Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World

by Maya Jasanoff

  It is not entirely clear whether these musters included all 3,000 of the free blacks who traveled north. The October 1783 New York evacuation register lists 822 members of “black companies.” The Nova Scotia musters include 791 and 785 “servants” respectively—a term typically used in connection with blacks—while Colonel Morse’s 1784 report confidently estimates the total number of “servants” in the province to be 1,232. What portion of these servants were free and what portion enslaved remains ambiguous: a note by the 1784 muster-master for Chedebucto, for instance, explains that 228 of the town’s 991 settlers were “Negro settlers exclusive of the Blacks employed as servants,” of whom there were sixty-two. These registers also do not separately account for the black population at Birchtown, recorded in a 1784 muster as 1,485.11

  Combining these data, one can safely estimate the minimum number of refugees in the Maritimes after the war to be 30,000. But given all the lacunae in the records—those 725 refugees from Florida, for instance, and however many of the Boston refugees still remained—combined with the documentable presence of just under 30,000 refugees on the New York returns alone, it seems fair to suggest that the total number of refugees in the Maritimes around 1785 could have ranged on the order of 10 percent higher.

  Quebec

  Refugees trickled into Quebec throughout the war. The number of loyalists receiving provisions in the province steadily inched up from 853 in July 1779, to 1,023 in October 1779, to 1,394 in November 1781, to 1,699 in January 1782, to 3,204 in November 1783.12 A muster of loyalists in Quebec toward the end of 1784 listed a total of 5,628 individuals (including 130 “servants”) to be settled on government land grants.13 This squares with an undated document, probably from the summer of 1784, that describes the quantity of land required to locate the men of five disbanded loyalist regiments and their families, amounting to 5,251 people in total.14

  The latter tally did not include the Mohawks, whose land claims on Grand River are described in the same document. A 1785 census revealed nearly 2,000 Indians living at Grand River, of whom about four hundred were Mohawks. Another group of at least a hundred Mohawks lived at the Bay of Quinte.15 These musters may also leave out some of the refugees who had arrived in the province during the war but not received land grants, such as the refugees who had settled at Machiche (present-day Yamachiche, near Trois-Rivières).16

  Between the 5,628 individuals listed on the 1784 muster, the further contingent of Mohawks, and those who emigrated without getting land grants, one can easily justify a minimum population figure of 6,000 refugees in Quebec—and again plausibly imagine the total number to have been up to 10 percent higher.

  East Florida

  As in the Maritimes and Quebec, loyalists and slaves arrived in East Florida throughout the war, though precise numbers can only be pinned down following the evacuations of Savannah and Charleston. By the end of 1782, an inspector of refugees in East Florida counted 2,917 white loyalists and 4,448 blacks who had arrived from Georgia and South Carolina.17 Another report dating from mid-1783 set the number of new arrivals at 5,000 whites and 6,500 blacks.18 It seems fair, then, to accept Governor Patrick Tonyn’s description, in May 1783, of “a late accession of near twelve thousand loyalists”—assuming that his calculation represents the combined number of loyalists and slaves.19 (Tonyn also later estimated the population of the province “at about sixteen thousand,” a figure that included East Florida’s several thousand prewar inhabitants as well.)20

  Records of the evacuation of East Florida support those figures. The embarkation commissioner appointed in East Florida documented 3,398 whites and 6,540 blacks who left the province. In addition to these, he noted that “there was supposed to be about 5000 more souls in the Province mostly back country people, who are imagined to have gone over the Mountains to the States &c.”21 Similar figures were also cited by Tonyn, who reported “that the entries on the Commissioners Books” indicated “about ten thousand souls” would emigrate, while “it is concluded more than four thousand, have passed into the interior parts of America among the Mountains; and that at least three thousand, have gone into the American States.”22

  One can safely assert, then, that 5,000 white loyalists arrived in East Florida before 1784, and at least 6,500 blacks, of whom the vast majority were enslaved. The outmigration of East Florida refugees to Britain, the Bahamas, and Jamaica will be reckoned in the tallies for those locations below. In addition to those outflows, the East Florida evacuation return showed 196 whites and 714 blacks bound for “Jamaica and the Spanish Main”—many of whom settled in British possessions in Central America—and 225 whites and 444 blacks bound for Dominica.23

  Britain

  The best calculation of the loyalist migration to Britain has been performed by Mary Beth Norton, who traced the arrivals of 1,440 loyalist heads of household from the colonies between 1775 and 1784. From these she projected an estimate of 7,000 to 8,000 (almost all white) loyalists who immigrated to Britain during and after the war. This figure rightly does not double-count refugees who crossed the Atlantic more than once, nor does it include those who traveled to Britain for a short time only to file a loyalist claim. Nevertheless, it is likely to be an underestimate. Based largely on one of the two collections of loyalist claims documents (Audit Office Series 12), it excludes a number of refugees settled in Britain, especially women, whose claims did not advance to a further stage of the review process. It also leaves out a number of the white loyalists who, like the Johnston family, went to Britain from East Florida in or after 1784. Thus, the higher figure of 8,000 can safely be taken as a minimum for what was quite probably a larger white refugee population.24

  Norton’s estimates also exclude one major category of migrants to Britain: the very large number of black loyalists who ended up there toward the end of the war. Cassandra Pybus calculates these to have been approximately 5,000.25

  Bahamas

  The October 1783 evacuation return from New York indicated that 941 people had already embarked for Abaco.26 A New York evacuation return from November 1783 put the total number of Abaco settlers at 1,458.27 Loyalists from East Florida began to sail for the Bahamas in the spring of 1784, amounting to 1,033 whites and 2,214 blacks according to the Florida embarkation commissioner.28

  A report presented in the Bahamas house of assembly in April 1789 stated that 1,200 white refugees and 3,600 blacks had arrived from the former colonies in 1784 and 1785, and that a further four hundred whites and 2,100 blacks came to the islands from different parts of the region between 1786 and 1789. The Bahamas population rose from about 1,700 whites and 2,300 blacks at the beginning of 1784, to 3,300 whites and 8,000 blacks in 1789.29 At much the same time, Solicitor-General William Wylly noted that the “new” inhabitants who had arrived since the revolution included 330 white heads of household, and 3,761 slaves.30

  Adding together the New York and East Florida refugees, it seems fair to conclude that as many as 2,500 white loyalists immigrated to the Bahamas. They brought with them on the order of 4,000 slaves. This figure is slightly lower than Michael Craton’s “best guess” of about 8,000 loyalist and slave immigrants to the islands; but as he rightly observes, “no-one will ever know exactly how many went.”31

  Jamaica

  No musters exist to document the number of loyalists who relocated to Jamaica, but evacuation records once again give some indication of the quantity involved. W. H. Siebert scrutinized the returns from Savannah to suggest that some 5,000 blacks and “four hundred white families” traveled to Jamaica from there; another return lists 1,278 whites and 2,613 blacks who embarked for Jamaica from Charleston.32 A handful of refugees also traveled to Jamaica from East Florida.33

  If a “family” consisted of an average of four individuals, then more than 3,000 whites and up to 8,000 black slaves seem to have relocated to Jamaica directly. This estimate, like so many others, does not include the migration of loyalists who may have gone to Jamaica from New York or during the cours
e of the war (like Alexander Aikman). It might be noted that population estimates for the island show a marked rise in both the black and white populations between 1774 and 1788: an increase of 44,567 blacks (or 17.5 percent) and 5,610 whites (or 30 percent).34

  Total Emigration

  To add up the minimum totals by region ca. 1785: 30,000 white and black loyalists had traveled to the Maritimes; 6,000 refugees to Quebec, including five hundred Mohawks; 13,000 refugees to Britain (of whom some 5,000 were free blacks); 2,500 white loyalists to the Bahamas; and 3,000 white loyalists to Jamaica. This comes to 54,500 individuals. In addition, one must add the documented clusters of refugees heading from East Florida to Central America and Dominica, as well as the few who ventured still farther afield to locations such as India. Including such people would raise the sum to between 55,000 and 55,500.

  These figures fail to account in any way for the manifest occurrence of unregistered migration. As suggested above, in every case the quantifiable numbers are likely to fall short of the actual total, in some instances by as much as 10 percent. This tally also places the number of black loyalists evacuated from the colonies at the bottom end of Pybus’s estimated range of 8,000–10,000 migrants. Factoring in a plausible underestimate on the British North American refugee population alone brings a fair figure for the total loyalist migration to 59,000. Adding in some or all of the further 2,000 free blacks easily tips the balance toward 60,000. The fact is that no numbers can ever perfectly enumerate this swirling population on the move. But they can indicate its proportions. It thus seems safe to estimate the total loyalist emigration from revolutionary America at 60,000 individuals—and just as safe to eliminate outright the substantially higher figures of 80,000 or 100,000.

  Slave Exports

  The records of loyalist migration also give good insight into the number of slaves exported by loyalists. At the top of the list come the convoys leaving Savannah and Charleston, which carried nearly 8,000 blacks straight to Jamaica. Only a tiny minority of these Jamaica-bound blacks (unlike those heading for Nova Scotia or Britain) would have been free, like George Liele. The evacuation from East Florida indicated another 3,527 blacks leaving for different British colonies. The estimate of 3,600 slaves brought by loyalists to the Bahamas surpasses the 2,200 recorded as having been exported from East Florida, which suggests that a further 1,400 loyalist-owned slaves arrived in the islands by different routes. Loyalists brought a minimum of 1,232 “servants” into the Maritimes, according to Morse’s estimates; the total number was doubtless higher.35 Another several hundred slaves were imported by loyalists into Quebec.36 A conservative estimate of the number of loyalist-owned slaves in British North America would stand at around 2,000. In addition to these larger clusters, loyalists also carried a small number of slaves into Britain (where slaveowning was by then unenforceable) as “servants,” such as Elizabeth Johnston’s maid Hagar. Finally, there were the many loyalist-exported slaves who ended up in the slave markets of Tortola and other West Indian islands.

  Though not properly part of a reckoning of loyalist-owned slaves exported into the British Empire, a further important testament to the volume of loyalist slave trafficking can be found in the number of blacks taken back into the United States following the evacuation of East Florida. The embarkation commissioner counted 2,516 such persons; there would also have been a high percentage of blacks among those 5,000 East Floridians who made their own way back into the American states.

  Adding together these various quantities of slaves yields a total of 14,927. This number, again a conservative estimate, doubtless falls short of the actual volume of slaves exported by loyalists—not least those taken temporarily into East Florida. It seems entirely legitimate to conclude that loyalists carried some 15,000 slaves out of the United States.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  WHILE WRITING THIS BOOK I have been repeatedly struck by how interconnected its subjects remained, despite the great distances they traveled. Letters linked friends and family members across oceans; neighbors in one setting became neighbors again in others. My own research has been consistently helped along by analogous small-world connections, whether through the wonders of technology or the still more wondrous generosity of colleagues, students, friends, and sometimes strangers. In the process I have racked up deeper and more numerous debts than these few pages can adequately express.

  Many of those acknowledged below read portions of this manuscript, and my first thanks goes to them for their suggestions, as well as to the numerous audiences who responded to this project as a work in progress. For especially extensive readings of earlier drafts, I am grateful to David Armitage, Joyce Chaplin, Nicholas Dawidoff, Sam Haselby, Sheila Jasanoff, Jill Lepore, Peter Marshall, Marco Roth, Laurel Ulrich, and Megan Williams. Linda Colley not only read the entire manuscript but has continued to provide me with exceptional encouragement, advice, and inspiration. Jerry Bannister, Michel Ducharme, and Amani Whitfield offered invaluable assistance with Canadian history. I have also been the lucky beneficiary of the wisdom and support of other scholars who have so expertly traced these routes before me, particularly Mary Beth Norton, Cassandra Pybus, and Simon Schama.

  I wrote this book in two centers of revolutionary America, each of which has left its mark on the final product. I began it as a member of the history department at the University of Virginia. I cannot imagine a more sympathetic environment in which to have had the privilege of beginning my teaching career. Among the many colleagues with whom I enjoyed memorable conversations on matters historical and otherwise, I want to thank Rich Barnett, Lenard Berlanstein, Claudrena Harold, Krishan Kumar, Chuck McCurdy, Christian McMillen, Elizabeth Meyer, Joe Miller, Duane Osheim, Sophie Rosenfeld, and Mark Thomas. Andrew O’Shaughnessy has been an unfailingly gracious interlocutor, and kindly lent me the Roosevelt Cottage as I began my revisions. One of the special pleasures of my time at Virginia was to work alongside my very first teacher of eighteenth-century British history, Paul Halliday, a model scholar and friend. Another was to gain firsthand appreciation of Peter Onuf’s extraordinary capacity for mentorship. Peter, together with Charlottesville’s lively group of early Americanists, has profoundly influenced my understanding of this subject.

  At Harvard, I have had the equally great privilege of finishing this book in an academic setting that has exposed me to exciting new ways of seeing international and global history. My gratitude extends to all my departmental colleagues, notably Ann Blair, Sugata Bose, Vincent Brown, Joyce Chaplin, Caroline Elkins, Alison Frank, Peter Gordon, Andy Jewett, Mary Lewis, Erez Manela, Ian Miller, Emma Rothschild, Rachel St. John, and Judith Surkis; and my chairs Lizabeth Cohen, Andrew Gordon, and James Kloppenberg. To David Armitage, Niall Ferguson, and Mark Kishlansky my debts are especially copious. They have greatly enriched my approach to British history and how to write it, and given me much good counsel and conversation along the way. I also want to acknowledge those who have facilitated my life at Harvard in more practical respects, including Paul Dzus, Janet Hatch, Cory Paulsen, Anna Popiel, and Sandy Selesky; and several students who have contributed to this endeavor in various technical ways: Sarah Burack, Christa Dierksheide, Erik Linstrum, Noah McCormack, and Tim Rogan.

  This book could not have been completed as fully or efficiently without ample support from Harvard and the University of Virginia; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress; the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies; the MacDowell Colony; and a Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. A fellowship at the New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers did more than fund my work. It allowed me to join a vibrant creative and intellectual community under the expert leadership of Jean Strouse. My warmest thanks to Jean, Betsy Bradley, Pamela Leo, Adriana Nova, and my fellow fellows—especially David Blight, Jim Miller, Jim Shapiro, Jeff Talarigo, and Sean Wilentz—for an unforgettable year.
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  From Toronto and London to Kingston and Nassau, I was fortunate to enjoy the hospitality of, among others, Stephen Aranha, Richard Bourke, Simon Dickie, and my dear friends and too-frequent hosts in London, Michael Dresser and Martin Reading. Julian Gardner and his family gave me a memorable welcome in Kasganj. My research in Sierra Leone could not have taken place without the incredible help extended to me by Freddy “Shabaka” Cole, Aminatta Forna, Peter Hanson-Alp, Alpha Kanu, Abu Koroma, Philip Misevich, Joe Opala, Ambassador June Carter Perry, Danna Van Brandt, and everybody at Country Lodge.

  At Knopf, Carol Janeway has once again brought her sage editorial touch to this book. Further thanks go to the fantastically capable Liz Lee for stewarding it through publication, and to Knopf’s superb production team for all their dedication and patience. At HarperPress, I have enjoyed the special pleasure of being published by my old friend Arabella Pike; and am grateful for the contributions of Sophie Goulden and others involved in this project at Harper, as well as to Mitzi Angel for her early participation. Without the magnificent Andrew Wylie, and his tremendous staff on both sides of the Atlantic, this book might never have appeared in the first place.

  Throughout this project I have been engaged, enlightened, and entertained by conversations with my friends and fellow historians Jeffrey Auerbach, Michael Dodson, Richard Drayton, François Furstenberg, Durba Ghosh, Evan Haefeli, David Hancock, Lorenz Lüthi, Philip Stern, Robert Travers—and the late Stephen Vella, who is missed. William Dalrymple has been a strong believer in this project from the outset and I have gained much from his continuing friendship and his writerly example. Among my many debts for congenial company in Charlottesville, New York, and Cambridge, some fall due to Nuri Akgul, Sabri Ates, Douglas Fordham, Healan Gaston, Sam Haselby, Glenn Horowitz, Andy Jewett, Adam Kirsch, Remy Holzer Kirsch, John Nemec, Basharat Peer, Bahare Rashidi, Ananya Vajpeyi, and Heidi Voskuhl.