Loyalist Ships: The Diana
The Royal North Carolina Regiment fought continuously with many diverse Companies at the Siege of Savannah (Sept 3 to Oct 18, 1779, the Siege of Charleston (Mar 29 to May 12, 1780), the Battle of Camden ( June 1780), Hanging Rock, SC (Aug 1 to Aug 6, 1780), (they returned to Camden Aug 16th with wounded), and many other battles. . On Aug 19 1780 Cornwallis appointed new officers in the Royal North Carolina Regiment.. The Regiment was at Haw River (Feb to Apr 25, 1781), then in Hillsboro with Cornwallis. Maj. John Hamilton requested that his R.N.C. Regiment be brought back together in May of 1781. and after a long march the Regiment was at Wilmington.on August 1, 1781. They continued fighting in the Southern Campaign until the end of the war.
On Oct 1, 1782 the regiment sailed from Charleston to St. Augustine. When the war drew to a close, loyalists lost all claim to their land and possessions and started to leave the country. A letter from John Hamilton requested that the men of his regiment be allowed to travel to British properties and be granted land. He also wrote to request that he be allowed to go to a British province or England. In Oct 1783 the Royal North Carolina Regiment set sail from St. Augustine, Florida to Country Harbor, Nova Scotia in Canada, and in November the regiment was disbanded.
Robert K. Proctor of Nova Scotia wrote “William Hayman of the Royal NC Regiment left St. Augustine FL for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the British transport DIANA on the 17th of December 1783 and went ashore at Country Harbour in a snowstorm on 24 December 1783”.
“Loyalists in N. C. During the Revolution” by Robert Demond, PhD. Duke University Press. 1940 pg. 192 states that three regiments arrived in Nova Scotia on the DIANA on 3 Dec 1783 from St. Augustine, Florida – The South Carolina Regiment, King’s Carolina Regiment, and the Royal North Carolina Regiment.
[submitted by Claire Lincoln]
The Nova Scotia Genweb project’s list of Nova Scotia Military Regiments has a list of “Men, Women, Children and Servants Belonging to the late Royal North Carolina Regt. Settled and carrying Country Harbour 12th June 1784” downloadable in XLS (Microsoft Excel) format.
[submitted by Lark Szick, Volunteer Coordinator for the N.S. Genweb project]