Loyal Americans

views updated

Loyal Americans

LOYAL AMERICANS. This Provincial regiment was raised by Beverley Robinson in New York City in the spring of 1777. It was recruited largely from among his tenants and followers, who had fled from his estates in the Hudson Valley. It took part in Sir Henry Clinton's expedition to the Highlands, where Robinson led it with distinction in the capture of Fort Montgomery on 6 October 1777. A detachment was part of the garrison that was surprised and captured at Stony Point, New York, on 16 July 1779. The regiment went from New York to Virginia with Benedict Arnold on 20 December 1780, returning in June 1781, and it went with Arnold again to raid New London, Connecticut, on 6 September. It evacuated to Nova Scotia in 1783, where it was disbanded.

SEE ALSO Clinton's Expedition; Connecticut Raid; Robinson, Beverley; Stony Point, New York; Virginia, Military Operations in; New London Raid, Connecticut.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cole, Nan, and Todd Braisted. "The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies." Available online at http://www.royalprovincial.com.

Smith, Paul H. "The American Loyalists: Notes on Their Organization and Numerical Strength." William and Mary Quarterly third series, 25 (1968): 259-277.

                              revised by Harold E. Selesky