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United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to
American Loyalists Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often referred to as Tories, Royalists or King's Men at the time. They were opposed by the Patriots, who supporte ...
who resettled in
British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...
during or after the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
. At the time, the
demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...
''Canadian'' or ''Canadien'' was used to refer to the indigenous First Nations groups and the descendants of New France settlers inhabiting the
Province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen ...
. They settled primarily in Nova Scotia and the Province of Quebec. The influx of loyalist settlers resulted in the creation of several new colonies. In 1784, New Brunswick was partitioned from the Colony of Nova Scotia after significant loyalist resettlement around the
Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is the h ...
. The influx of loyalist refugees also resulted in the Province of Quebec's division into
Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec and ...
(present-day Quebec), and
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
(present-day Ontario) in 1791. The Crown gave them land grants of one lot. One lot consisted of per person to encourage their resettlement, as the Government wanted to develop the frontier of Upper Canada. This resettlement added many English speakers to the Canadian population. It was the beginning of new waves of immigration that established a predominantly
English-speaking Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
population in the future Canada both west and east of the modern Quebec border.


History


American Revolution

Following the end of the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, both Loyalist soldiers and civilians were evacuated from New York City, most heading for Canada. Many Loyalists had already migrated to Canada, especially from New York and northern New England, where violence against them had increased during the war. The Crown-allotted land in Canada was sometimes allotted according to which Loyalist regiment a man had fought in. This Loyalist resettlement was critical to the development of present-day Ontario, and some 10,000 refugees went to Quebec (including the Eastern Townships and modern-day Ontario). But Nova Scotia (including modern-day New Brunswick) received three times that number: about 35,000–40,000 Loyalist refugees.Censuses of Canada 1665 to 1871: Upper Canada & Loyalists (1785 to 1797)
Statcan.gc.ca (22 October 2008). Retrieved on 2013-07-24,
An unknown but substantial number of individuals did not stay; they eventually returned to the United States. As some families split in their loyalties during the war years, many Loyalists in Canada continued to maintain close ties with relatives in the United States. They conducted commerce across the border with little regard to British trade laws.Rees, Ronald. ''Land of the Loyalists: Their Struggle to Shape the Maritimes'', Nimbus, 146 p., 2000, . In the 1790s, the offer of land and low taxes, which were one-quarter those in America, for allegiance by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe resulted in the arrival of 30,000 Americans often referred to as Late Loyalists. By the outbreak of the War of 1812, of the 110,000 inhabitants of Upper Canada, 20,000 were the initial Loyalists, 60,000 were later American immigrants and their descendants, and 30,000 were immigrants from the UK, their descendants or from the Old Province of Quebec. The later arrival of many of the inhabitants of Upper Canada suggests that land was the main reason for immigration.


Resettlement

The arrival of the Loyalists after the Revolutionary War led to the division of Canada into the provinces of
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
(what is now southern Ontario) and
Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec and ...
(today's southern Quebec). They arrived and were largely settled in groups by ethnicity and religion. Many soldiers settled with others of the regiments they had served with."A Short History of the United Empire Loyalists", by Ann Mackenzie, M.A.
United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada, accessed 8 February 2010
The settlers came from every social class and all thirteen colonies, unlike the depiction of them in the Sandham painting which suggests the arrivals were well-dressed upper-class immigrants. Loyalists soon petitioned the government to be allowed to use the British legal system, which they were accustomed to in the American colonies, rather than the French system. Great Britain had maintained the French legal system and allowed freedom of religion after taking over the former French colony with the defeat of France in the Seven Years' War. With the creation of Upper and Lower Canada, most Loyalists in the west could live under British laws and institutions. The predominantly ethnic French population of Lower Canada, who were still French-speaking, could maintain their familiar French civil law and Catholic religion. Realizing the importance of some type of recognition, on 9 November 1789,
Lord Dorchester Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester (3 September 1724 – 10 November 1808), known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and administrator. He twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768 to 177 ...
, the governor of Quebec and Governor General of British North America, 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: UE or U.E. Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire.
Because most of the nations of the Iroquois had allied with the British, which had ceded their lands to the United States, thousands of Iroquois and other pro-British Native Americans were expelled from New York and other states. They were also resettled in Canada. Many of the Iroquois, led by Joseph Brant ''Thayendenegea'', settled at Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest First Nations
reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US ...
in Canada. A smaller group of Iroquois led by Captain John Deserontyon ''Odeserundiye'', settled on the shores of the Bay of Quinte in modern-day southeastern Ontario. The government settled some 3,500
Black Loyalists Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with the Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot masters and served on the Loyalist side because of the Cr ...
in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but they faced discrimination and the same inadequate support that all Loyalists experienced. Delays in making land grants, but mostly the willingness of the blacks to under-cut their fellow Loyalists and hire themselves out to the few available jobs at a lower wage aggravated racist tensions in Shelburne. Mobs of white Loyalists attacked Black Loyalists in the Shelburne Riots in July 1784, Canada's first so-called "race" riot. The government was slow to survey the land of Black Loyalists (which meant they could not settle); it was also discriminatory in granting them smaller, poorer and more remote lands than those of white settlers; not counting those Loyalists who were resettled in what would become Upper Canada in general or around the Bay of Quinte in specific, of course. This increased their difficulties in becoming established. The majority of Black Loyalists in Canada were refugees from the American South; they suffered from this discrimination and the harsh winters. When Great Britain set up the colony of Sierra Leone in Africa, nearly 1300 Black Loyalists emigrated there in 1792 for the promise of self-government. And so 2,200 remained. The Black Loyalists that left established Freetown in Sierra Leone. Well into the 20th century, together with other early settlers from Jamaica and slaves liberated from illegal slave ships, and despite vicious attacks from the indigenous peoples that nearly ended the Maroon colony, they and their descendants dominated the culture, economy and government of Sierra Leone. which finally pulled itself out of a civil war a decade ago and still struggles with glaring corruption until this day. Numerous Loyalists had been forced to abandon substantial amounts of property in the United States. Britain sought restoration or compensation for this lost property from the United States, which was a major issue during the negotiation of the Jay Treaty in 1795. Negotiations settled on the concept of the United States negotiators "advising" the U.S. Congress to provide restitution. For the British, this concept carried significant legal weight, far more than it did to the Americans; the U.S. Congress declined to accept the advice.


Slavery

Slave-owning Loyalists from across the former
Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centuri ...
brought their slaves with them to Canada, as the practice was still legal there. They took a total of about 2,000 slaves to British North America: 500 in Upper Canada (Ontario), 300 in Lower Canada (Quebec), and 1,200 in the Maritime colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The presence and condition of slaves in the Maritimes would become a particular issue. They constituted a larger portion of the population, but it was not an area of plantation agriculture. The settlers eventually freed many of these slaves. Together with the free Black Loyalists, many chose to go to Sierra Leone in 1792 and following years, seeking a chance for self-government. Meanwhile, the
British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
passed an imperial law in 1790 that assured prospective immigrants to Canada that they could retain their slaves as property. In 1793, an anti-slavery law was passed, in the 1st Parliament of Upper Canada. The ''
Act Against Slavery The ''Act Against Slavery'' was an anti-slavery law passed on July 9, 1793, in the second legislative session of Upper Canada, the colonial division of British North America that would eventually become Ontario. It banned the importation of sla ...
'' banned the importation of slaves into the colony, and mandated the emancipation of all children born henceforth to female slaves upon reaching the age of 25. The Act was partially introduced due to the influx of the number of slaves brought by Loyalist refugees to Upper Canada. The slave trade was abolished across the British Empire in 1807. The institution of slavery was abolished Empire-wide by 1834 (except in India, where it was considered an indigenous institution).


War of 1812

From 1812 to 1815, the United States and the United Kingdom were engaged in a conflict known as the War of 1812. On 18 June 1812, US President James Madison signed the declaration of war into law, after receiving heavy pressure from the
War Hawks In politics, a war hawk, or simply hawk, is someone who favors war or continuing to escalate an existing conflict as opposed to other solutions. War hawks are the opposite of doves. The terms are derived by analogy with the birds of the same name ...
in Congress. By 1812, Upper Canada had been settled mostly by Revolution-era Loyalists from the United States (United Empire Loyalists) and postwar American and British immigrants. The Canadas were thinly populated and only lightly defended by the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...
and the sedentary units of the Canadian Militia. American leaders assumed that Canada could be easily overrun, with former president Thomas Jefferson optimistically describing the potential conquest of Canada as "a matter of marching". Many Loyalist Americans had migrated to Upper Canada after the Revolutionary War. However, there was also a significant number of non-Loyalist American settlers in the area due to the offer of land grants to immigrants. The Americans assumed the latter population would favour the American cause, but they did not. Although the population of Upper Canada included recent settlers from the United States who had no obvious loyalties to the Crown, the American forces found strong opposition from settlers during the War of 1812. A number of loyalists served as
fencibles The Fencibles (from the word ''defencible'') were British regiments raised in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, the Frenc ...
, provincial regulars, in the
Provincial Marine Provincial Marine was a coastal protection service in charge of the waters in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and parts of Lake Champlain under British control. While ships of the Provincial Marine were designated HMS, they were o ...
, or with the sedentary militia. With the successful defence of the Canadian colonies from American invasion, the War of 1812 is seen by Loyalists as a victory. After the war, the British government transported to New Brunswick and settled about 400 of 3,000 former slaves from the United States whom they freed during and after the war. It had fulfilled its promise to them of freedom if they left Patriot slaveholders and fought with the British. Enslaved African Americans risked considerable danger by crossing to British lines to achieve freedom.


Present

While the honorific "United Empire Loyalist" is not part of the official
Canadian honours system Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
, modern-day descendants of Loyalist refugees may employ it, sometimes using "U.E." as
postnominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...
. The practice, however, is uncommon today, even in original Loyalist strongholds like southeastern Ontario. Historians and genealogists use it extensively as a shorthand for identifying the ancestry of particular families. The influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains evident. Their ties with Britain and 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 Mob rule or ochlocracy ( el, ὀχλοκρατία, translit=okhlokratía; la, ochlocratia) is the rule of government by a mob or mass of people and the intimidation of legitimate authorities. Insofar as it represents a pejorative for majo ...
" influenced Canada's gradual, "paper-strewn" path to independence. The new British North American provinces of
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
(the forerunner of Ontario) and New Brunswick were created as places of refuge for the United Empire Loyalists. The mottoes of the two provinces reflect this history: Ontario's, also found on its coat of arms, is ''Ut incepit fidelis sic permanet'' ("Loyal she began, loyal she remains"); New Brunswick's, ''Spem Reduxit'' ("Hope restored"). The word "Loyalist" appears frequently in school, street, and business names in such Loyalist-settled communities as
Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its populati ...
. The nearby city of Kingston, established as a Loyalist stronghold, was named in honour of
King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
. And on the outskirts of that city is a
township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
simply named " Loyalist". On 1 July 1934, Royal Mail Canada issued "United Empire Loyalists, 1776–1784" designed by Robert Bruce McCracken based on
Sydney March Sydney March (1876–1968) was an English sculptor. His primary focus was portrait busts and other sculptures of British royalty and contemporary figures, as well as war memorials. The second-born of eight artists in his family, he and his sibl ...
's sculpture ''United Empire Loyalists''. The 10-cent stamps are perforated 11 and were printed by the British American Bank Note Company. In 1996, Canadian politicians
Peter Milliken Peter Andrew Stewart Milliken (born November 12, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 until his retirement in 2011 and served as Speaker of the House for 10 years beginning in 2 ...
(a descendant of American Loyalists) and
John Godfrey John Ferguson Godfrey, (born December 19, 1942) is a Canadian educator, journalist and former Member of Parliament. Background Godfrey was born in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Senator John Morrow Godfrey (June 28, 1912 – March 8, 2001), ...
sponsored the Godfrey–Milliken Bill, which would have entitled Loyalist descendants to reclaim ancestral property in the United States which had been confiscated during the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
. The bill, which did not pass the House of Commons, was intended primarily as a satirical response to the contemporaneous American Helms–Burton Act. In 1997, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed a bill declaring 19 June, "United Empire Loyalist Day" in Ontario. United Empire Loyalist Day is also celebrated on the same day in Saskatchewan, on 18 May in New Brunswick and on 22 July in British Columbia.


Memory and historiography

The Loyalists paid attention to their history developing an idealized image of themselves in which they took great pride. In 1898, Henry Coyne provided a glowing depiction: According to Canadian historians Margaret Conrad and Alvin Finkel, Coyne's memorial incorporates essential themes that have often been incorporated into patriotic celebrations. The Loyalist tradition, as explicated by Murray Barkley and Norman Knowles, includes: Conrad and Finkel point out some exaggerations: only a small percentage of the Loyalists were colonial elite. In fact Loyalists were drawn from every stratum of colonial society, and few suffered violence and hardship. About 20 percent would later return to the United States. Most were loyal to all things British, but other Loyalists supported the United States in the War of 1812. Conrad and Finkel conclude: From the 1870s many of their descendants returned to the United States in pursuit of cheaper land. In the New England States alone, greater than 10% of the population can trace its roots to the Maritime Provinces (2 million more of 14 million inhabitants or roughly 15% are part or wholly of French Canadian descent).


United Empire Loyalists' Association

The United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada (UELAC) is an organization of Loyalist descendants and others interested in Canadian history, in particular the role of the United Empire Loyalists. The organization was incorporated on 27 May 1914 by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In 1972, the organization was granted a coat of arms from the
College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sover ...
through a letter patent, dated 28 March 1972.


Symbols

On 17 April 1707, Queen Anne issued a proclamation referencing the use of the Union Flag "at Sea and Land". The Union Flag began to appear on forts and as
regimental colours In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours (or colors), standards, flags, or guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt som ...
from this point, and at the time of the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, this was the flag in use. When those loyal to the Crown left the United States for
British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...
, they took this flag with them, and because of this historical connection, it continues to be the official flag of the UELAC. In Canadian heraldry, Loyalist descendants are entitled to use a Loyalist coronet in their coat of arms. File:Military Coronet of a Loyalist.svg, Loyalists military coronet File:Civil Coronet of a Loyalist.svg, Loyalists civil coronet


List of Loyalist settlements in Canada

18th-century names are listed first, alongside their present-day equivalents. *
Adolphustown, Ontario Adolphustown is a geographic area located in Greater Napanee, Ontario, Canada, on the Adolphus Reach of the Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario. Adolphustown is now part of the town of Greater Napanee. The rural character of the Adolphustown region rem ...
*
Antigonish, Nova Scotia , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = File:St Ninian's Cathedral Antigonish Spring.jpg , image_caption = St. Ninian's Cathedral , image_flag = Flag of Antigonish.p ...
*
Beamsville, Ontario Beamsville ( 2021 Urban area estimated population 13,323) is a community that is part of the town of Lincoln, Ontario, Canada. It is located along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and lies within the fruit belt of the Niagara Peninsula. It con ...
*Bocabec, New Brunswick *Meyer's Creek →
Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its populati ...
*Buell's Bay →
Brockville, Ontario Brockville, formerly Elizabethtown, is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically independent of the county. It is included with Le ...
*Butlersbury → Newark →
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the Niagara Region of Ont ...
*Cataraqui → Kingston, Ontario *Clifton → Niagara Falls, Ontario *
Country Harbour, Nova Scotia Country Harbour (formerly named Mocodome) is a rural community in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The community is situated on a large deep natural harbour of the same name and is located along the province's Eastern Shore close to Canso ...
*
Cobourg, Ontario Cobourg ( ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto and east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It i ...
*Colchester → village now within Essex, Ontario *
Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the state of New York (state), New York converge. It is the seat of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Unit ...
* Digby, Nova Scotia *
Doaktown, New Brunswick Doaktown (2016 population: 792) is a Canadian village in Northumberland County, New Brunswick. History Situated on the Southwest Miramichi River and first settled in 1807 as a base for the growing lumber industry in central New Brunswick, Uni ...
* Eastern Townships, Quebec *
Effingham, Ontario Effingham is a hamlet on 12 Mile Creek, in the northern part of the Town of Pelham in Ontario, Canada. Located on the Niagara Escarpment, it has few roads which wind through the Escarpment's forests. Like the neighbouring community of St. Joh ...
*
Grimsby, Ontario Grimsby is a town on Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. Grimsby is at the eastern end of the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area. It is named after the English fishing town of Grimsby in north-east Lincolnshire. The majority of re ...
*Douglas Township →
Kennetcook, Nova Scotia Kennetcook is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipal District of East Hants. Also see adjacent community of Upper Kennetcook. History The village takes its name from the Kennetcook River which is believ ...
* Lincoln, Ontario *Ernestown Township → Loyalist, Ontario *Machiche →
Yamachiche, Quebec Yamachiche () is a municipality in the Mauricie region of the province of Quebec in Canada. Etymology The name Yamachiche was first used to identify the Little Yamachiche River (''Petite rivière Yamachiche'') which runs through the town. It cam ...
*Merrittsville →
Welland, Ontario Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-on ...
*Milliken Corners
Milliken, Ontario Milliken and Milliken Mills are neighbourhoods in the cities of Toronto and Markham. Milliken is situated in the north west section of Scarborough, whereas Milliken Mills is situated in the south-central portions of Markham. The neighbourhoods ...
*Gravelly Bay → Port Colborne, Ontario *Port Roseway →
Shelburne, Nova Scotia Shelburne is a town located in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. History Shelburne lies at the southwest corner of Nova Scotia, at roughly the same latitude as Portland, Maine in the United States. The Mi'kmaq call the large and well-sheltere ...
* Prescott, Ontario * Prince Edward County, Ontario *
Rawdon, Nova Scotia Rawdon is a former township in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The township was the eventual destination of Loyalists fleeing the Siege of Ninety Six during the American Revolutionary War. In 1861, along with the township of Douglas, Nova Sc ...
*
Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...
*
Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia Sheet Harbour is a rural area, rural community in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located in the eastern reaches of the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax Regional Municipality, approximately northeast of the central urban area of the municipality, con ...
*
Shelburne, Nova Scotia Shelburne is a town located in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. History Shelburne lies at the southwest corner of Nova Scotia, at roughly the same latitude as Portland, Maine in the United States. The Mi'kmaq call the large and well-sheltere ...
* Six Nations and
Brantford, Ontario Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independe ...
*
Smithville, Ontario Smithville is a community in the township of West Lincoln, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. The former police village is located on Highway 20 between Hamilton and Niagara Falls. Smithville is the largest population centre and governing cent ...
*St. Andrews by-the-Sea →
St. Andrews, New Brunswick Saint Andrews (2016 population: 1,786) is a town in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada. The historic town is a national historic site of Canada, bearing many characteristics of a typical 18th century British colonial settlement, includ ...
*St. Anne's Point →
Fredericton, New Brunswick Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the dom ...
* Summerville, Nova Scotia *The Twelve → Shipman's Corners →
St. Catharines, Ontario St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...
*Turkey Point →
Norfolk, Ontario Norfolk County is a rural single-tier municipality on the north shore of Lake Erie in Southwestern Ontario, Canada with a 2016 population of 67,490. Despite its name, it is no longer a county by definition, as all municipal services are handled ...
*Sandwich → Windsor, Ontario *Odell Town, Quebec *
Wainfleet, Ontario Wainfleet is a rural township in southern Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. There is a small and growing tourist industry, near and on Lake Erie at the southern area of Wainfleet called Long Beach. Wainfleet is also the home of the Marshville Heri ...
*Remsheg →
Wallace, Nova Scotia Wallace is a rural community in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. History Originally called Remsheg (or Ramshag), meaning "the place between" in the Mi'kmaq language. The homes of the Acadians who lived in the village were burned as part ...
* Westchester, Nova Scotia *York → Toronto, Ontario


See also

*
Loyalist (American Revolution) Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often referred to as Tories, Royalists or King's Men at the time. They were opposed by the Patriots, who supporte ...
*
Canadian honorifics Canadian honorifics are few in number, and many of them are maintained from before Confederation and originate from the British honours system. Royal and governmental honorifics Military honorifics Officers and non-commission members within the ...
*
Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promot ...
* Expulsion of the Loyalists * Society of the Cincinnati * Sons of the American Revolution *
Sons of the Revolution Sons of the Revolution is a hereditary society which was founded in 1876 and educates the public about the American Revolution. The General Society Sons of the Revolution headquarters is a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation located at Wi ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* Acheson, T.W. "A Study in the Historical Demography of a Loyalist County", ''Social History,'' 1 (April 1968), pp. 53–65. * Compeau, Timothy J. "Dishonoured Americans: Loyalist Manhood and Political Death in Revolutionary America." (PhD Diss. The University of Western Ontario, 2015)
online
* Jasanoff, Maya. ''Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World''. (Knopf, 2011) Ranlet (2014) elowargues her estimate of the number of Loyalists is too high. * Jodon, Michael. ''Shadow Soldiers of the American Revolution''; 2009, . The History Press, Charleston SC. * MacKinnon, Neil. "Nova Scotia Loyalists, 1783–1785", ''Social History'' 4 (November 1969), pp. 17–48 * Moore, Christopher. ''The Loyalists: Revolution, Exile, Settlement''; 1984, . * Norton, Mary Beth. "The fate of some black loyalists of the American revolution." ''Journal of Negro History'' 58#4 (1973): 402–426
in JSTOR
* * Walker, James W. St G. ''The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, 1783–1870'' (U of Toronto Press, 1992). * Wallace, W. Stewart. ''The United Empire Loyalists: A Chronicle of the Great Migration''; Volume 13 of the ''"Chronicles of Canada'' (32 volumes) Toronto, 1914. * Whitehead, Ruth Holmes. ''Black Loyalists: Southern Settlers of Nova Scotia's First Free Black Communities'' (Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 2013). * Wright, Esther Clark. ''The Loyalists of New Brunswick'' (Fredericton: 1955).


Historiography

* Barkley, Murray. "The Loyalist Tradition in New Brunswick: the Growth and Evolution of an Historical Myth, 1825–1914." ''Acadiensis'' 4#2 (1975): 3–45
online
* Bell, David VJ. "The Loyalist Tradition in Canada." ''Journal of Canadian Studies'' 5#2 (1970): 22+ * Knowles, Norman James. ''Inventing the Loyalists: The Ontario Loyalist Tradition and the Creation of Usable Pasts'' (University of Toronto Press, 1997). * Ranlet, Philip. "How Many American Loyalists Left the United States?." ''Historian'' 76.2 (2014): 278–307. * Upton, L.F.S. ed. ''The United Empire Loyalists: Men and Myths'' (The Copp Publishing Company, 1967), Excerpts from historians and from primary sources


Primary sources


Talman, James ed. ''Loyalist Narratives from Upper Canada''. Toronto: Champlain Society, 1946

"Letter, Benjamin Franklin to Baron Francis Maseres, June 26, 1785"
* Gray, Rev. J. W. D. ''A Sermon, Preached at Trinity Church, in the parish of St. John, N. B., on 8 December 1857, by the Rev. J. W. D. Gray, D.D., and Designed to Recommend the Principles of the Loyalists of 1783''.
Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...
: J. & A. McMillan, Printers, 1857. 15 pp
Internet Archive pdf
title incorrectly gives the year as 1847.


External links


"A Short History of the United Empire Loyalists", by Ann Mackenzie, M.A.Une Courte Histoire des Loyalistes de l'Empire Uni, French translation

Haldimand Collection

''Black Loyalists in New Brunswick, 1783–1854''
Atlantic Canadian Portal, University of New Brunswick
''Loyalist Women in New Brunswick, 1783–1827''
Atlantic Canadian Portal, University of New Brunswick
The United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada: Home Page
* ttps://archive.org/details/@associate-angela-dugas?and%5B%5D=subject%3A%22United+Empire+Loyalists%22 United Empire Loyalists collectionat Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Loyalist, United Empire American Revolution veterans and lineage organizations Military history of Nova Scotia Monarchy in Canada Social history of Canada fr:Loyalistes