There were at least four groupings of military units who fought for the Crown during the Revolutionary War:
- First Nations groups
- British Regulars
- Loyal or British American (Provincial) Regiments
- Other groups such as the German Auxiliaries
View a PDF chart of the Major Battles of the Revolutionary War.
Loyalist Regiments were formed and raised in the North American colonies during the American Revolution. The men were mostly people who lived in the colonies, and whatever the motivation, joined the King’s forces.
Northern (Canadian) Department
American Provincial (Loyalist) Military and Para-Military Units
The following units are listed in the chronological sequence of the date of their formation, a characteristic of some importance, especially in military circles.
- Six Nation’s Indian Department, prewar-postwar (Col Guy Johnson & LCol Daniel Claus & LCol John Butler)
- 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Emigrants, 1775-1778 (BGen Allan Maclean) (1778 – 84th Regt, RHE – Maj John Nairne/Maj John Harris)
- Brant’s volunteers, 1777-1784 (Captain Joseph Brant)
- 1st Battalion, King’s Royal Regiment of New York, 1776-1783 (BGen Sir John Johnson & Maj James Gray)
- King’s Loyal Americans, 1777-1781 (LCol Ebenezer Jessup)
- Queen’s Loyal Rangers, 1777-1781 (LCol John Peters)
- Adams’ Ranging Company, 1777-1780 (Capt Samuel Adams)
- American Volunteers, 1777-1781 (Capt/Maj Daniel McAlpin)
- More details in “I See Nothing But The Horrors Of A Civil War”: A History Of McAlpin’s Corps Of American Volunteers (1776–1783), by Alexander R. Cain
- Loyal Volunteers, 1777-1781 (LCol Francis Van Pfister/Capt Samuel Mackay/Capt Robert Leake)
- Van Alstine’s Bateaux, 1777 (Capt Peter Van Alstine)
- Butler’s Rangers, 1777-1784 (LCol John Butler)
- Claus’s Rangers, ~1778-1783 (LCol Daniel Claus)
- Loyal Foresters, ~1779-1784 (Col Guy Johnson)
- Leake’s Independent Company, 1779-1781 (Capt Robert Leake)
- Drummond’s Independent Company, 1780-1781 (Capt Peter Drummond)
- Fraser’s Independent Company, 1780-1781 (Capt William Fraser)
- 2nd Battalion, King’s Royal Regiment of New York, 1780-1784 (BGen Sir John Johnson & Maj John Ross/Maj Robert Leake)
- Herkimer’s Bateaux Company, 1781-1784 (Capt Han Jost Herkimer)
- Meyer’s Independent Company, 1781-1782 (Capt John Walden Meyers)
- Loyal Rangers, 1781-1783 (Major Edward Jessup)
- 2nd Battalion, King’s Rangers (Major James Rogers)
Other
- Armed Batteau-men
- Armed Boatmen
- Arnold’s American Legion
- Black Pioneers
- (Tarleton’s) British Legion
- Buck’s County Light Dragoons
- Collbeck’s Company
- Carolina King’s Rangers
- De Diemar’s Hussars
- DeLancey’s Brigade
- Emmerick’s Chasseurs Dragoons
- Ferguson’s Corps
- Georgia Light Dragoons
- Georgia Loyalists
- Governor Wentworth’s Volunteers
- Hierlihy Corps
- Independent Troops of Cavalry
- King’s American Dragoons
- King’s American Regiment
- King’s Orange Rangers
- Loyal American Rangers
- Loyal American Regiment – this website has a great deal of detail including Regimental History and the Recreated Regiment.
- Loyal Foresters
- Loyal New Englanders
- Loyal Nova Scotia Volunteers
- Maryland Loyalists
- Nassau Blues
- New Jersey Volunteers
- New York Volunteers
- North Carolina Dragoons
- North Carolina Highlanders
- North Carolina Volunteers
- Pennsylvania Loyalists
- Philadelphia Light Dragoons
- Prince of Wales American Regiment
- Provincial Light Infantry
- Queen’s Own Loyal Virginia Regiment
- QOLVR Facebook page
- Queen’s Rangers
- Roger’s King’s Rangers (One Company)
- Roman Catholic Volunteers
- Royal American Reformers
- Royal Fencible Americans
- Royal Garrison Battalion
- Royal Guides and Pioneers
- Royal Highland Emigrants, Young Royal Highland Emigrants, or “The Young Emigrants” – see also:
- Early muster rolls
- The 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) and Loyalist Re-enactment, by Brian McConnell, UE
- Royal North Carolina Regiment
- South Carolina Dragoons
- South Carolina Rangers
- South Carolina Royalists
- Volunteers of Ireland
- Volunteers of New England
- West Florida Foresters
- West Jersey Volunteers
Advisors
Special thanks to Gavin Watt and Bill Smy who offer us advice on especially this, but also other, sections of our site.
Contributors
Several others have provided information. Rod Craig transcribed a list of military units, included above, from The Loyalist Gazette June 1986 Pg. 10. John Chard was the editor of the Gazette at that time and he might have compiled the page. Others will be noted as we post information.
British Regular Units fought in the American Revolution. Some units had been posted in the colonies (both the thirteen which eventually split away, or the four which remained British) before the war, others were shipped in to participate and others were created during the War.
- Company of Select Marksmen (aka “Captain Fraser’s Company of British Rangers”, the “British Rangers,” and the “Company of Volunteers”)
- 84th Regiment of Foot (See Loyalist Regiment “Royal Highland Emigrants”, which became part of the 84th, above.)
See Also
You may also wish to refer to:
- Loyalist Military Reenactments
- Modern Military Loyalist Connections
- Revolutionary War: Chart of the Major Battles (PDF)
Additional research resources
A wonderful site full of Loyalist information with great detail about the military, the military units and the men in them has been compiled by Todd Braisted, an Honorary Vice President of the UELAC. Visit The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies – and specifically the section of that site about military.
For a similar description of other revolutionary war battles, in fact British battles for several wars in which Britain was a participant, between the King George’s War (Austrian Succession) and the Second Boer War, visit britishbattles.com.
(Resources submitted by Bruce Towers, UE)