Loyalist Militias in the American Revolution
Colonists Whose Unswerving Devotion Led Them to Fight for the Crown.
Nov 27, 2008
In 1777, a prominent physician and Maryland loyalist named John Smyth wrote at the beginning of his journal as published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, “It may not be amiss first to give a brief recital of my observations, and what has happened to me from the beginning of this most wicked rebellion against the best of kings, and the most free and mildest of governments.”
Smyth’s characterization of the separatist movement from the British Crown as a “wicked rebellion” was typical of the outlook of many loyal American colonists of the time. He would ultimately join a loyalist militia called the Queen's Rangers as their surgeon.
Loyalist Fighters
In his book, The War for Independence: A Military History, Howard Peckham estimates that upwards of fifty thousand loyalists fought on the British side during the years 1776 to 1783. It is easy for modern readers to forget that a large proportion of the colonists in America found rebelling against the English Crown repugnant. So it is understandable that many of the loyal subjects of King George would take up arms and to defend the interests of their sovereign.
Reasons for Loyalty to the Crown
Among the many reasons that American colonists would remain loyal to the Crown during this period was that they simply still saw themselves as British subjects. The American colonies retained strong cultural and economic ties to England, and to King George. Massachusetts, which was established by Puritan settlers fleeing English persecution, was seen as the seat of separatist sentiments at the outset of the Revolution.
Not all of the colonies shared their separatist attitude. New York, for example, was more ethnically and religiously diverse than Massachusetts and had strong economic ties to Great Britain. Many colonists viewed the self-styled “Patriots” and “Sons of Liberty” with suspicion and outright disdain.
Formation of Loyalist Militias
Because of these valued cultural and economic ties to the English empire, the loyalists looked with alarm to the outbreak of violence and armed resistance at Lexington Green and Breed's (Bunker) Hill in 1775. It was only natural that the loyalists began to form themselves into militias to rival those of the rebels. To the loyalist factions, they were simply acting to preserve the interests of the king and to protect their own rights as English subjects under the law.
Loyalist colonists contributed to the formation of approximately one hundred and sixty different militias from 1776 to 1783. The British commanders during this period used the loyalists in many different capacities. Some were used to protect lines of communication, some joined battle formations with British regiments of the line, while still others were sent on wide ranging missions to provide intelligence and to guard the flanks of regular British Army units.
Emigration of Loyalists After the Revolution
By October of 1783, most of the loyalist fighters who survived the war and their families were forced to take transportation to Nova Scotia, the Caribbean and other places within the King's domain, as they could no longer live in the colonies after the defeat of the British. Too much blood had been spilled between neighbors. There was no longer any room in the former colonies for those who sided with England.
