The Loyalist Regiments of the American Revolutionary War 1775-1783

Abstract

Abstract This dissertation is about the Loyalist Regiments of the American Revolution, 1775-1783. These were the formal regiments formed by the British, consisting of Americans who stayed Loyal to the British crown during the American Revolutionary War. They fought in most of the main campaigns of this war and in 1783 left with the British Army for Canada, where many of them settled. The Loyalist regiments have been neglected by academic historians with only one major work on them as a group. The intention of this dissertation is to give them their proper place in the historiography of the American Revolutionary War and of eighteenth century military history. The dissertation is laid out in the following way. Chapter one, will be an overview of the history of Regiments, from their origins in Colonial days until 1783. It will assess how they were dealt with by the British and examine both organisation and combat. Chapter two is a thematic chapter looking principally at the organisation of the regiments as well as their motivation and composition. The next four chapters are case studies of three Loyalist regiments. Chapters three and four are a case study of the Queens Rangers. A database of all the soldiers who served in this regiment was created and is included with this dissertation. Chapter five is about the controversial regiment, the British Legion. Chapter 6 is a case study of the frontier regiment Butler‘s Rangers.