PICTORIAL FIELD BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION.
VOLUME II.
BY BENSON J. LOSSING
1850.
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SUPPLEMENT.
VII.
THE LOYALISTS.
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The Loyalists of the Revolution were of two kinds, active and passive, and these were again divided into two classes each, the mercenary and the honest. We have elsewhere observed that when the Declaration of Independence was promulgated, many influential men, who were fully alive to the importance of demanding from Great Britain a redress of existing and increasing grievances, were not prepared to renounce allegiance, and they adhered to the interests of the crown. These formed a large class in every rank in society, and, being actuated by conscientious motives, command our thorough respect. Many of these took up arms for the king, remained loyal throughout the contest, and suffered severely in exile when the contest was ended. Others, for purposes of gain, and some to indulge in plunder and rapine under legal sanction, were active against the patriots, and their crimes were charged upon the whole body of the Loyalists. The fiercest animosities were engendered, and common justice was dethroned. The Whigs, who suffered dreadfully at the hands of marauding Tories, hated the very name of Loyalist, and, through the instrumentality of confiscation acts and other measures, the innocent were often punished for the crimes of the guilty. But when peace came, and animosities subsided, justice bore sway, and much property was restored. Yet the claims of the British commissioners in negotiating the treaty of peace, to indemnity for the Loyalists by the United States government, could not be allowed, for it was justly argued that during the war the Whigs had lost as much and more by the machinations of the Tories, as the latter had done by confiscations and the consequences of exile.
It is estimated by Sabine
1 that at least twenty thousand Loyalists took up arms for the king during the war. The first organizations were under Governors Dunmore and Martin; and besides those under Butler and Johnson, in New York, and Colonel Ferguson, at King’s Mountain, there were twenty-nine or thirty regiments, regularly officered and enrolled. 2 These were disbanded at the close of the war, and some of the officers were transferred to the regular army and continued in service for life. Others, less fortunate, went, with a host of military and civil companions, into exile, the Northern ones chiefly to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the Southern ones to the Bahamas, Florida, and the British West Indies. Many also went to England, and for years they were importunate petitioners to the government for relief. The officers generally received half pay.Toward the close of 1782, a committee of Parliament was appointed to attend to the claims of the Loyalists. The result of their investigations was to deny the claims of some who had already received aid, and to allow more to others of greater worth. By their decision in June, 1783, £43,245 per annum were distributed among six hundred and eighty-seven Loyalist pensioners. The claimants finally became so numerous, that a permanent Board of Commissioners was appointed, which continued for almost seven years. On the twenty-fifth of March, 1784, the number of claimants was two thousand and sixty-three, and the amount of property claimed to have been lost by them was £7,046,278, besides debts to the amount of £2,354,183. The commissioners continued their labors, reported from time to time, and in 1790 Parliament settled the whole matter by enactment. It appears that on the final adjustment of claims nearly fifteen millions of dollars were distributed among the Loyalists, "an unparalleled instance of magnanimity and justice in a nation which had expended nearly one hundred and sixteen millions of dollars in the war."
3A minute account of the Loyalists, their aggressions, sufferings, claims, and indemnities, may be found in the Historical Essay prefixed to Sabine’s biographical sketches of the American Loyalists.
RECEPTION OF THE AMERICAN LOYALISTS IN ENGLAND.
This is from an allegorical picture by Benjamin West. Religion and Justice are seen extending the mantle of Britannia, while she herself is holding out her arm and shield to receive the Loyalists. Under the shield is the crown of Great Britain, surrounded by Loyalists. The group has representatives of the Law, the Church, and Government, with other people. An Indian chief extends one hand toward Britannia, and with the other points to Widows and Orphans, rendered so by the war. In a cloud near Religion and Justice is seen the Genii of Great Britain and America, in an opening glory, binding up the broken fasces of the two countries, as emblematic of the treaty of peace. At the head of the Loyalists, with a large wig, is seen Sir William Pepperell, one of their most efficient friends in England, and immediately behind him, with a scroll in his hand, is Governor William Franklin, of New Jersey, son of Dr. Franklin, who remained loyal until the last. The two figures on the right are Mr. West and his wife, both natives of Pennsylvania.
I have already noticed Governor Franklin (
page 436, volume i., and p.10, volume ii.) as prisoner in Connecticut. Among other places where be was in custody in that state was Wallingford, at the house of Doctor Jared Potter, where he spent his time mostly in reading, walking in the garden, and conversations with the family, to whom be became much attached. Franklin and Joseph Galloway were among the most prominent of the loyal refugees who sought shelter in England.------------------------------
ENDNOTES
1 See The American Loyalists, &c., by Lorenzo Sabine, page 55.
2 The following are the names of many of these corps, preserved by Sabine, page 60. The King’s Rangers; the Royal Fencible Americans; the Queen’s Rangers; the New York Volunteers; the King’s American Regiment; the Prince of Wales’s American Volunteers; the Maryland Loyalists; De Lancey’s battalions; the second American Regiment; the King’s Rangers, Carolina; the South Carolina Royalists; the North Carolina Highland Regiment; the King’s American Dragoons; the Loyal American Regiment; the American Legion; the New Jersey Volunteers; the British Legion; the Loyal Foresters; the Orange Rangers; the Pennsylvania Loyalists; the Guides and Pioneers; the North Carolina Volunteers; the Georgia Loyalists; the West Chester Volunteers. To these may be added the Newport Associates, the Loyal New Englanders; the Associated Loyalists; Wentworth’s Volunteers; Johnson’s Royal Greens, and seventeen companies of Loyal militia, under Colonel Archibald Hamilton of New York.
3 Adolphus.
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