The American Revolution is viewed by a number of British historians as a civil war. Based on the sentiment expressed by many contemporary writers, they have a valid point. Despite popular American opinion, the colonists were not united in their points of view during the 1770s. In fact the number of supporters for each group was evenly divided. It was estimated, by Ben Franklin and John Adams, that about one third of Americans supported the cause of Independence while another third supported the Crown with the remainder of the colomists advocated some forin of neutrality. With a estimated population of 2,500,000 people, this indicates that between 500,000 and 800,000 colonists supported the Crown.

Therefore the estimates of 200,000 men fighting for the Crown is not unreasonable. This is especially true if one-fourth, as with the Patriot forces, of the men enlisted more than once.

The attitudes were not equally divided throughout the colonies. Pro-Independence (Patriot, Rebel, Continentals or Whigs) feelings dominated most, but not all of the New England area. Pro-Crown sentiments (Loyalist, Royalist or Tories) was very strong in New York, New Jersey and the South. Those who tried to maintain a neutral position could be found everywhere, mainly among isolated farmers, but particularly on the Southern frontier and in Canada.

It must be remembered that the status quo opinion was the Loyalist position. The burden of persuading colonists to change their views lay with the Patriot writers. Throughout the war, the reasons for supporting the Crown can be associated with one or more basic tenements. These people who held government offices, believers in Divine Right (the God given right of a king to rule), merchants who supported Parliament's right to tax, the Anglican clergy and religiously influenced men, and "factional" loyalist who supported the Crown because of family feuds and political animosities with other families.

After examining these issues, one can begin to understand why certain areas supported one position over another. Examples of such influences include: the Delanceys versus the Livingstons in New York; the dominant anti-Anglican churches in New England; the Highland Scot versus the Lowland Scot-Irish colonists in the South; and Upland colonists versus coastal colonists.

All of these reasons contributed to over 50-200,000 (American numbers are around 50,000 while British numbers are about 200,000) colonists joining Loyalist units to fight for the Crown. Of these most served in Loyalist units while some served in the Regular British Army.

In retrospect it is hard for the historians to believe that the Crown failed to take advantage of this sentiment during the first years of the war. The British policies as a whole did not utilize the key potential advantage of strong support in the colonies.

Other adopted policies also hindered the British effort to control the colonies. The policy of hiring German mercenaries caused some loyalists to change to a neutral or Patriot position. The policy of using Indian allies was condemned in Patriot newspapers but in fact did not alienate the American colonists as a whole. During the war several Patriot commissioners were able to form alliances with some Indian tribes including the Iroquois-Oneida and the Lower Creek. Still, many Loyalist would fight along side the Mohawks in New York, the Cherokees in the Carolinas, and the Choctaw and Creeks on the Gulf Coast.

Treatment of the Enemy

The treatment of the enemy is another policy in need of further examination. While widespread executions did not occur, both sides participated in acts of terror and retribution. One case occurred in the South, when Patriots hanged five Loyalists it resulted in the British hanging Patriots and this cycle of revenge continued for a few months until its futility was realized. This example shows that with a large number of hostages being held by both sides, executions would not have benefited either side.

Some of the first northern Loyalist units were raised as militia for the defense of Boston in 1775. These units were the Loyal American Association, Loyal Irish Volunteers and the Royal North British Volunteers. At the same time several Loyalist militia groups were formed in the Carolinas. Throughout 1776 several Loyalist units continued to operate in the South. However, it would not be until 1777 that the loyalists would be formed into units based on the British establishment.

After the French and Spanish declared war on Britain, the Crown transferred many of its regular units to defend other colonies and depended more on Loyalist troops to defend the American colonies. By the end of the war over seventy units of various sizes had been organized to defend the Crown's interest.

The area of Florida was divided into two departments. The East Florida department assisted the colony of Georgia in both controlling the Patriots and monitoring the Southern Indian tribes. The West Florida department based in Pensacola devoted much of the early war watching for Patriot raiding parties on the Mississippi. After Spain entered the war, their focus became defending Pensacola against a Spanish attack from New Orleans and harassing the Spanish fort at the captured city of Mobile.

The colony of Georgia was dominated by the frontier. It had only one major coastal city, Savannah, plus the primary upland trading center of Augusta. Much of the colonist attention focused on defending against the Creek and Cherokee tribes located in the area. On one or two occasions, early in the war, both Loyalist and Patriots to banded together to defend against Indian raiding parties. The commitment of forces to both sides was limited during the war. Standing units were small and augmented by militia only when the need arose.

An example of the limited manpower is reflected by the Patriots authorizing four regiments for use in Georgia but only one had its recruiting area in Georgia. The other Georgia Regiments were raised in Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The pro-Crown support was always high due in part to the frontiersmen believing that the British could control the Indians better than the Patriots. During several years of the war there were more Georgia Loyalist troops than Patriot troops.

The Colony of South Carolina provided a significant number of forces to the Loyalist cause. Many of these units fought constantly and were regarded as competent by British commanders. The militia, as most militia were, varied in their level of value. Commanders on both sides saw a high turnout when the war was favorable and a very low turnout during difficult times. Even city leaders were quick to change sides.

In Charleston 1780, Patriot General Lincoln was told by city leaders to surrender even though several months worth of supplies were still in storage. With the capture of a significant portion of the Southern Patriot army at Charleston, the ranks of South Carolina loyalist units bulged with new recruits and impressed POWs.

As with Georgia and South Carolina, the colony of North Carolina remained divided througout the war with many frontiersmen maintaining neutrality until they were threatened. The primary support for the Loyalist cause came from the Highland Scots from the Uplands. These Scots strongly disliked the Scotch-Irish colonists of the coastal region. This hatred had developed earlier into armed conflict during the 'Regulator War' of the late 1760s. Due partly to these feuds, there were times when the number of Loyalist North Carolina troops outnumbered those in the Patriot army.

In Virginia frontiersmen preferred neutrality and fighting Indians but would challenge a military force that threatened them. The coastal, Tidewater, area contributed troops to both sides with the majority following the Patriot cause. The 2nd Georgia Continental Regiment was supposed to recruit in Virginia but could raise no more than fifty men. During 1781 as the British ventured into Virginia a large number of Virginia Patriot militia units were finally raised.

Due partly to the strong Loyalist sentiments and his being unable to raise enough troops to stop British expeditions. Thomas Jefferson commented in his journals that he had been ineffective as a wartime governor. Still the British were also disappointed in the number of Loyalist who rallied to their cause. Based on the population of Virginia as compared to other colonies, their troop contributions to both sides was smaller than one would have expected. By contrast the Virginians would quickly raise large militia forces to combat Indian raids or to attack Indian towns. In my opinion, though there is a lack of supporting documents, a significant number of the Virginia colonist must have preferred to remain neutral unless threatened.

Maryland raised several loyalist units with even more men joining units organized in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. As with Maryland, many Delaware loyalists joined units formed in neighboring states. This trend continued in Connecticut as many loyalists there joined units raised in New York.

Pennsylvania, surprisingly, raised numerous Loyalist units especially from the area around Philadelphia. Still the pro-Loyalist numbers never equalled those which joined the Patriot cause.

In New Jersey the counties close to New York City, had a pro-Crown attitude. One of the largest Loyalist units came from New Jersey. The New Jersey Volunteers or Skinner's Volunteers had enough troops to form six battalions. As a result elements of this unit fought in most of the major battles fought in both the north and the south.

New York reflected the bitter reasons which caused a colonist to join one side or the other. Loyalist units were recruited in both New York City and Upper New York. As in many frontier areas settlers tried to remain neutral so they could watch the Indians. Many settlers would join the Loyalist cause after their property was destroyed by pro-patriot Associators. With retribution raids occurring on both sides and constant campaigning in the New York area, there were very few neutral settlers remaining by the end of the war.

In fact raids were still being conducted in Upper New York as late as 1784, years after Yorktown. Several of the largest Loyalist units recruited mainly from New York included the Queen's Rangers, Loyal Americans, King's American Regiment, the three battalions of DeLanceys brigade, plus other units. In all over a dozen Loyalist regiments were raised in the New York area.

Rhode Island raised several Loyalist units in their larger cities. The Loyalist sentiment seemed the highest around Newport but this could have been due as much to the large British garrison located in the town as any true pro-Crown feelings.

Massachusetts Bay Colony included the current state of Maine. Most of its colonist who favored the Loyalist cause had left the colony when the British evacuated Boston in 1775. The willingness of the area's loyalists to fight is evident in the fact that some of the first Loyalist units were raised in Boston. The exiled Massachusetts Loyalists joined units raised in Canada and New York.

New Hampshire raised only a few Loyalist units with some colonists joining Loyalist units raised in Canada and New York. The New Hampshire attitude was pro-patriot with memories of attempted domination by early royal governors from Massachusetts.

Canada

You cannot leave out Canada when talking about the American colonies. It was considered one of the most important of the colonies. Even the Patriots felt this way and launched an ill-planned invasion of Canada in late (too late) 1775. Most Patriots did not count on the strong neutralist sentiment of the French Canadians. They thought that the French still hated the British but forgot that the French had fought the Americans as well during the French and Indian Wars.

Of the two so called Canadian Regiments of the Continental army, neither was composed of entirely Canadian colonists. French trappers were now hunting west of the Great Lakes and were concerned with daily life rather than distant politics. Influential Frenchmen were making a good living under British rule. The 'oppressive' British taxes were still less than they would have been paying under French rule. As a result most of those Frenchmen who were not pro-Crown remained neutral even after France entered the war in 1778.

Colonists with allegiances to both sides lived in "Indian Country". Both groups did not want to see wide spread arming of the native tribes. As a result the initial goal of commissioners to the various native tribes was to persuade them to remain neutral. This was one of the policy failures on the part of British planners to utilize a valuable manpower source during 1775-76 and did contribute to their eventual defeat. But as with any strategic decision, many of the contributing factors have been ignored or not analyzed properly. The immediate use of Native Nation forces would have forced many of the neutral and Loyalist frontiersmen to join the Patriots.

Also in 1775-76 the British did not have enough supplies in North America to support all of the tribes which they could enlist. Even later in the war, the continued lack of supplies would hinder the British in trying to defend frontier and southern forts. Further comments on Native Nation activities can be found in the issue devoted to them and the issues titled "Our Place in the Sun".