The United Empire Loyalists: A Chronicle of the Great Migration [1914 ed.]

In Short

This chronicle examines the "Great Migration" of the United Empire Loyalists—the roughly one-third of the American population who remained tethered to the British government during the Revolutionary War. Drawing on historical records and personal accounts, the work traces their persecution, their flight from the newly formed United States, and their subsequent struggle to build new lives in the wilderness of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Upper Canada. It stands as a vital correction to early, biased histories that dismissed these refugees as a mere criminal element.

The Story

The narrative begins by framing the American Revolution not as a unified popular uprising, but as a deeply divisive conflict where a committed minority pushed an undecided majority toward secession. The Loyalists—ranging from high-ranking officials like Governor Thomas Hutchinson to ordinary farmers—often agreed that British tax policies were misguided or oppressive. Yet, they viewed the act of rebellion as a violation of legal and religious duty. As the Revolution gained momentum, this ideological divide descended into brutality. The author details the "test laws," systemic confiscation of property, and judicial killings that rendered life untenable for those who refused to break their allegiance to the Crown.

Once the cause for the King was lost, the exodus began. The peace negotiations at Versailles failed to secure meaningful restitution for the dispossessed, leaving thousands of refugees with no choice but to start over in the cold, undeveloped territories to the north. The story follows the maritime and overland journeys of these families, particularly the massive influx into Nova Scotia and the eventual settlement of the St. John River valley. The author highlights the profound challenges of this transition: the lack of supplies, the administrative incompetence of colonial governors, and the harsh realities of carving farms out of raw, uncleared land.

As the migrants established themselves, internal class tensions emerged. The "upper" and "lower" social orders clashed over political representation and the distribution of land, mirroring the very instability they had fled. By the 1790s, however, these settlements began to stabilize. The narrative also notes the irony of the post-war years: land-hungry Americans, once the political adversaries of the Loyalists, began crossing into Canada to claim grants, sometimes displacing the original refugees who had sacrificed everything for their loyalty. The chronicle concludes by examining the social fabric of these frontier communities—the barn-raisings, the elementary schools, and the lingering, often unresolved, grievances regarding lost property and broken promises from the British government. It is a story of resilience marked by the bittersweet reality that, for many, the new home never fully replaced the one they were forced to leave.

How It Unfolds

The ideological divide The book establishes the political reality that the American colonies were sharply split, with roughly one-third of the population opposing the Revolution. It argues that the movement was steered by an energetic minority rather than a unanimous public will.

Persecution and flight The focus shifts to the systematic campaign of harassment, ranging from mob violence to legal attainder, designed to strip Loyalists of their property and civic rights. This atmosphere of fear forced thousands to seek refuge behind British lines before eventually fleeing northward.

The migration north With the evacuation of New York in 1783, the logistics of a massive, multi-trip sea voyage to Nova Scotia and the St. John River are detailed. The author describes the initial euphoria of arrival followed by the crushing hardship of the first winter.

Settlement and administration The narrative explores the territorial organization of these refugees, from the rapid growth of St. John to the surveying of townships along the St. Lawrence River. It highlights the friction between the incoming settlers and the existing colonial bureaucracy.

Integration and new challenges The final beats cover the maturation of these communities, the influx of Americans seeking free land, and the long, frustrating quest for compensation. It ends with a portrait of a society built on the remnants of a lost cause.

The People

The book focuses on figures who exemplify the Loyalist experience. Thomas Hutchinson, the governor of Massachusetts, represents the intellectual and political elite who, despite criticizing British policy, were ultimately cast as villains by the revolutionaries. Sir John Johnson and Colonel John Butler provide the military perspective; they organized regiments like the "Royal Greens" and "Butler's Rangers," leading their kin in border warfare and later settling the Niagara and St. Lawrence districts. Edward Winslow appears as a key observer and advocate, documenting the arrival of the Loyalists and fighting against administrative negligence in the new provinces. Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief, stands as a crucial partner in the migration, illustrating how the Loyalist cause was not exclusively a European one. Finally, the anonymous settlers—the farmers and mothers who cleared the land and built the first schools—are the true heart of the account. They change from refugees stripped of their livelihoods into self-reliant pioneers, though many remain forever defined by the trauma of their displacement.

In Its Own Voice

"They are either ignored entirely or else they are painted in the blackest colours."

The author describes how earlier American accounts consistently misrepresented the Loyalists to fit a revolutionary narrative.

"When lawless mobs insult the court, / That man shall be my toast, / If breaking windows be the sport, / Who bravely breaks the most."

The author quotes a poem by William Cowper to illustrate the irony of the revolutionaries' claims of moral superiority while they engaged in mob violence.

"Poverty had brought him there, and poverty had kept him there."

A fisherman’s grim reflection on the harsh reality of the Shelburne settlement serves as a warning ignored by later arrivals.

What It's Really About

This book is a study of the human cost of political upheaval and the complexity of national identity. It challenges the "Whig" interpretation of history that views the American Revolution as a singular, inevitable triumph of freedom. Instead, it posits that the event was a civil war that fractured families and communities. The central questions concern the nature of loyalty: to what extent can individuals be forced to choose between their home and their principles? The book also explores the difficulty of creating a new society out of the remnants of a collapsed one, arguing that the Loyalists were not merely passive victims, but architects of a distinct Canadian identity rooted in a different political tradition.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in the unvarnished origins of Canadian society will find this a fascinating, if sometimes dense, window into the past. The writing is precise and grounded in primary source material, favoring evidence over narrative fluff. Because it was written in 1914, the prose carries a certain formal, academic weight that requires patience, but it rewards the reader with a clear view of the structural and social challenges faced by early settlers.

The book is particularly valuable for those who want to understand the "other side" of the American Revolution—the voices often drowned out by the victors’ songs. You will feel the genuine frustration of the settlers as they navigate bureaucratic incompetence and the slow, arduous process of building a life in the wilderness. While the author is sympathetic to the Loyalists, he does not shy away from the darker aspects of their settlement, including the class frictions and the exploitation of the "lower" orders by the elite. It is an essential read for anyone who enjoys history that looks at the world from the perspective of the displaced, and it leaves the reader with a poignant sense of the sacrifices that helped shape the Canadian borderlands.