Loyalists

Examples of Loyalists in the following topics:

• The Loyalists

  • During the war, British strategy relied heavily upon the misguided belief that the Loyalist community could be mobilized into Loyalist regiments.
  • In all, about 50,000 Loyalists served as soldiers or militia in the British forces, 19,000 Loyalists were enrolled on a regular army status, and 15,000 Loyalist soldiers and militia came from the Loyalist stronghold of New York.
  • Loyalists frequently went underground and covertly offered aid to the British.
  • Also, from 1779 to 1782, a Loyalist civilian government was re-established in coastal Georgia.
  • When the Loyalist cause was defeated, however, many Loyalists fled to Britain, Canada, Nova Scotia, and other parts of the British Empire.

• Equality and its Limits

  • Americans remained Loyalists or joined the Patriot cause based on which side they thought would best promote their interests.
  • In terms of class, Loyalists tended to have longstanding social and economic connections to British merchants and government.
  • For one, Loyalists tended to resist innovation, as they tended to be older and better established men.
  • Labaree also wrote that Loyalists were pessimists who lacked the confidence in the future displayed by the Patriots.
  • Like the Loyalists, the leaders of the Patriots were men of educated, propertied classes.

• Georgia and South Carolina

  • In 1778, the British turned their attention to the South, hoping to draw upon a strong Southern Loyalist base.
  • In addition to looking for Loyalist support, Britain also hoped to "scare" Americans back to the crown by raising fear of massive slave revolts.
  • The success of Cornwallis in the Carolinas was greatly undermined by Britain's inability to raise large Loyalist armies.
  • Too few Loyalists enlisted, and those who did were left isolated and vulnerable once the British army moved out of their territory.
  • British attempts to raise Loyalists in North Carolina were effectively crushed when a Patriot militia defeated a large force of Loyalists in the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780.

• The Treaty of Paris

  • The treaty was made up of 10 articles that addressed territorial rights, treatment of Loyalists, and rights to bodies of water, property, and debt.
  • Duty of the Congress of the Confederation to “earnestly recommend” to state legislatures recognition of the rightful owners of all confiscated lands and provisions for “restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects” (i.e., Loyalists).
  • Even after these negotiations were concluded, Britain retained control of the region as leverage in order to gain recompense for confiscated Loyalist property.
  • Individual states ignored federal recommendations to restore confiscated Loyalist property, as required by Article 5 of the Treaty, and also continued the practice of confiscating Loyalist property for "unpaid debts", in violation of Article 6.

• Intervention in Latin America

  • President Johnson, siding with the Loyalists and convinced that the defeat of the Loyalist forces would create "a second Cuba" on America's doorstep, ordered a military intervention.
  • All civilian advisers had recommended against immediate intervention, hoping that the Loyalist side could bring an end to the civil war on their own.
  • By April 29, 1966, a cease-fire was negotiated, and on May 5 the Act of Santo Domingo was signed by Colonel Benoit (a Loyalist), Colonel Caamaño (a Constitutionalist) and the Organization of American States (OAS) Special Committee.
  • Backed by the United States, General Imbert, a Loyalist, became president of the Government of National Reconstruction.
  • Further manipulation from U.S. military operations consolidated the Loyalist control of the government.

• Revolutionary Women

  • Many loyalist women chose to leave their communities rather than live among their enemies.
  • Resistance was another option for loyalist women.
  • Most of the women who actively supported the Crown participated by aiding loyalist soldiers or by collecting information for the British.
  • Some loyalist women hid their husbands from arrest, while others hid important papers or money from authorities.

• State Constitutions

  • Patriots, as they gained control of formerly Loyalist territories, devised constitutions to determine governance in these new states.
  • In a sudden shift, the Loyalists found themselves on the defensive.

• Britain's War

  • The ministry also sought to recruit Loyalist soldiers with limited success.
  • The British never found the amount or quality of Loyalist support in the colonies they had anticipated.
  • The British were also hindered by the need to maintain Loyalist allegiance on the ground, which prevented them from utilizing harsh methods for suppressing the Patriot rebellion as they had already done in similar situations that had arisen in Ireland and Scotland.
  • Because Loyalists came from the same communities as Patriots, extreme measures could not be taken on the ground for fear of alienating local support for the British crown.

• The Treaty of Paris

  • The Congress of the Confederation will "earnestly recommend" to state legislatures to recognize the rightful owners of all confiscated lands and "provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects [loyalists]. "
  • United States will prevent future confiscations of the property of loyalists.

• The First Emancipation

  • While thousands went to the British lines for freedom (and the British evacuated nearly 4,000 Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia and other colonies after the war), others took advantage of the wartime confusion to migrate to other areas of the colonies.
  • This picture depicts a member of the famous Black Loyalist regiment, the Royal Ethiopian Regiment.