Canadian Virtual Military Museum - Scouts and Rangers

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

https://www.facebook.com/pg/1greatvirtualeducationalexperience/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1229874340404358

Here's one for RSJ;  https://www.facebook.com/1greatvirtualeducationalexperience/photos/a.1229874340404358.1073741977.132262350165568/1573752189349903/?type=3&theater

[St. George]

Thanks - it expands upon a little-known group, and is both fascinating and educational.

Scouts Out!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Here is a list I found by navigating/wandering. I didn't know there were so many Loyalist units! The winners seem to have a habit of controlling the written history. In the case of the Revolutionary War it was a small group of colonial businessmen, oligarchs as it were, who were the real winners against the British imperial business interests. It was not a class war, just a struggle to get at the trough.

http://www.royalprovincial.com/military/rlist/rlist.htm

[matt45]

That is one side... One must be careful with blanket statements.  My way back ancestors weren't oligarchs, etc, and we were damn proud yankees.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Matt; I referred to the "real' winners. The ones who did the fighting and dying were probably the offspring of the Scots/Irish border clans and others with their own personal or collective reason to fight. Most of the fighters ended up in the same social strata they started with.

"Its the syme the whole world over. Its the rich wot getz the gryvy, and the poor wot getz the blyme!"

[matt45]

     Thems that fight always get the short end.  Having said that, the term 'Oligarch' would describe both sets of the upper crust in colonial America.  The folks back then generally regarded that as more the natural order (the other side would be described as 'levelers').  Because of property qualifications to vote it would be difficult to have anything else.
     Not wishing to step on toes, and trying to make an universal statement (there are always exceptions) but... the only place where the general lower class was loyalist was Up- Country Carolina.  That was a result of problems with the local colonial government as opposed to any real loyalty to the crown.  Elsewhere, the general restrictions put on timber harvesting, industry, emigration to the west, and fears of having the Anglican Church imposed as the "official church" (among other reasons) meant that, even before the hue and cry went up in the 1760's, the lower class was generally not pro English.  The general view today that 1/3 were patriots, 1/3 loyalist, etc. is drawn form a quote by John Adams- a nice quip, but not a scientific view.  The best breakdown I have read regarding the most likely breakdown is "The Cousins War", with "A Glorious Cause" next on my list.  These books hold the view that the Loyalist population was probably closer to 20%.  As to the economic breakdown, my view would tend towards the opposite of yours: e.g. more Tory's would have been better off with the status quo than to risk the cost a most likely failed rebellion. 


     

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Only one more comment, Matt. The American merchant/trading class were being stymied by the competing English firms. The most notable example was the Stamp Act, but there was more.

My Mom with her 101 year old's wisdom , says "If "Ifs" and "ands" were pots and pans, the tinkers would have no work to do"!

The British Empire missed several opportunities to be really great. One major missed opportunity was its failure to allow America to have all the rights of their imperial sytem, such as representation in Parliament and equality of economic activity. Another missed opportunity came later when Britain failed to offer the same to India.

[matt45]

Roger that.