Muster Books and Pay Lists (WO 12/11035) : Queen's Rangers : 1783 - 1800.
Call Number: | HIL-MICL FC LMR .G7W3M8Q4 |
Category: | Military |
Creator: | Great Britain. War Office. |
Description: | 1 microfilm textual records () ; 35 mm |
Background: | The Queen's Rangers was first raised in 1776 from Loyalists in Westchester County, New York, and Fairfield County, Connecticut, by Robert Rogers, a hero of the Seven Years War. It was one of the first Loyalist units formed. In 1777, Rogers lost command of the regiment and was retired on half pay. In the same year, the Queen's Rangers absorbed the Queen's Loyal Virginia Regiment and was placed under the command of Inspector-General Alexander Innes. The Rangers were sent with the British Army under General William Howe on the Philadelphia Campaign and fought at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown. On 15 October 1777, command of the regiment was given to Major John Graves Simcoe, and on 25 May 1778 he was promoted to the Provincial rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The regiment was involved in raids into New Jersey, covered the British withdrawal from Philadelphia to New York, and participated in the Battle of Monmouth Court House on 28 June 1778. The Queen's Rangers was taken on the American Establishment as the 1st American Regiment on 2 May 1779. Captain John Saunders and his troop of dragoons were sent to Virginia, and then to Charleston, South Carolina, where he was garrison commander at Georgetown from February until June of 1781. With him was coronet Thomas Merritt. The Regiment was at Yorkton with Cornwallis when he surrendered the British Army on 19 October 1781. The Queen's Rangers was taken on the British Establishment on 25 December 1782, and at the end of the war the Regiment was disbanded in Saint John, New Brunswick (then Nova Scotia), on 13 October 1783. A number of the Rangers settled in the St. John River Valley. |
Contents: | The records of the Queen's Rangers that were microfilmed on this reel include the muster rolls and pay lists of both the Queen's Rangers, a Loyalist regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe during the American Revolution, and the Queen's Rangers that Simcoe re-formed when he became the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (Ontario). The majority of the musters are a record for six months or 183 days, but the revolutionary war musters are for 70 days, and the adjutant's rolls are for a 30 day period. The amount and type of information included in the rolls varies considerably, but always contains the name and rank of the commissioned and warrant officers, non-commissioned officers, drummers, and private soldiers. The dates of enlistment and attestation are given when recruits are listed. The Commissary-General's copy of the muster rolls for the Loyalist regiment of Queen's Rangers, also known as the 1st American Regiment, are the records that have been included. The muster rolls are not microfilmed in chronological order, but are grouped in three sections on the reel. |
Originals: | The original records are held by the Public Record office in London. |
Archival Ref. No.: | PRO WO 12/ 11035. |
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