[Editor's Note: the following excerpt appears in the "Society for Army Historical Research", Autumn 1997, vol LXXV no. 303 ] In the Manuscript Department of Fordham University, Bronx, NY there is an orderly book of General Nathaniel Greene, commanding officer of the American Southern Area, for the period February 178l-February 1782. In that book is a section headed 'British Deserters'. It lists the date they were brought in, their names, regiments and where they were sent. After correcting errors in numbering, it lists 354 men plus a party of 30 Loyalists for whom no names were supplied. An analysis of the regiments shown indicates the following: British Regiments 72 German Regiments 70 Loyalists 185 Sailors / Other 27 Total 354 Men from the British regiments were: 1st Guards 2 63rd Foot 3 3rd Guards 8 64th Foot 1 19th Foot 4 71st Foot 9 23rd Foot 5 82nd Foot 6 33rd Foot 14 84th Foot 1 60th Foot 18 Royal Artillery 1 From the places they were sent to, it is clear that certainly most from the British regiments were not deserters in the modern sense; they were recaptured escapers. 41 were sent to Philadelphia, where the notorious New Jail used for recaptured and difficult prisoners was located. Of the remainder, 11 were from the 60th, with both German and British names, and 5 from other regiments were sent to North Carolina. These were all probably residents of that State where they would have been dealt with by its Committees of Safety. Others went to a variety of places. Some may have been US residents of other states. Some brought in after the final British defeat at Yorktown went to places in the Southern Command. Back to American Revolution Journal Vol. I No. 2 Table of Contents Back to American Revolution Journal List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by James E. Purky This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com