King's Royal Regiment of New York
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The King's Royal Regiment of New York was one of the first Loyalist regiments raised (June 19, 1776) in Canada during the American Revolution.
Raised by exiled Loyalist leader Sir John Johnson from American refugees fleeing Patriot persecution, the regiment served with distinction throughout the war, launching raids and relief missions into the Mohawk Valley of New York.
As one of the most active Loyalist regiments in the Canadian department, it was instrumental in the siege of Fort Stanwix during the expedition of Colonel St. Leger down the Mohawk River Valley in the summer of 1777. The regiment saw action at the Battle of Oriskany in 1777, Carleton's Raid (1778) and the devastating raid on the Schoharie Valley in 1780. Along with native allies and fellow provincial regiments such as Butler's Rangers, the regiment fought a series of low-level raiding campaigns through the Mohawk Valley. This region was a major agricultural area of New York, and these raids were intended to interdict the supply of foodstuffs to Washington's army while pressuring the rebellion's political leaders in the region, who were actively persecuting loyalist residents.
The regiment eventually comprised two battalions. Following the war, the first battalion was disbanded in 1783 and the second battalion in 1784. Members of the regiment were granted land along the St. Lawrence River valley and Bay of Quinte in modern Ontario and were among the first settlers of Upper Canada, later the province of Ontario in Canada.
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[edit] Raising the Regiment: 1776
On 19 May, 1776, Sir John Johnson left his home at Johnson Hall in the Mohawk Valley and travelled with his family and approximately 200 retainers through the Adirondack Mountains to Montreal. It arrived on 15 June, just days after Governor Sir Guy Carleton's army recaptured the City. Johnson soon left Montreal to chase the retreating Congressional army southwards down the Richelieu Valley towards Lake Champlain. He met Carleton at Fort Chambly, where the Governor General authorized Johnson to raise the King's Royal Regiment of New York.
Initially, the members of the Regiment comprised Johnson's refugee retainers from his estates in the Mohawk Valley, but the steady stream of loyalist refugees fleeing to Montreal provided a ready source of recruits for the King's Royal Yorkers.
[edit] The St. Leger Expedition: 1777
Part of the British Army's strategy to defeat the Congressional forces under George Washington involved invading New York from Canada along the traditional Lake Champlain and Lake George water route. A main army from Canada, under the command of Sir John Burgoyne, advanced southwards along this route towards Albany. A second army, under the command of Colonel Barry St. Leger, advanced from Carleton Island in the Saint Lawrence River to Oswego with the intention of descending the Mohawk River valley. St. Leger's army included a small force of regular British soldiers, a large native contingent comprising Six Nations and Canadian Indian warriors, a contingent of German soldiers, volunteers under Joseph Brant's command, and the King's Royal Yorkers under Johnson's command.
St. Leger's army besieged Fort Stanwix (located in modern Rome, New York), which was defended by a sizable contingent of Congressional troops. During the siege, a relief column of 800 men under the command of General Nicholas Herkimer and comprising New York militiamen advanced towards Fort Stanwix. On 6 August, 1777, this relief force was ambushed by natives and King's Royal Yorkers at Oriskany. During the ensuing battle, the relief column was decimated and suffered over 400 casualties, including Herkimer himself, who was killed. Routed, the surviving Congressional militia retreated from Oriskany.
During the Oriskany engagement, the garrison of Fort Stanwix attacked the encampment of the Crown forces. Johnson and his family were nearly captured, and large quantities of materiel were looted. Having suffered heavy casualties during the battle, St. Leger's native allies were demoralized by the loss of their camp and retreated back towards Lake Ontario. They were closely followed by the balance of the Crown forces, including the King's Royal Yorkers.
[edit] Campaigns Into the New York Valleys: 1778-1782
For the remainder of the Revolution, the King's Royal Yorkers formed an integral part of Canada's garrison. However, each year the Regiment sent parties on raids into the Mohawk and neighbouring valleys for the purposes of rescuing beleagered loyalists and interfering with the ability of the Congressional forces to use the region's crops as a source of food for Washington's army. These raids were generally launched from the Lake Champlain corridor or from Oswego, and caused a great deal of disruption. The militia of Northern New York never recovered from the disaster at Oriskany, and the region stood relatively defenceless.
In 1780, a large raid in to the Schoharie Valley led by Sir John Johnson gave rise to the destruction of large numbers of farms and pitched battles between the raiders and the demoralized Congressional militia.
[edit] The End of the War and Resettlement: 1781-1784
At the time of the defeat of General Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781, New York City remained in British hands and inviolable behind the protection of its large garrison and the Royal Navy. However, the government of Lord North collapsed and the new British government was formed from parliamentary advocates of a negotiated peace.
The Treaty of Paris ended the war but left little opportunity for loyalists to return to their former homes. Municipal and state government in the new United States was held by supporters of Congress. Few of the former rebels were prepared to forget, no less forgive, the punishing raids by the loyalist regiments in Canada. Still other Congressional sympathizers had enjoyed profit by selling land, homes and farms seized from loyalists. Under the Treaty, the loyalists were to be compensated for their losses by the State governments under the arbitration of the United States government. This compensation was never paid. Instead, the British government offered land grants in Canada to the refugees who had fled their homes during the War and those who left afterwards.
In 1783, the 1st Battalion of the King's Royal Yorkers was disbanded and settled along the St. Lawrence Valley in the vicinity of Cornwall in modern Stormont and Dundas counties. The following year, the 2nd Battalion was disbanded and settled in modern Frontenac and Lennox and Addington counties.
Sir John Johnson himself settled in Montreal and also held farms in Williamstown, Ontario and the seigneuries of Monnoir and Argenteuil in Quebec. He was buried in a family vault at Mont Saint-Gregoire, Quebec.
Other officers of the Regiment have known graves. Jeremiah French, a Lieutenant in the second battalion of the Regiment, was buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery, west of Cornwall, Ontario. In 2004, a new gravestone was dedicted for French in the presence of several of his descendants and members of the recreated King's Royal Yorkers.
[edit] Historical Commemoration
In 1975, a living history regiment reenacting the King's Royal Yorkers was raised in Ontario. The reenactment King's Royal Yorkers are the largest and most active living history unit in Canada.
[edit] External links
- Index to King's Royal Regiment of New York History
- The King's Royal Regiment of New York
- The King's Royal Yorkers
[edit] Sources
- Cruikshank, Ernest A. and Watt, Gavin K., The King's Royal Regiment of New York, Toronto: 1984 (New Edition: 2006) ISBN: 1-897210-83-3
- Freyer, Mary Beacock, King's Men: the Soldier Founders of Ontario, Toronto: Dundurn, 1980
- Watt, Gavin K., The Burning of the Valleys: Daring Raids From Canada Against the New York Frontier in the Fall of 1780, Toronto: Dundurn, 1997.
- Watt, Gavin K., Rebellion in the Mohawk Valley: The St. Leger Expedition of 1777, Toronto: Dundurn, 2002 ISBN: 1-55002-3767-4
