I have read three books about the american revolutionary war, two from british authors and the other one from a german one. The british authors mentioned that at the beginning of the war the colonists were more "pro-british" than patriots.
Could someone tell me if this fact is true?
What I can tell you is roughly 1/4 of the British colonists were loyal to the crown, another 1/4 rebelling against it, and the remaining 1/2 being bystanders not actively supporting either side, all victims and opportunists in the conflict.
In the southern colonies, British had lots of supporters in coastal areas and ports since contact with merchants coming and going was frequent. Not so much further inland.
As the war progressed, a whole bunch of loyalists went in droves settling into the then predominately Catholic worshipping and French speaking lands of what would be Canada, whom Britain had taken the lion's share from France after The French and Indian War over 10 years earlier.
I'm a general history buff. Some of my info came from Armchair Historian's Revolutionary War YouTube video.
I would agree at the beginning of the conflict there were more pro British forces. Most of the fighting would still be localized in New England and foreign aid to the Patriot Colonists had yet to bolster up their ability to strengthen the Independence movement. Info provided above is meant to add more background to your topic.
Thank you very much for your answer.
shareWhoops, math oversight, haha! 🤯
Meant to say 1/4 loyalist, 1/4 Patriot, 1/2 neutral about colonial support. Corrected in original post.
Had a family member way back fight in the war for the Patriots. He enlisted in the Continental Army in 1776 at the outbreak of the war with the rank of private as a drummer boy, 15 years old. Fought near his homeland of North Carolina. Not sure who he served under or his level of participation in the battles, just that the drummer was extremely important for calling soldiers to arms and maintaining battle formations.
They were often young, like my forefather, to discourage being killed by opposing combatants since their chances of living, compared to the average recruit, were a lot lower. He survived the war and settled down with some farmland in present day state of Georgia. Hope you don't mind me sharing.
Not problem with maths, I just assumed it was a typing mistake ;-)
Amazing! It must be very interesting to be able to look so far into the past (1776) and to have such an accurate information about your ancestors….
I've heard it was about one-third pro British (Tory), one-third pro-independence, and one-third leave me out of it. But definitely more pro-British in the South where Martin was from. They even had Loyalist militia in Georgia.
share