AMERICAN LOYALISTS. The American colonies were all infested with internal enemies during the Revolution. This hostile element, while averse to the oppressive measures of the British government, was still more averse to independence. Its guiding principle was loyalty to the Crown: hence the name €Loyalists,* which has found general acceptance among his torians of the present day.
In the New England States the Loyalist party was relatively weak, and its numbers were considerably lessened by the flights of many of its zealous and persecuted members in the early days of the war. The proximity of the Canadian posts north of Lake Champlain and along the Saint Lawrence, which were used for military purposes by the English at the be ginning of the Revolution, enabled numbers of fugitive Loyalists to find protection and volunteer for service in ((provincial)) regiments. These regiments were gradually filled by send ing recruiting officers into the enemy's country, and were employed on marauding and rescue expeditions. No less than 10 corps, several of which reached a maximum of 500 or 600 men, were thus maintained in the Canadian Division during the Revolution. While a proportion of these refugees came from the New England States, many others had found their way from northern New York. Often they were followed by their wives and children, who were brought in by the recruiting agents, or were conveyed under flags of truce over the waters of Lake Champlain. Burgoyne's expedition in 1777 was joined by hundreds of Loyalists, who sooner or later escaped into Canada. In 1780 Sir John Johnson delivered 150 from the Mohawk Val ley, and a little later Majors Carleton and Houghton brought in scores of families from south of Lake George.
From Maine, New Hampshire and Massa chusetts other Loyalists early began to sail for Nova Scotia and for England. This movement overseas was given a marked impetus by the battle of Lexington. In July 1775, Judge Cur wen of Salem, Mass., arrived in London, where he found "an army of New Englanders" al ready there, ((lamenting their own and their country's unhappy fate." And yet, at the end of January 1776, over 2,000 adherents of the Crown remained with the British army in Bos ton, nearly one-fourth of whom were refugees "from the country." About 1,100 of these sailed
for Halifax at the evacuation in the following March, including doubtless several Tory regi ments raised in Boston under Howe's orders.
When the British army left Halifax for Staten Island in June 1776, it was accom panied by many of the refugees from Bos ton and by two companies of the New York Volunteers but recently .sent to the Nova Scotian capital. The arrival of Dunmore's fleet a month later brought in another large accession of Loyalists, together with many negroes, this time from Norfolk, Va. From this time on to the end of the Revolution New York city and the neighboring islands received increasing numbers of fugitives from all the other colonies, as well as the region south of Albany. The pervading loyalism of the prov ince, of western Connecticut and of New Jersey made possible the formation of not less than 20 corps of Loyalists in and about New York during the years 1776 to 1781, inclusive. These corps ranged in numbers from 29 to 1,100 men, and probably totaled 15,000. The loyal militia of New York numbered 8,500 more. After General Howe gained possession of Long Island in August 1776, hundreds of Loyalists from both Connecticut and Rhode Island found refuge there, forming a settlement on Eaton's Neck and perhaps at other places.
The occupation of Newport, R. I., by a part of the King's forces in December, called out loyalist addresses from the Quakers of that province, and from many of the inhabitants of Newport, Portsmouth, Middletown and James town. In June 1778, two provincial regiments arrived at Newport from Kingsbridge, N. Y., and soon a body of 112 loyal New Englanders was enlisted, while small groups of Tories from Freetown and elsewhere came in for protection. When the British and provincial troops evacu ated Rhode Island in October 1779, about 40 families departed with them, leaving other Tories behind. Those departing were posted in Saint George's Manor on the south side of Long Island, but most of them were taken prisoners soon after by a party of revolutionists.