Loyalists

[pamtnman]

Many Loyalists went to Canada, and then led brutal reprisal raids back down into New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania until the mid 1780s. “Bloody Mohawk” and “White Savage” are among a dozen good, well researched books about the Mohawk Valley and the Revolution, and what happened afterwards. Sir William Johnson’s heirs, especially, led heinous raids deep into Pennsylvania, which resulted in parts of the frontier being abandoned by European settlers for several years. Not until a 1794 US retaliatory expedition into the Finger Lakes region did the depredations finally stop. Incidentally, the Continental soldiers reported that the Seneca Indian settlements across upstate New York were far more organized and better planted with crops and fruit tree orchards than anything among the European settlers. The Seneca had to withdraw in the face of superior force, and ended up accepting President Washington’s wampum belt as the defining feature of a peace agreement that is honored annually even today. The Seneca were the most warlike of the Iroquois, and had pretty good sized reservations in PA & NY until the US Army Corps decided to take the one and turn it into a huge recreational area, and then the Federal Highway Administration put Rt 17/86 through another one. Anyhow, I digress.
The Loyalists who tried to hold out after 1780 were either hung, shot, or burned out. They lost everything they couldn’t carry. Some returned to Britain, some went to Canada, some to Jamaica. The Revolutionary War was actually a civil war among American citizens with diametrically opposed ideas of citizenship, freedom and duty, the role and reach of government, etc. In 1794 another civil war between the states was narrowly averted over the slavery issue, which festered until 1859 (stark political divisions) and 1861, open civil conflict between Americans divided along slavery and abolition.
F

 

[Bushfire]

Some of the loyalists came face to face again with the Americans in 1812!

 

[ronaldrothb49]

Some went to Canada some went back to England and other places. Unfortunately as the case of the family of my oldest sister's husband some stayed. They could trace their family tree back to colonial times in Boston, big time Tories. To this day they claim the Queen is the rightful ruler of the states

 

[Carteret Kid]

Some went to Canada some went back to England and other places. Unfortunately as the case of the family of my oldest sister's husband some stayed. They could trace their family tree back to colonial times in Boston, big time Tories. To this day they claim the Queen is the rightful ruler of the states

It would be interesting to watch them quarrel wth some Jacobites.

 

[Coot]

Some of the loyalists came face to face again with the Americans in 1812!

Most likely a significant reason that the US attempt to take over Canada in the War of1812 was not "simply a matter of marching"

 

[deerstalkert]

our very own Loyalist Dave is conspicuously absent in this discourse. i would bet he could give some interesting information.

 

[Boatncamp]

I believe that the wealthy Loyalists were assisted in leaving Boston and New York city when the British moved out. The poorer most likely had to flee by foot or learned how to survive with the new Americans.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Always wondered what became of the Loyalists and their families after the Revolutionary war ended?
Did they get the Jane Fonda treatment or were they left alone to go on with their lives

For those wondering, please read Liberty's Exiles by Maya Jasanoff

The Vast majority were evacuated by the British. If you look at New Brunswick Canada, you will find Fredericton, as well as New Maryland, for example.

In fact the first racial riot in North America was due to the British evacuation of slaves who had joined the British for freedom, and ended up in Canada, where they worked for less wages than whites. Shelburne Nova Scotia 1784

You may have heard of Francis Scott Key? His uncle Philip Barton Key was a "Spin Master". He fought as a Loyalist, returned to Maryland, convinced the neighbors it was simply "over exuberance of youth" that led him to it, and was later elected to State Office in Annapolis.

OH and the last British governor of Maryland returned, was given back his property, and he and his wife are laid to rest in the yard of St. Anne's Parish within Church Circle.

LD

 

[flconch53]

Many went to the Bahamas and other similar places still under the Empire.

There is a book Tltled "The Winds Of the Carolinas " about the loyalists that left the the States to go to the Bahamas

 

[Loyalist Dave]

This thread is about what happened to the Loyalists, those that were in favor of staying part of The United Kingdom, rather than being independent, when the UK withdrew her forces from the 13 colonies. IF a post went off topic, having naught to do with that subject line, the comment was deleted.

And this thread has been answered.

LD