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{{disambig}}
: ''This article concerns Loyalists in the [[American Revolution]]. For information on the role of those Loyalists in Canadian history after their emigration, see [[United Empire Loyalists]].  For other uses of the word "loyalist", see the [[Loyalist|disambiguation page]].''
"Loyalists" may refer to any of the following:
 
{{rpl|United Empire Loyalists}}
[[Image:Reception of the American Loyalists.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Britannia]] gives a hero's welcome to returning American Loyalists.]]
{{rpl|Loyalists (United Kingdom)}}
'''Loyalists''' were [[British North America]] colonists who remained loyal subjects of the British crown during the [[American Revolution]]. They were also called [[Tories]], King's Men, or Royalists. Those Loyalists who left and resettled in [[Canada]] called themselves the [[United Empire Loyalists]]. Their colonial opponents, who supported the Revolution, were called [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]], Whigs, Rebels, Congress Men, or, in view of their loyalty to the new United States of America, just Americans.  Historians have estimated that about 15-20% of the white population may have been Loyalists (that is, about 500,000), but there are no exact numbers. <ref> An 1813 statement by [[John Adams]], in which he said that one-third of the people supported the revolution, refers to the '''French''' revolution in the 1790s.[http://hnn.us/articles/5641.html] </ref>
 
As Anglican clergyman [[Samuel Seabury]] wrote,
<blockquote>
If I must be enslaved let it be by a King at least, and not by a parcel of upstart lawless Committeemen. If I must be devoured, let me be devoured by the jaws of a lion, and not gnawed to death by rats and vermin."<ref>Seabury, ''Letters of a Westchester Farmer, 1774–1775'' (1970) p 61.</ref>
</blockquote>
 
Seabury remained in America. Like most Loyalists, he became the first Episcopal bishop in America.  From the Loyalist perspective in 1775, the Loyalists were the honourable ones who stood by the Crown and the British Empire.  However once independence was declared in 1776 Loyalists who continued to support the Crown were treated by the Patriots as traitors who turned against their fellow citizens and collaborated with a foreign army.
 
==Loyalists in wartime==
By July 4, 1776, the patriots controlled virtually all of the territory and population of the 13 states, and demanded that no resident show loyalty to a foreign power. Neutrality was permitted. The British however returned and in September, 1776, they defeated the American army and captured New York City and Long Island, which they occupied until 1783.  From time to time they controlled various cities such as Boston (1775–6), Philadelphia (1777), Savannah (1778–83) and Charleston (1780–82), and various slices of countryside.  However, 90% of the population lived outside the cities.  The result was that the American state governments controlled 80–95% of the population.  The British pulled out all their governors and never allowed the Loyalists to set up any government. Great Britain did reestablish its colonial governor in coastal [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]<ref name = "Gerogian">[http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2709  Georgia Encyclopædia].</ref> 1779–82, with the Rebels in control upstate.  Elsewhere, the British were normally only in control through Army and Royal Navy activity.
 
===Loyalism in 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 many inhabitants to sympathize with Congress.  However others — probably a majority — remained neutral and refused to join the militia which the British had called out to protect against the American invasion in late 1775. Only a minority 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, the inhabitants supported the Americans and raised two regiments to join them.<ref name = "Wade">Mason Wade, ''The French Canadians'' (1955) 1:67–9.</ref>  In Nova Scotia, with a large Yankee settlement but a powerful British naval base, neutrality prevailed.
 
===Loyalists in the Thirteen States===
Historian Robert Middlekauff summarizes scholarly research on who was a Loyalist as follows:
 
<blockquote>
In no colony did loyalists outnumber revolutionaries. The largest numbers 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.<ref>[http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=84633736 Middlekauff, Robert. ''The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789'' (1985)], p 550.</ref>
</blockquote>
 
[[Image:Johnson Hall, Johnstown, NY.jpg|left|thumb|280px|Johnson Hall, seat of [[Sir John Johnson]] in the [[Mohawk Valley]].]]New York City and Long Island (controlled by the British from 1776 to 1783) had the largest concentration of Loyalists, many of whom were refugees from other states.<ref>Calhoun 1973</ref>
 
Loyalists tended to be older, more likely merchants and wealthier and better-educated than their Patriot opponents, but there were also many Loyalists of humble means. Many active [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Anglicans]] became Loyalists.  Some recent emigrants, especially Scots, had a high Loyalist proportion. Loyalists in the South, however, were suppressed by the local Patriots who controlled local and state government.  Many people — such as some of the ex-[[War of the Regulation|Regulators]] in North Carolina — refused to join the rebellion as they had earlier protested against corruption by the local authorities who later became rebel leaders. Such pre-Revolutionary War oppression by the local Whigs contributed to the reason that much of backcountry North Carolina tended to loyalism or neutrality.<ref>Calhoun 1973</ref>
 
Historians estimate that about 15–20% of the population of the thirteen states was Loyalist (or roughly 500,000 people among 3 million residents), but the number was constantly declining as thousands of Loyalists fled the country every year of the war, or changed their affiliation to neutral or Patriot.<ref>Calhoun 1973</ref> In Georgia and the Carolinas, people changed back and forth. Due to the highly political nature of the war, a large but unknown proportion of the white population remained neutral
 
<blockquote>
Approximately half the colonists of European ancestry tried to avoid involvement in the struggle — some of them deliberate pacifists, others recent emigrants, and many more simple apolitical folk. The patriots received active support from perhaps 40 to 45% of the white populace, and, at most, no more than a bare majority.<ref name = "Calhoon">Robert M. Calhoon, in 'A companion to the American Revolution', Blackwell Publishers, 2000; p 235.</ref>
</blockquote>
 
===Black Loyalists and slavery===
: ''See also [[Black Loyalist]]''
 
In 1775 Royal Governor Dunmore in Virginia called on slaves of Patriot owners (not Loyalist owners) to flee and join his army. About 300 did so. They fought one battle, wearing the motto "Liberty to Slaves." After the battle about half died of disease in British camps and the "Ethiopian Regiment" was disbanded.<ref>McDonnell in ''A companion to the American revolution'', (2000), ch 43; Calhoun in ibid. p. 241.Simon Schama, ''Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution'' (2006); [http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/africanns/ch2.asp]; [http://collections.ic.gc.ca/blackloyalists/  Black Loyalists]; [http://www.americanrevolution.org/blk.html  Black Loyalists] at American Revolution.</ref>
 
About 5000 blacks served in the Continental army,<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2narr4.html  PBS].</ref> and slaves who fought in that Army for a set period were often legally emancipated. Thousands more served in militia and state units. Very few free blacks became Loyalists.<ref>Benjamin Quarles, ''Black Mosaic: Essays in Afro-American History and Historiography'' 1988, ch 2–3.</ref>
 
As the war ended, Loyalist slaveowners took an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 slaves with them; some had been captured from Patriot owners. They were usually taken to the British sugar colonies in the West Indies, like Jamaica, where life expectancy was short.  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 many with land. Over 1,500 settled in Birchtown, Nova Scotia, instantly making it the largest free black community in North America. However about 1,500 were dissatisfied and left Nova Scotia for the new British colony of [[Sierra Leone]] in Africa after 1787, where they became part of the ruling elite.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/revwar/unfinished_revolution/black_loyalists.html  Black Loyalists] at NPS.</ref>
 
== New York ==
The largest concentration of Loyalists was in New York City and Long Island (controlled by the British Army from September, 1776 until the evacuation in late 1783). Many Loyalist families fled to New York City, where they were under military rule.  Britain reestablished a colonial government in parts of [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]], but  nowhere else did it attempt to restore colonial civil government in which Loyalists might participate, governing instead by military rule.  In Patriot 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. However relatively few Loyalist civilians are thought to have been killed by mobs; two men in Philadelphia were officially executed for supporting the British.  In September 1775, [[William Henry Drayton|William Drayton]] and loyalist leader Colonel [[Thomas Fletchall]] signed a treaty of neutrality in the interior community of [[Ninety Six, South Carolina]].  In October 1775, Congress passed a resolution calling for the arrest of all loyalists who are dangerous to "the liberties of America."
 
===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.<ref>Smith 264–7.</ref><ref name = "Calhoon502">Calhoon 502.</ref> 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.<ref>Van Tyne, pp. 182–3.</ref>
 
== Emigration ==
[[Image:Shelburnewaterfront.jpg|right|thumb|280px|[[Shelburne, Nova Scotia]], a major early destination of Loyalist refugees.]]
The vast majority of the Loyalists (300,000 to 400,000) remained in America during and after the war.  Starting in the mid-1780s a small percentage of those who had left returned to the U.S.
 
Following the end of the Revolution in 1783, Loyalist (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.<ref>Lohrenz (1998)</ref>
 
About 15–20% of the Loyalists left, an estimated 70,000 Loyalists, or about 3% of the total American population. About 46,000 went to Canada; 7,000 to Great Britain and 17,000 to British colonies in the Caribbean.  About 32,000 went to [[Nova Scotia]], where they were not well received, so the colony of [[New Brunswick]] was created for them. About 10,000 went to [[Province of Quebec|Canada]], especially the [[Eastern Townships]] of Quebec and modern-day [[Ontario]]. The [http://www.haldimand-collection.ca 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:
 
<blockquote>
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.
</blockquote>
 
The initials "U.E." are rarely seen today, but the influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains.  Their ties with Great 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 richest 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.
 
Thousands of Iroquois and other [[First Nations|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|Joseph Brant Thayendenegea]], settled at [[Six Nations of the Grand River]], the largest [[First Nations]] [[Indian Reserve|Reserve]] in Canada. A group of Black Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia but, facing discrimination there, emigrated again for [[Sierra Leone]].
 
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; they stayed on to become citizens of the new country. Some became nationally prominent leaders, including [[Samuel Seabury]] and [[Tench Coxe]].  Some exiles returned, as the Massachusetts story confirms.<ref> Kermes 2002</ref> Of those who left Massachusetts, virtually all expressed a desire to return to what they considered their native home. After the last wave of anti-Toryism passed in the wake of the peace treaty of 1783, a number of Loyalists, typically young, native born, and still emotionally attached to the area, made their way back to Massachusetts between 1784 and 1789. On reentering Massachusetts, they encountered, for the most part, a warm welcome from anti-Toryists and were able to integrate themselves into society, reclaiming property, collecting debts, and joining the conservative, Federalist political culture of the state.
 
[[Count Rumford]] (Benjamin Thompson) was a loyalist who fled to London when the War began. He became a world class scientist, a founder of thermodynamics and famous also for research in artillery ordnance. His 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. <ref>Bradley 1974</ref>
 
== Prominent Loyalists ==
*[[William Allen (loyalist)|William Allen]], wealthy merchant, Chief Justice of the [[Province of Pennsylvania]] and former mayor of [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]]
*[[Benedict Arnold]], Brigadier General, commissioned about close of 1780, originally a rebel/patriot general
*[[Joseph Brant|Joseph Brant Thayendenegea]], Mohawk war leader
*[[Thomas Brown (loyalist)|Thomas Brown]], LTC commanding King's Rangers in Georgia
*[[Montford Browne]], Brigadier General, commanding Prince of Wales American Regiment, 1777
*[[John Butler (pioneer)|John Butler]], Colonel commanding Butler's Rangers in the Mohawk Valley)
*[[Walter Butler (Loyalist)|Walter Butler]] (Capt. in [[Butler's Rangers]] and son of John Butler)
*[[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[http://www.hankinsononline.com/Reuben.php]
*[[John Howe (loyalist)|John Howe]], printer of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter
*[[Thomas Hutchinson]], last royal [[Governor of Massachusetts]]
*[[Sir John Johnson]], commander of the [[King's Royal Regiment of New York]])
* Thomas Jones, historian
* 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
*Alexander McKee, liaison between the British and the Shawnees
*James Moody, Lieutenant, First New Jersey Volunteers, March 1781 [http://www.blupete.com/Hist/BiosNS/1800-67/List.htm#M]
*[[Robert Rogers (soldier)|Robert Rogers]], commander of [[The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC)]], innovator of [[Rangers Standing Orders|ranging tactics]]
* [[Count Rumford]] (Benjamin Thompson), scientist
*[[Samuel Seabury]], clergyman
*[[Peggy Shippen]], Philadelphia socialite and second wife of Benedict Arnold
*[[Cortlandt Skinner]], Brigadier General, commanding New Jersey Voluneteers, Sept. 4, 1776
*[[William Stark]], Brother of Gen. [[John Stark]]
*John Taylor, Captain, First New Jersey Volunteers, January 1781
* [[Lt. Col. James Chalmers]], Commander, First Battalion of Maryland Loyalists and author of anti-"[[Common Sense]]" pamphlet entitled "Plain Truth" in 1776
* [[Beverley Robinson]], Colonel, [[Loyal American Regiment]]
 
==See also==
*''[[Martin v. Hunter's Lessee]]''
* [[United Empire Loyalist]]
 
==Footnotes==
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==References==
* [[Bernard Bailyn|Bailyn, Bernard]]. ''The Contagion of Liberty.'' In ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, enlarged edition'', 230-319. (1992).
* Bailyn, Bernard. ''The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson: Loyalism and the Destruction of the First British Empire'' (1974), full scale biography of the most prominent Loyalist
* Bradley, James E. "The Reprieve of a Loyalist: Count Rumford's Invitation Home." ''New England Quarterly'' 1974 47(3): 368-385. ISSN 0028-4866 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0028-4866(197409)47%3A3%3C368%3ATROALC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K in Jstor]
* Brown, Wallace. ''The King's Friends: The Composition and Motives of the American Loyalist Claimants'' (1966).
* Calhoon, Robert M. "Loyalism and neutrality" in Jack P. Greene and J.R. Pole, eds., ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution''  (1991)
* Calhoon, Robert M. ''The Loyalists in Revolutionary America, 1766-1781 (1973), the most detailed study
*Robert M. Calhoon, Timothy M. Barnes and George A. Rawlyk, eds. ''Loyalists and Community in North America''  (1994).
* Jensen, Merrill; ''The New Nation: A History of the United States during the Confederation, 1781-1789'' 1950; detailed discussion of return of Loyalists, popular anger at their retrurn; repeal of wartime laws against them
* Kermes, Stephanie. "'I Wish for Nothing More Ardent upon Earth, than to See My Friends and Country Again': The Return of Massachusetts Loyalists." ''Historical Journal of Massachusetts'' 2002 30(1): 30-49. ISSN 0276-8313
* Kerber, Linda. ''Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America'' (1997)
* Knowles, Norman. ''Inventing the Loyalists: The Ontario Loyalist Tradition and the Creation of Usable Pasts'' (1997) explores the identities and loyalties of those who removed to Canada.
* Lohrenz, Otto; "The Advantage of Rank and Status: Thomas Price, a Loyalist Parson of Revolutionary Virginia." ''The Historian.'' 60#3 (1998) pp 561+. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001340871  online]
*Moore, Christopher. ''The Loyalist: Revolution Exile Settlement''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, (1994).
* Mason, Keith. “The American Loyalist Diaspora and the Reconfiguration of the British Atlantic World.” In ''Empire and Nation: The American Revolution and the Atlantic World'', ed. Eliga H. Gould and Peter S. Onuf (2005).
* Nelson, William H. ''The American Tory'' (1961)
* Norton, Mary Beth. ''Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800'' (1996)
* Peck, Epaphroditus; ''The Loyalists of Connecticut'' Yale University Press, [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=93984804 (1934) online]
* Potter, Janice. ''The Liberty We Seek: Loyalist Ideology in Colonial New York and Massachusetts'' (1983).
* Quarles, Benjamin;  ''Black Mosaic: Essays in Afro-American History and Historiography''  University of Massachusetts Press. (1988)
* Smith, Paul H.  "The American Loyalists: Notes on Their Organization and Numerical Strength," ''William and Mary Quarterly'' 25 (1968): 259-77. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-5597(196804)3%3A25%3A2%3C259%3ATALNOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T in JSTOR]
* Van Tyne, Claude Halstead. ''The Loyalists in the American Revolution'' (1902) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=3030284 online]
* Mason Wade, ''The French Canadians: 1760-1945'' (1955) 2 vol.
 
== External links ==
*[http://www.uelac.org/loyalist.pdf  "Who were the Loyalists" by Ann Mackenzie] (5-page, in [[Portable Document Format|pdf]] format)
*[http://collections.ic.gc.ca/blackloyalists/wireframe.htm "Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People"]
*[http://museum.gov.ns.ca/blackloyalists/index.htm "Remembering Black Loyalists, Black Communities in Nova Scotia"]
*[http://www.redcoat.me.uk/index.htm American Loyalists]
*[http://www.questia.com/library/history/united-states-history/18th-century-u.s.-history/american-loyalists.jsp Online books]
* [http://users.erols.com/candidus/overview.htm Maryland]
* [http://sc_tories.tripod.com/rebels.htm South Carolina]
* [http://www.ls.net/~newriver/va/varevtoc.htm Virginia]
* [http://www.royalprovincial.com The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies]
* [http://members.aol.com/HoseyGen/NCLOYAL.HTML North Carolina Loyalists During the American Revolution]
* [http://www.cyndislist.com/loyalist.htm Loyalist Page - Cyndi's List]
* [http://sciway3.net/clark/revolutionarywar/loyalists.html Why Were Some of Our Ancestors Tories?]
* [http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/fall96/loyalists.html James Chalmers and "Plain Truth" (A Loyalist Answers Thomas Paine)]
* [http://www.haldimand-collection.ca Haldimand Collection] 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.
 
[[Category:American Revolution]]
[[Category:Loyalists in the American Revolution| ]]
 
[[cs:Loyalisté (americká revoluce)]]
[[de:Loyalisten (Amerikanische Unabhängigkeit)]]
[[fr:Loyalistes]]
[[hr: Lojalisti (Američka revolucija)]]
[[no:Lojalister (amerikanske revolusjon)]]
[[pl:Lojaliści (rewolucja amerykańska)]]
[[ru:Лоялисты]]

Latest revision as of 04:10, 24 September 2013

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"Loyalists" may refer to any of the following: