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Subject: Re: [Irish-in-UK] [IRISH-AMER] The Tories - What were they reallylike during the American Revolution
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 16:16:59 -0500
References: <1a53b01c73740$8c00dd50$371ecac6@jean>
In-Reply-To: <1a53b01c73740$8c00dd50$371ecac6@jean>
Thanks, Jean. This is a very interesting article. Naturally I respect
those who respect their ancestry, like these Canadian descendants of Tories.
But perhaps the article is understandably a bit one-sided and not fully
provident of context. For example:
* The article mentions that Congress quarantined the entire population of
Queens County, Long Island, New York for its reluctance to join patriot
militias. But the full story is that the county's many patriots had boldly
signed rebellious statements against the Crown immediately before the war
and had already been forced to flee to Connecticut and elsewhere by the
British and Tories at the outbreak of the war. [Queens County was later
divided into the present Queens County and Nassau County, where I live.]
* No mention is made of the fact that all patriot land, cattle, foodstuffs,
equipment were routinely confiscated by the Tories wherever Tories operated,
without due process and without formal escheatment to the crown.
Depredations by the Tories under Colonel Tarleton on Long Island were so
violent and rapacious that they turned most of the "fence-sitters" into
secret patriots, plus a number of families who had initially remained loyal.
(The actual Colonel Tarleton was the model for the character Colonel
Tavington in the movie "The Patriot.")
* Further context - we often think of Canada as loyal to Britain during the
war, but with French Canada only recently conquered (1763), many Irish, and
many influenced by the Enlightenment and its political theories (Rights Of
Man, etc.), Britain's control of Canada was by no means assured. It had to
be held by force, just like the rest of British America. The Continental
Army was called "continental" because it drew fighting units from all of
British North America including Canada. Canadian units participated on the
patriot side in most of the important battles engaged in by the "Regulars,"
including the decisive victory at Yorktown.
* Further context: After the fall of Charleston to the British in 1780, the
war in the Carolinas became a war of extermination in several places. The
Tories had the upper hand and exploited their position ruthlessly. The most
notorious leader of Tory units was again the hated Colonel Tarleton. Entire
families were wiped out, and small groups of American guerrillas responded
in kind. But this was not American policy nor the policy of American
guerilla commanders like Francis Marion. It was, however, British policy
condoned at the highest levels. In the British view, Patriots were rebels,
and whatever happened to rebels of any age and gender was of little concern.
* The article mentions that "Tories were prisoners of state under the
articles of surrender at Yorktown and as such could be executed." I've
never heard of any such executions after Yorktown, although I'm sure that
many British and Tories would have deserved that fate for war crimes. In my
personal opinion, as you'll see below, the commander of all British forces
in North America (Lord Cornwallis) certainly deserved execution. But as far
as I know, all British prisoners including Tories were later exchanged or
repatriated. Were there any executions of Tory prisoners after Yorktown?
If so, I'd like to know about them.
* Further context - the civilian population fell into 3 categories:
patriot, Tory, and "fence-sitter" as they were called then. Despite early
19th century myth-making, a common rule of thumb these days, which may or
may not be accurate, is that the population broke into roughly 1/3 patriot,
1/3 Tory, and 1/3 fence-sitters. Despite an estimated population in the 13
states of something like 2.5 million as noted in the article, the
Continental Army was legislated by the Continental Congress at 30,000 at the
outset of the war, but never properly funded, staffed, nor supplied. Troop
strength was therefore always far less (maybe half that number at best at
any one time?).
* For me, that 30,000 number becomes extremely important when we examine the
number of patriot prisoners murdered and tortured to death by Tories and
British. Surrendering patriots were routinely bayoneted to death. This was
called "Tarleton's quarter," named after the infamous English renegade who
led Tory units on Long Island (NY) and later led Tory units in the
Carolinas. The patriot prisoners who died in this way were the lucky ones.
The unlucky ones were tortured to death by asphyxiation, hunger, thirst,
disease, and resulting madness in the British prison hulks in New York
Harbor. These were outdated British ships like the HMS Jersey which were
stripped of masts, anchored, and turned into hellholes as bad or worse than
the Black Hole Of Calcutta. This is all well-documented. We have the names
of at least 6,000 American prisoners who were tortured to death in this way.
With any onshore wind, the stench of the dying was carried to Lord
Cornwallis' North American headquarters, less than a thousand yards away.
The "burial parties" dumping the bodies overboard every morning into the
Brooklyn mudflats were easily visible by the General Staff. So despite
British denials after the war and a cover-up trial of a single, low level
civilian quartermaster (who as blamed for everything), these war crimes were
obviously official British policy. But British record-keeping for prisoners
was also notoriously incomplete. The estimated number of patriot prisoners
of war tortured to death in this manner in the prison hulks goes as high as
15,000. If we compare either figure, 6,000 or 15,000, to the legislated
strength of the Continental Army (30,000), we begin to see why the British
and Tories were so hated during and after the war.
* The characterization of the fictitious Colonel Tavington and his Tory unit
raised a storm of protest in the British press after the release of the film
"The Patriot." In the movie, the fictitious Colonel Tavington and his
Tories gruesomely murder without official sanction less than 100 civilians.
The British press contended that British forces in North America never did
and never would have conducted themselves in such a despicable manner. But
actual history tells us differently. Without bothering to go into
documented civilian deaths, we know that the real Lord Cornwallis was
directly responsible for the deaths of between 6,000 and 15,000 helpless
American prisoners of war tortured to death a few football fields away from
his headquarters.
* After the war, the resentment against all things English manifested
itself. The Anglican Church in the new U.S. found it necessary to change
its name to the Episcopalian Church. The English language was so resented
as the language of tyranny that not one of the suggestions for an official
language at the Constitutional Convention (1787) included English. Irish,
French, German, Dutch, Spanish, almost all the languages of those who had
fought against English tyranny (plus Latin and Greek) were suggested, among
others. But not English. In the end, of course, it was recognized that you
can't have Freedom of Speech if you're telling people what language they
have to speak, so the idea of an official language was abandoned.
The article notes "Per Elizabeth Lowe, a fifth-generation descendant of
Benedict Arnold's cousin Oliver, (states): 'We grew up with the knowledge
that our ancestors were refugees who had been robbed and tortured because of
their loyalty. We may have learned to accept the Americans, but we will
never forget our history.'" In response, I say definitely never forget your
history. But one side fought for the Rights Of Man while the other side
fought for tyranny. It's important to remember which was which. Even
Elizabeth Lowe's cousin Benedict Arnold knew the difference. After the war,
he was long tormented by what he had done. In the end, when he finally died
in 1801, he had himself buried in the only uniform he had ever loved, the
uniform which represented the ideals of the country he had betrayed - the
uniform of the Continental Army.
Best, - Jerry
-----Original Message-----
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Jean R.
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 1:28 PM
To:
Cc:
Subject: [IRISH-AMER] Canada's Tories still raise their tankards to
KingGeorge
SNIPPET: Researchers interested in the history of Colonial America and
Canada, whose own ancestors (or those of their spouse) took part in the
"losing side of the war" - colonists who fled north rather than join the
Revolution, Canada's Tories - should find interesting a six-page article in
the January 2004 issue of "Smithsonian" magazine called "Divided Loyalties,"
with colorful photos and old maps.
Recently, participants (costumed re-enactors) came from all over Maritime
Canada - the Atlantic Seaboard provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward Island, to celebrate the 225th anniversary of DeLANCEY's
Brigade, one of the 53 Loyalist regiments that fought alongside the British
during America's Revolutionary War. Up from Shelburne, Nova Scotia, came the
Prince of Wales American Regiment. The Royal American Fencibles crossed the
Bay of Fundy from Yarmouth. So did officers from the Kings Orange Rangers in
Liverpool.
In the drafty Gothic church in the center of St. John, NB, amid the rustle
of women's petticoats and the flash of regimental swords, there was a cast
of characters straight out of Colonial America: a parson garbed in black,
wearing the swallow-tailed collar of an Anglican cleric, and a buckskinned
spy with the British Indian Department, who confided "he was busy organizing
Iroquois raids on the Continental Army." Some were seated at a table
groaning under the weight of 18th-century-style comestibles - a tureen of
turnip soup made from a 1740 recipe; a bowl of heirloom apples not sold
commercially in more than a century; and a marzipan dessert shaped to
resemble a hedgehog. At the regimental gathering, there was lamentations on
General BURGOYNE's blunder at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 and
congratulations on how well Loyalist were fighting in the Carolinas.
Perhaps as many as one in five Americans had preferred to stay loyal to
Britain and King George, and many families, including those of the founding
fathers, had individuals who were Loyalists. Once the Declaration of
Independence was signed, most states enacted restrictive "Test Acts" that
required their citizens to formally denounce the British Crown and swear
allegiance to his or her resident state. Those who failed to take the oath
was subject to imprisonment , double and triple taxations, confiscations of
property and banishment. Neither could they collect debts, buy land or
defend themselves in court. Connecticut made it illegal for these Loyalists
to criticize Congress of the Connecticut General Assembly. South Carolina
required supporters of the Crown to make reparations to victims of all
robberies committed in their counties. Congress quarantined the entire
population of Queens County, NY, for its reluctance to join patriot
militias! Anti-Tory sentiment was especiall!
y intense in Massachusetts. When 1,000 Loyalists fled Boston along with
British general William HOWE in March 1776, Colonists sang: "The Tories with
their brats and wives/ Should fly to save their wretched lives."
By the spring of 1783, a massive refugee exodus was under way. At the time
when the total population of America was about 2.5 million, an estimated
100,000 Tories, up to 2,000 Indians (most of them Iroquois) and perhaps
6,000 former slaves were forced to leave the country. The Iroquois crossed
into Canada. Many slaves who had agreed to fight for Britain, went to Nova
Scotia; many of them later immigrated to Sierra Leone. Several thousand
Tories moved to the Bahamas. Another 10,000 settled in Jamaica and the rest
of the British West Indies. Florida, then a British possession, was swamped
with new arrivals, as was Ontario, then known as Upper Canada. But the
largest number, perhaps as many as 40,000 in all, headed for the British
colony of Nova Scotia.
Per Elizabeth LOWE, a fifth-generation descendant of Benedict ARNOLD's
cousin Oliver. "We grew up with the knowledge that our ancestors were
refugees who had been robbed and tortured because of their loyalty. We may
have learned to accept the Americans, but we will never forget our history."
In 2001 the United Empire Loyalists (UEL) published a curriculum aid for
history teachers entitled 'The Loyalists: Pioneers and Settlers of the
Maritimes.' "We distributed it free of charge to all of the schools, but I
don't think it is being used," says Frances MORRISEY, a UEL descendant of
one of New Brunswick's founding fathers. "Loyalists gave Canada peace, order
and good government, but now they're being forgotten." Saint John's mayor,
Shirley McALARY, was not as concerned, although she did acknowledge that
Loyalist people are growing older, their children are leaving as new people
move in.
Curiously, Tories suffered even at the hands of British officers who, for
the most part, dismissed them as ignorant provincials. The British
especially distrusted Loyalist militia regiments, claiming that they were
slow to follow orders and often went off on their own to seek revenge
against those who had destroyed their property. Per the article - this
contemptuous attitude may explain why Lord CORNWALLIS, when he surrendered
at Yorktown in 1781, yielded to WASHINGTON's demand that Tories be turned
over to victorious Continental soldiers as prisoners of state, not war, thus
allowing them to be executed as traitors.
Loyalist pride endures. Says a Tory: "My forefathers stood for their
beliefs."
Adherence to English tradition is prized in Shelburne founded by Loyalist
refugees in 1783, and Fredericton, where the twice-daily changing of the
guard remains a popular ritual.
In St. John, NB's burial ground the visitors inspect 18th-century tombstones
- the grave markers laid out in the pattern of a Union Jack, reflecting
fierce loyalty to Britain.
As an aside - there is evidently a considerable presence of Irish in St.
John, New Brunswick.
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