Loyalist ( American Revolution ) Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain ( and the British monarchy ) during the American Revolutionary War . At the time they were often called Tories , Royalist s , or King ' s Men . They were opposed by the Patriots , those who supported the revolution . When their cause was defeated , about 20 % of the Loyalists fled to other parts of the British Empire , in Britain or elsewhere in British North America . The southern colonists moved mostly to Florida , which had remained loyal to the Crown , and to British Caribbean possessions , while northern colonists largely migrated to Ontario , New Brunswick and Nova Scotia , where they were called United Empire Loyalists . Most were compensated with Canadian land or British cash distributed through formal claims procedures . Historians have estimated that between 15 and 20 percent of the 2 . 5 million whites in the colonies were Loyalists , or about 500 , 000 men , women and children . Background . The American Revolution can be seen in some ways as a civil war , in which families were often divided amongst themselves . War forced Americans to choose sides in a conflict that few had wished for and the outcome of which remained for many years uncertain . Should they join the rebels or remain loyal to King and Empire ? Colonists , especially recent arrivals , often felt themselves to be both American and British , subjects of the Crown , still owing a loyalty to the mother country . Many , like Maryland lawyer Daniel Dulaney , opposed taxation without representation , but would not break their oath to the King or take up arms against the Crown . In one of his many pamphlets , Dulany wrote : " There may be a time when redress may not be obtained . Till then , I shall recommend a legal , orderly , and prudent resentment " . Most hoped for a peaceful reconciliation , and were forced by the outbreak of violence to choose sides against their will . Motivations of Loyalism . Yale historian Leonard Woods Larabee has identified eight characteristics of the Loyalists that made them essentially conservative and loyal to the king and Britain : Other motivations of the Loyalists were : Loyalism and military operations . In the opening months of the Revolutionary War , the Patriots laid siege to Boston , where most of the British forces were stationed . Elsewhere there were few British troops and the Patriots seized control of all levels of government , as well as supplies of arms and gunpowder . These actions were not without resistance . Especially in New York , New Jersey , and parts of North and South Carolina , there was considerable ambivalence about the Patriot cause . Vocal Loyalists , often with the encouragement and assistance of royal governors , recruited people to their side . In the South Carolina backcountry Loyalist recruitment oustripped that of Patriots . A brief siege at Ninety Six in the fall of 1775 was followed by a rapid rise in Patriot recruiting and a major campaign involving thousands of partisan militia resulted in the arrest or flight of most of the backcountry Loyalist leadership . North Carolina backcountry Scots and former Regulators joined forces in early 1776 , but were broken as a force at the Battle of Moore ' s Creek Bridge . By July 4 , 1776 the Patriots had gained control of virtually all territory in the 13 colonies , and expelled all royal officials . No one who openly proclaimed their loyalty to the Crown was allowed to remain , so for the moment , Loyalists fled or kept quiet . Some of those who remained later gave aid to invading British armies or joined uniformed Loyalist regiments . The British were forced out of Boston by March 17 , 1776 ; they regrouped at Halifax and attacked New York in August , handing a convincing defeat to George Washington ' s army at Long Island and capturing New York City and its vicinity . The British forces would occupy the area around the mouth of the Hudson River until 1783 . British forces would also seize control of other cities , including Philadelphia ( 1777 ) , Savannah ( 1778 – 83 ) and Charleston ( 1780 – 82 ) , as well as various slices of countryside . But 90 % of the colonial population lived outside the cities , with the effective result being that the Congress controlled 80 – 90 % of the population . The British removed their governors from colonies where the Patriots were in control , but Loyalist civilian government was re - established in coastal Georgia from 1779 to 1782 , despite presence of Patriot forces in the northern part of Georgia . Essentially , the British were only able to maintain power in areas where they had a strong military presence . Numbers of Loyalists . Historian Robert Calhoon wrote in 2000 , concerning the proportion of Loyalists to Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies : Before Calhoon ' s work , estimates of the Loyalist share of the population were somewhat higher , at about one - third , but these estimates are now seen as too high by most scholars . Adams did indeed estimate in another letter of that year that in the American Revolution , the Patriots had to struggle against approximately one - third of the population , while they themselves constituted about two - thirds of it ; he did not mention neutrals . In 1968 historian Paul H . Smith estimated there were about 500 , 000 Loyalists , or 16 % of the white population . Historian Robert Middlekauff summarized scholarly research on the nature of Loyalist support as follows : The largest number of loyalists were found in the middle colonies : many tenant farmers of New York supported the king , for example , as did many of the Dutch in the colony and in New Jersey . The Germans in Pennsylvania tried to stay out of the Revolution , just as many Quakers did , and when that failed , clung to the familiar connection rather than embrace the new . Highland Scots in the Carolinas , a fair number of Anglican clergy and their parishioners in Connecticut and New York , a few Presbyterians in the southern colonies , and a large number of the Iroquois Indians stayed loyal to the king . New York City and Long Island were the British military and political base of operations in North America from 1776 to 1783 and had a large concentration of Loyalists , many of whom were refugees from other states . According to Calhoon , Loyalists tended to be older and wealthier , but there were also many Loyalists of humble means . Many active Church of England members became Loyalists . Some recent arrivals from Britain , especially those from Scotland , had a high Loyalist proportion . Loyalists in the southern colonies were suppressed by the local Patriots , who controlled local and state government . Many people — including former Regulators in North Carolina — refused to join the rebellion , as they had earlier protested against corruption by local authorities who later became Revolutionary leaders . The oppression by the local Whigs during the Regulation led to many of the residents of backcountry North Carolina sitting out the Revolution or siding with the Loyalists . In areas under rebel control , Loyalists were subject to confiscation of property , and outspoken supporters of the king were threatened with public humiliation such as tarring and feathering , or physical attack . It is not known how many Loyalist civilians were harassed by the Patriots , but the treatment was a warning to other Loyalists not to take up arms . In September 1775 , William Drayton and Loyalist leader Colonel Thomas Fletchall signed a treaty of neutrality in the interior community of Ninety Six , South Carolina . For actively aiding the British army when it occupied Philadelphia , two residents of the city would be executed by returning Patriot forces . Slavery and Black Loyalists . As a result of the looming crisis in 1775 the Royal Governor of Virginia , Lord Dunmore , issued a proclamation that promised freedom to servants and slaves who were able to bear arms and join his Loyalist Ethiopian Regiment . About 800 did so ; some helped rout the Virginia militia at the Battle of Kemp ' s Landing and fought in the Battle of Great Bridge on the Elizabeth River , wearing the motto " Liberty to Slaves " , but this time they were defeated . The remains of their regiment were then involved in the evacuation of Norfolk , after which they served in the Chesapeake area . Eventually the camp that they had set up there suffered an outbreak of smallpox and other diseases . This took a heavy toll , putting many of them out of action for some time . The survivors joined other British units and continued to serve throughout the war . Black colonials were often the first to come forward to volunteer and a total of 12 , 000 African Americans served with the British from 1775 to 1783 . This factor had the effect of forcing the rebels to also offer freedom to those who would serve in the Continental Army ; however , such promises were often reneged upon by both sides . About 400 to 1000 free blacks went to London and joined the free black community of about 10 , 000 there . About 3 , 500 to 4 , 000 more went to the British colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick , where the British promised them land . Over 2 , 500 settled in Birchtown , Nova Scotia , instantly making it the largest free black community in North America . However , the inferior grants of land they were given and the prejudices of white Loyalists in nearby Shelburne , who regularly harassed the settlement , made life very difficult for the community . In 1791 Britain ' s Sierra Leone Company offered to transport dissatisfied black Loyalists to the British colony of Sierra Leone in Africa , with the promise of better land and more equality . About 1 , 200 left Nova Scotia for Sierra Leone , where they named the capital Freetown . After 1787 they became Sierra Leone ' s ruling elite . Loyalism in Canada . Rebel agents were active in Quebec ( which was then frequently called " Canada " , the name of the earlier French province ) in the months leading to the outbreak of active hostilities . John Brown , an agent of the Boston Committee of Correspondence , worked with Canadian merchant Thomas Walker and other rebel sympathisers during the winter of 1774 – 1775 to convince inhabitants to support the actions of the First Continental Congress . However , many of Quebec ' s inhabitants remained neutral , resisting service to either the British or the Americans . Although some Canadians took up arms in support of the rebellion , the majority remained loyal to the King . French Canadians had been satisfied by the British government ' s Quebec Act of 1774 , which offered religious and linguistic toleration ; in general , they did not sympathize with a rebellion that they saw as being led by Protestants from New England , who were their commercial rivals and hereditary enemies . Most of the English - speaking settlers had arrived following the British conquest of Canada in 1759 - 1760 , and unlikely to support separation from Britain . The older British colonies , Newfoundland and Nova Scotia , which at the time included present - day New Brunswick , also remained loyal to the crown and contributed military forces in support of the Crown . In late 1775 the Continental Army sent a force into Quebec , led by General Richard Montgomery and Colonel Benedict Arnold , with the goal of convincing the residents of the Quebec to join the Revolution . Although only a minority of Canadians openly expressed loyalty to King George , about 1 , 500 militia fought for the King in the Siege of Fort St . Jean . In the region south of Montreal that was occupied by the Continentals , some inhabitants supported the rebellion and raised two regiments to join the Patriot forces . In Nova Scotia , there were many Yankee settlers originally from New England , and they generally supported the principles of the revolution . This element was declining in relative numbers and influence due to an influx of recent immigration from the British isles , and they remained neutral during the war , and the influx was greatest in Halifax . Britain in any case built up powerful forces at the naval base of Halifax after the failure of Jonathan Eddy to capture Fort Cumberland in 1776 . Although the Continentals captured Montreal in November 1775 , they were turned back a month later at Quebec City by a combination of the British military under Governor Guy Carleton , the difficult terrain and weather , and an indifferent local response . The Continental forces would be driven from Quebec in 1776 , after the breakup of ice on the St . Lawrence River and the arrival of British transports in May and June . There would be no further meaningful attempt to challenge British control of present - day Canada until the War of 1812 . In 1777 , 1 , 500 Loyalist militia took part in a British expedition that eventually led to the surrender of Burgoyne after the Battles of Saratoga in northern New York . After the entry of France into the war in 1778 , many English - speaking settlers with Loyalist sympathies feared that the French would attempt to reclaim their former colony on the St . Lawrence , which solidified their support for the British crown . For the rest of the war Quebec acted as a base for raiding expeditions , conducted primarily by Loyalists and Indians , against frontier communities . During peace negotiations in Paris , negotiators from the United States made repeated attempts to acquire territory in what is now Canada . The territory that became known as the Northwest Territory , which included the British posts at Detroit and Mackinac but was mostly Indian Territory administered as part of the Province of Quebec , became part of the United States . Present - day Michigan would not come under American control until 1796 . Military service . The Loyalists rarely attempted any political organization . They were often passive unless regular British army units were in the area . The British , however , assumed a highly activist Loyalist community was ready to mobilize and planned much of their strategy around raising Loyalist regiments . The British provincial line , consisting of Americans enlisted on a regular army status , enrolled 19 , 000 loyalists ( 50 units and 312 companies ) . Another 10 , 000 served in loyalist militia or " associations . " The maximum strength of the Loyalist provincial line was 9 , 700 in December 1780 . In all about 50 , 000 at one time or another were soldiers or militia in British forces , including 15 , 000 from the main Loyalist stronghold of New York . The majority of Loyalists fought in the southern and middle colonies and few were from the north . In addition , a large number of Americans served in the regular British army and in the Royal Navy . Emigration from the United States . Prof . Maya Jasanoff , a professor of history at Harvard University , has issued new estimates of how many Loyalists departed the U . S . She calculates 60 , 000 in total , including about 50 , 000 whites . The majority of them — about 33 , 000 — went to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia , while about 6 , 600 went to Quebec . About 5 , 000 white Loyalists went to Florida , bringing along their slaves who numbered about 6 , 500 . About 13 , 000 went to Britain ( including 5 , 000 free blacks ) . The 50 , 000 or - so white departures represented about 10 % of the Loyalist element . Loyalists ( especially soldiers and former officials ) could choose evacuation . Loyalists whose roots were not yet deeply embedded in the New World were more likely to leave ; older people who had familial bonds and had acquired friends , property , and a degree of social respectability were more likely to remain in the US . The vast majority of the half - million white Loyalists remained in the U . S . Starting in the mid - 1780s a small percentage of those who had left returned to the United States . The exiles amounted to about 2 % of the total US population of 3 million at the end of the war in 1783 . After 1783 some former Loyalists ( especially Germans from Pennsyslvania ) emigrated to Canada to take advantage of the British government ' s offer of free land , but many also were disillusioned by the continuing hostility to Tories and eventually decided to leave the new Republic . The 33 , 000 or so who went to Nova Scotia were not well received by the Nova Scotians , who were mostly descendants of New Englanders settled there before the Revolution . " They [ the loyalists ] , " Colonel Thomas Dundas wrote in 1786 , " have experienced every possible injury from the old inhabitants of Nova Scotia , who are even more disaffected towards the British Government than any of the new States ever were . This makes me much doubt their remaining long dependent . " In response , the colony of New Brunswick , until 1784 part of Nova Scotia , was created for the 14 , 000 who had settled in those parts . Of the 46 , 000 who went to Canada , 10 , 000 went to the Province of Quebec , especially the Eastern Townships of Quebec and modern - day Ontario . Realizing the importance of some type of consideration , on November 9 , 1789 , Lord Dorchester , the governor of Quebec , declared that it was his wish to " put the mark of Honour upon the Families who had adhered to the Unity of the Empire . " As a result of Dorchester ' s statement , the printed militia rolls carried the notation : Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire , and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783 , and all their Children and their Descendants by either sex , are to be distinguished by the following Capitals , affixed to their names : U . E . Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire . The postnominals " U . E . " are rarely seen today , but the influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains . Their ties to Britain and their antipathy to the United States provided the strength needed to keep Canada independent and distinct in North America . The Loyalists ' basic distrust of republicanism and " mob rule " influenced . The new British North American provinces of Upper Canada ( the forerunner of Ontario ) and New Brunswick were founded as places of refuge for the United Empire Loyalists . The wealthiest and most prominent Loyalist exiles went to Great Britain to rebuild their careers ; many received pensions . Many Southern Loyalists , taking along their slaves , went to the West Indies and the Bahamas , particularly to the Abaco Islands . Many Loyalists brought their slaves with them to Canada ( mostly to areas that later became Ontario and New Brunswick ) where slavery was legal . An imperial law in 1790 assured prospective immigrants to Canada that their slaves would remain their property . Thousands of Iroquois and other Native Americans were expelled from New York and other states and resettled in Canada . The descendants of one such group of Iroquois , led by Joseph Brant Thayendenegea , settled at Six Nations of the Grand River , the largest First Nations reserve in Canada . A group of African - American Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia but emigrated again for Sierra Leone after facing discrimination there . Benjamin Thompson ( Count Rumford ) was a loyalist who fled to London when the war began . He became a scientist noted for pioneering thermodynamics and for his research on artillery ordnance . He expressed a desire to return to the United States in 1799 and was eagerly sought by the Americans ( who needed help in fighting the Quasi - War with France ) . Rumford eventually decided to stay in London because he was engrossed with establishing the Royal Institution in England . Many of the Loyalists were forced to abandon substantial amounts of property to America , and restoration of or compensation for this lost property was a major issue during the negotiation of the Jay Treaty in 1794 . Return of some expatriates . The great majority of Loyalists never left the United States ; they stayed on and were allowed to be citizens of the new country . Some became nationally prominent leaders , including Samuel Seabury and Tench Coxe . Alexander Hamilton enlisted the help of the ex - Loyalists in New York in 1782 - 85 to forge an alliance with moderate Whigs to wrest the state from the power of the Clinton faction . Several thousand of those who had left for Florida returned to Georgia . There was a small , but significant trickle of returnees who found life in Nova Scotia too difficult . Some Massachusetts Tories settled in the Maine District . Nevertheless the vast majority who did leave never returned . Captain Benjamin Hallowell , who as Mandamus Councilor in Massachusetts served as the direct representative of the Crown , was considered by the insurgents as one of the most hated men in the Colony , but as a token of compensation when he returned from England in 1796 , his son was allowed to regain the family house . Impact of the departure of Loyalist leaders . The departure of so many royal officials , rich merchants and landed gentry destroyed the hierarchical networks that had dominated most of the colonies . In New York , the departure of key members of the DeLancy , DePester Walton and Cruger families undercut the interlocking families that largely owned and controlled the Hudson Valley . Likewise in Pennsylvania , the departure of powerful families — Penn , Allen , Chew , Shippen — destroyed the cohesion of the old upper class there . Massachusetts passed an act banishing forty - six Boston merchants in 1778 , including members of some of Boston ' s wealthiest families . The departure of families such as the Ervings , Winslows , Clarks , and Lloyds deprived Massachusetts of men who had hitherto been leaders of networks of family and clients . The bases of the men who replaced them were much different . One rich patriot in Boston noted in 1779 that " fellows who would have cleaned my shoes five years ago , have amassed fortunes and are riding in chariots . " That is , new men now became rich merchants but they shared a spirit of republican equality that replaced the elitism and the Americans never recreated such a powerful upper class as had existed before . Loyalists in Art . John Singleton Copley painted many prominent Loyalists , and produced an oil on canvas depiction of a Royal Ethiopian Regiment ( black Loyalist ) soldier in his 1784 " The Death of Major Pierson " . Benjamin West portrayed the ethnic and economic diversity of the Loyalists in his " Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain in the Year 1783 " .