Monthly Returns to the Adjutant General : North America (WO17/1489 - 1498) : 1758 - 1786.

            Beginning in 1758 and extending for a period of almost thirty years, the ten volumes of War Office 17 contained in these two reels are, primarily, The Monthly Returns of His Majesty's Forces in North America. The Returns contain the following information: date of the document; name of the officer in command; list of regiments under his command; effective strength of all ranks; lists of commissioned officers present and absent;
lists of promotions and vacancies; number of rank and file fit for duty; number of prisoners; returns of killed, wounded or missing; returns of artillery and engineers; and many other records. In addition to the Monthly Returns, there are a considerable number of General Weekly Returns of Additional Companies at Present in Canada, and General Weekly Returns of Additional Companies at Present in America Exclusive of the Eleven in Canada. 
Examples of other records include the following: State of the
British Army in Canada; State of the German Army in Canada; lists of general and staff officers in North America; lists of garrisons and winter quarters; reports on the disposition of troops in North America; returns of the garrisons at Annapolis Royal, Niagara, and other locations; monthly returns of recruiting parties and recruits raised for the Mediterranean and the West Indies; two Monthly Returns of His Majesty's Provincial Forces in the New York District and in East Florida, January and March, 1783; List of Staff Officers Living in Canada, 1785; Return of Officers Commanding the Upper Posts, 1786; State of the Troops in the Upper Posts, 1786; and many other returns too numerous to mention in this brief overview of contents.            

            A microfilm shelf list giving both the Loyalist Collection and the National Archives of Canada microfilm reel numbers, together with the corresponding volumes and dates of the Returns, has been created by the author of the Loyalist Collection Inventory.  The microfilm shelf list is available in print with the Loyalist Collection Finding Aids and as a PDF in the electronic finding aids section.