compensation when he returned from England in 1796, his son was allowed to regain the family house.
Prominent Loyalists
- William Allen, wealthy merchant, Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania and former mayor of Philadelphia
- Benedict Arnold, Brigadier General, commissioned about close of 1780, originally a Revolutionary general
- John Askin, trader and land speculator at Detroit
- Joseph Brant Thayendenegea, Mohawk war leader
- Thomas Brown, LTC commanding King's Rangers in Georgia
- Montford Browne, Brigadier General, commanding Prince of Wales American Regiment, 1777
- John Butler, Colonel commanding Butler's Rangers in the Mohawk Valley)
- Walter Butler (Capt. in Butler's Rangers and son of John Butler)
- Lt. Col. James Chalmers, Commander, First Battalion of Maryland Loyalists and author of anti-"Common Sense" pamphlet entitled "Plain Truth" in 1776
- Myles Cooper, president of King's College in New York City
- Robert Cunningham, Brigadier General, in 1780 in command of a garrison in South Carolina
- Oliver DeLancey, Brigadier General, commanding Delancey's Brigade 1776
- Abraham DePeyster, Officer of King's American Regiment
- Arent DePeyster, Officer of the 8th Regiment of Foot
- William Franklin, Governor of New Jersey, son of Benjamin Franklin
- Joseph Galloway, Pennsylvania politician
- Simon Girty, served as a liaison between the British and their Native American allies during the American Revolution
- Reuben Hankinson, Ensign, First New Jersey Volunteers, September 1780
- John Howe, printer of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter
- Thomas Hutchinson, last royal Governor of Massachusetts
- Edward Jessup, Colonel of Jessup's Rangers in upstate New York and Canada
- Sir John Johnson, commander of the King's Royal Regiment of New York)
- Thomas Jones, historian
- Elisha Leavitt, Hingham, Massachusetts merchant and landowner
- Daniel Leonard
- John Lovell, headmaster of the Boston Latin School
- Isaac Low, New York merchant
- Gabriel Ludlow, New York merchant
- George Ludlow, New York judge
- Flora MacDonald, Scottish Jacobite heroine
- Alexander McKee, liaison between the British and the Shawnees
- James Moody, Lieutenant, First New Jersey Volunteers, March 1781
- John Randolph, King's attorney for the Province of Virginia
- Beverley Robinson, Colonel, Loyal American Regiment
- Robert Rogers, commander of Rogers' Rangers/Queen's Rangers to 1777 (now The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC)), innovator of ranging tactics
- Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson), scientist
- Peggy Shippen, Philadelphia socialite and second wife of Benedict Arnold
- John Graves Simcoe, commander of Queen's Rangers from 1777 (now The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC)), and founding Governor of the colony of Upper Canada (today: The Province of Ontario, Canada)
- Cortlandt Skinner, Brigadier General, commanding New Jersey Volunteers, Sept. 4, 1776
- William Stark, brother of Gen. John Stark
- John Taylor, Captain, First New Jersey Volunteers, January 1781
See also
- Category:Loyalists in the American Revolution
External links
- (5-page, in pdf format)
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- The main source for historians in the study of the settlement of the American Loyalists in Canada. More than 20 thousand letters and documents, now fully indexed, and free on the Web.
- (Opinion of Benjamin Franklin on persons who called themselves "Loyalists", whom he judged better called "Royalists")
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