A History of the American People

The Anglicans, the religious group least affected by the Great Awakening, were
predominantly loyalist, except in Virginia. They were particularly loyal in New York, the biggest
single center of support for the crown. Of course this was due to some extent to the fact that New
York was a major British base and many had a direct economic motive for supporting the crown-
Washington's interest' at work again. The same was true to a limited extent of Boston and Newport, Rhode Island. But New York was also, at that time, an Anglican stronghold. Charles Inglis, a leading New York Anglican, called the warthe most causeless, unprovoked and
unnatural [rebellion] which ever disgraced any country.' But the Anglicans were weakened and
frustrated by the failure to introduce bishops and a hierarchy. And it is important to remember
that America, as a whole, was a religious breakaway from Anglicanism. Research reveals that in
1780, the Anglicans had 406 churches. The Presbyterians had 495, and the Congregationalists
were by far the largest with 749. In this sense, Anglican arrogance in the early 17th century came
home to roost in the 1770s, and James I had not been so far wrong when he called the settlement
of America a seminary for a seditious parliament.' If you equate the Congregationalists with the Presbyterians (both being Calvinist), George III was not far wrong either when he called the Revolutiona Presbyterian Rebellion.'' The English church and state lost the political and
military battle because they had already lost the religious battle.
On the whole the loyalists were not successful in organizing resistance to the rebellion. In
North Carolina, the loyalist David Fanning led an effective guerrilla war for a time against the
patriotic leader Governor Thomas Burke, both engaging in terror and counter-terror. In South
Carolina, Thomas Brown, who had been tortured by the extremist republican Sons of Liberty,
also gave the patriots a hard time. Another successful loyalist leader was Joseph Galloway of
Philadelphia. The loyalists fought hard in Georgia and in the North Carolina back-country, where
1,400 Highland Scots seized upper Cape Fear but were badly beaten by the patriot militia, which
had cannon. They were let down by the second-rate British commanders, as were most of the
other loyalist bands. Other loyalists were discouraged by the bad behavior of mercenaries and
British troops-in New Jersey, for instance, a center of loyalism, 2,700 signed a loyalty oath to the
King but were put off from doing more by military looting. Other loyalists were silenced by
patriot terror-leaders like Colonel Charles Lynch of Virginia, who invented lynching, which in
his day was thirty-nine lashes rather than hanging. All the loyalists felt betrayed by the British at
the peace. The fate of the loyalist blacks was pitiful. Some 800 Virginia slaves fled north
following Governor Lord Dunmore's promise of freedom. They went to New York, where they
joined thousands of others who worked for the British garrison. When the troops departed in
1783 they were left to their own resources and most of them fled further, to Nova Scotia. About
1,000 black loyalists were shipped to Sierra Leone, the first of many attempts to repatriate ex-
slaves to West Africa. Thousands of loyalists went to England and tried to file claims for
compensation. A total of 3,225 claims were eventually dealt with in London and 2,291 awards of
compensation made-a miserable total compared with the vast numbers who lost all.
The most important consequence of the loyalist diaspora was felt in Canada. The total number
of loyalists who left the United States may have been as high as 80,000. Some went to England;
others to crown colonies in the West Indies. But the vast majority emigrated north to Canada
where they caused a radical shift in its demography. Until then British Upper Canada had been
thinly held and the total English-speaking population was outbalanced by French-speaking
Lower Canada. Both remained loyal to the crown during the struggle but the influx of fierce
loyalists was crucial in binding Canada to the crown and also in making it a predominantly