Resisting Rebellion: The History and Politics of Counterinsurgency

7: Loyalists: Indigenous Anti-Insurgency

122 RESISTING REBELLION 122 CHAPTER 7 LOYALISTS: INDIGENOUS ANTI-INSURGENCY This volume examines many insurgent movements that claimed to fight for national independence against foreign oppression. Almost invariably , however, notable elements in the affected society do not support, or actually oppose, the self-proclaimed independence movement. These elements, referred to here by the general term “loyalists,” are often branded as collaborators or traitors. Yet these derogatory labels serve to obscure the fact that numerous anticolonial or secessionist struggles bear striking resemblances to true civil wars. One can acquire insights into the phenomenon of insurgency, as well as into the complex meanings of nationalism by taking a look at indigenous groups that opposed the insurgent movements in the American colonies, Napoleonic Spain, the Confederate States of America, the Philippines, India, Indochina, Algeria, Portuguese Africa, Afghanistan, and Indonesia.1 THE AMERICAN LOYALISTS It is clear that during the American War of Independence the patriotic party comprised the great majority of the politically active population in the former colonies. Nevertheless, it appears that at least one-fifth of the white colonial population remained loyal to the crown, with higher percentages in parts of the South (including perhaps as much as onethird in South Carolina).2 The popular image of the American Tories as being all rich and well-born is wide of the mark. In addition to members from the elite class, the ranks of loyalism included many poor backcountry farmers. In the southern colonies, in particular, many frontier smallholders menaced by Indian attacks stayed aloof from the revolutionary cause. Moreover, loyalism tended to be high among the Scots and the Germans of North Carolina, and among settlers who had not been born in Loyalists: Indigenous Anti-Insurgency 123 the American colonies.3 Perhaps paradoxically, loyalism seems to have been above average among non-English minorities, especially in New York and Pennsylvania.4 After their disaster at Saratoga in October 1777, the British concentrated on the southern colonies in large part because of their belief that the South was swarming with Loyalists. Few in London wished to understand that political loyalty to the crown did not necessarily indicate a willingness, or an ability, to bear arms for it. The exaggerated belief in southern Loyalist strength undermined the British war effort and prepared the road to Yorktown.5 In contrast to the patriot party, the Tories never produced any national leaders. In general, they were ineffectual on their own, relying on British direction and seeking protection from British regulars. This lack of initiative was one of the Loyalists’ greatest weaknesses. For their part, the British never developed a clear doctrine of how best to use the Loyalists; hence efforts to mobilize them were haphazard and disorganized . British commanders were also hesitant to incorporate Loyalists into their own ranks or to grant them regular commissions. At the same time, the British were very late in raising armed Tory units, and they often treated such units with indifference or contempt.6 Worst of all, when British forces retreated out of or evacuated an area, they often abandoned those who had revealed their loyalism.7 Nevertheless, in spite of all this British mistrust and mismanagement , armed Tory bands were very active. And “altogether there were at times more Loyalists in America who were fighting in the British armies than Washington had in his Continental Army.”8 New York alone furnished fifteen thousand men to the regular British army, and eight thousand militia. All the other colonies furnished as many more, for a total of about fifty thousand American Loyalist regulars and militia .9 Tories composed a substantial portion of St. Leger’s failed expedition on the eve of Saratoga. They made up two-thirds of the British forces in Savannah in 1779.10 They spread terror in New York’s Mohawk Valley for years, and they engaged in plunder and house-burning in the Carolinas. This sort of activity predictably provoked ferocious counterviolence.11 Thus, a thousand-man Loyalist force suffered annihilation at the battle of King’s Mountain, South Carolina, in October 1780. In the aftermath of the war, many Tories remained in the new United States, especially in the cities, but over sixty thousand left for British territory, mainly Canada.12 Despite some very good monographs 124 RESISTING REBELLION concerning them, the role played by the Tories in the War of Independence has virtually disappeared from view. “The Loyalists in the American Revolution...