U.E. Loyalist History

What do you say as a Loyalist historian and presenter about United Empire Loyalists to an audience of Americans? I was asked during the past summer to make a presentation this month, in January,  to a Genealogical Society in Washington State. The American Revolution was, in some ways, a Civil War.  At the start of the conflict, both sides were British subjects.  It divided not just communities, neighbours and friends in the American colonies but families.  In the  Battle of Kings Mountain  the forces on both sides were almost entirely American born.    Benjamin Franklin is known as a leading Patriot, however, his son  William Franklin  was an ardent Loyalist.  Benjamin signed the Declaration of Independence .  His son William was the last Royal Governor of New Jersey (1763 - 1776) and was imprisoned by Patriots.  Another prominent Patriot,  General  John Stark had an older brother, William, who was a Loyalist. ...

Approximately 30,000 German troops were hired by the British to fight in the American Revolution, some 65 per cent of whom were from the Hessian states of Hesse - Kassel and Hesse - Hanau.  Hence they are often called Hessians. At time of American Revolution Germany didn't exist as a country.  It was a collection of states, republics, and duchies. In Bennington, Vermont stands a  Monument  to a battle fought nearby on 16 August 1777 which was a major defeat to Hessian forces.  The Battle of Bennington was the first time during the conflict that an entire Hessian detachment was killed or captured . An  elevator inside the Monument takes you to the top where three states can be viewed, Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts. Unfortunately, when I visited in September it was broken and waiting for a replacement part.                                           ...