Headquarters Records : America (WO 28/2-10) : 1775 - 1785.

These volumes of British military headquarters records from the period of the American Revolution contain the original letters, returns, memorials, etc. from field officers and others, to the Adjutant-General or Deputy Adjutant-General in Canada (Quebec), the zone overseen militarily by the Northern Department and its Commander-in-Chief. Subjects include: Army - Britain, Germany, organisation, policy, and personnel; American loyalists - provincial corps, refugees; and Natives/Indigenous people.

Arrangement and Detailed Contents:

Volume 2 and Volume 3, 1777-1784, contain field officers' letters from British regiments in North America. The letters originated from the following locations: Michilimackinac, Niagara, Detroit, Montreal, New York, St John's (Quebec), Sorel, Quebec, St. Charles, Berthier, Malbury, St. Dennis, St. Charles, Pointe aux Fere, Isle aux Noir, Pointe aux Trembles, Chambly, and other locations. The British regiments include: 8th, 29th, 31st, 34th, 44th, 53rd, and 84th.

Volume 4 and Volume 5, 1775-1783, are comprised of letters and returns from officers in the following Provincial Corps: Butler's Rangers, Canadian Fencibles, Kings Loyal Americans, Loyal Rangers (Edward Jessup's Corps), Royal Highland Emigrants (84th foot), McAlpine's Volunteers, States of several detachments of Royalists, Loyal Volunteers (Robert Leake's Corps), Peter's Corps, Kings Rangers, Kings Royal Regiment of New York, Roger's Kings Rangers, and Barrack-Master General's Department papers concerning Hessian and Brunswick (German) regiments.

Volume 6, 1776-1783, contains the following: General Hospital Department returns and letters, 1776-1783 (Aside from Adjutant-General and Deputy Adjutant-General, authors include: Dr. Robert Knox, inspector of hospitals at Montreal; William Barr, purveyor of his Majesty’s Hospital; D. Caldwell, apothecary to the army; A. Mabane, surgeon; Hugh Alexander Kennedy, inspector of regimental infirmaries at Quebec; William Menzies, surgeon, 84th Regiment of Foot; Thomas Pendergast, surgeons mate; James Connor, assistant mate); Garrison states and returns for the Upper Posts, 1780-1783 (posts noted Niagara, Detroit, Michilimackimac, Carleton Island, Oswego, Cataraque, Isle aux Noix and its dependencies; nine documents dated 1781, 1783 documents – return of staff of Montréal, list offices of Loyal Rangers with dates of appointments); Lists of General Staff Officers and Garrison Staff in the Northern Department (Québec), 1776-1783; Engineer's Department letters and papers, 1777-1783.

Volume 6, Hospital Department provides over 80 documents giving insight into the hospital organisation and its concerns. Specifically, subject matters include, for example, medicines - while not giving details of the kinds, it sheds light on the transport of, scarcity of, and the chain of command for requests or issues; appointments of surgeons to particular regiments; distribution of personnel; diet menu for sick in hospital; requests for leaves of absence, which often include details of family situations; crimes within department; reports of the sick in garrison hospital of Québec included in correspondence, which details the types of sicknesses (these are rare in this vol.); and want of a winter hospital and why. Specific examples of documents include: Instructions for the Direction of the Hospital established for the Forces in Canada, 1776; Proposals for the arrangement of the Hospitals in Canada for the Campaign, 1777 (Burgoyne); and Patients to be sent to Three Rivers hospital, including names and illnesses (p. 53).

Volume 6, Garrison States and Returns for the Upper Posts, 1780-83, in which numerical data in tabular form is available for each of the garrisons and its members, also contains health-related matter. These include data from the following documents: Monthly Returns give the numbers for - those present and fit for duty or sick in quarters, surgeons and mates; and in the State Returns, the numbers by rank (incl. surgeons separately) for sick absent, sick present, also surgeons' names and situations are sometimes given in the note field. The State of each of the garrisons indicates hospital staff, ie, surgeon, mates, clerk. See Electronic Finding Aid section for document listing for vol. 6, hospital section.

Volume 7, Volume 8, 1776-1783, contain the following: Ordnance Department returns, 1777-1783; Quarter-Master General's Department letters and returns, 1777-1783; letters from officers at Montréal, St. John’s, Sorel, Niagara, Detroit, Isle aux Noir, Carleton Island, Oswego, Trois Riviéres, and several other locations, 1779-1783; returns of staff of the Royal Artillery and other British regiments after their arrival in Canada, 1776; and German field officer's letters and returns, 1781 and 1783.

Volume 9, 1776-1781, is comprised of a number of memorials, petitions, and order books. Numerous formal requests for assistance from military, naval, and provincial regiment personnel, as well as from Loyalists, and from the French inhabitants of Quebec, are addressed to Generals Carleton and Haldimand. Examples of the types of requests include: promotions, retirement, back pay, want of paid employment, payments for losses or services rendered, and financial aid for Loyalists. General Sir Guy Carleton's two volume order book completes volume 9. The first volume begins on 8 May 1782 and ends on 30 June 1783. The second volume begins on 1 July 1783 and ends on 23 November 1783. The order book is particularly significant as an account of the army’s operations in the last year of the war in and around New York, and the evacuation of British and German troops, along with thousands of Loyalist soldiers and refugees from the city. Topics include: orders and regulations concerning troop movement, provisioning, promotions, appointments, prisoner exchange, courts material, etc. An author index is available online, see link below.

Volume 10, 1775-1785, contains returns, lists, and letters, principally relating to Loyalists and to Loyalist Provincial Corps, but also concerning British and German regiments. There is among the papers, a small group of Indian Department letters and papers in this volume (1775-1782, 1785). These are mostly directed to the Adjutant-General. Examples include descriptions of conferences or commissioners of Indian Affairs from the Continental Congress with the Six Nations, text of speeches, returns of parties of Indians sent from Detroit against the rebels, list of personnel in the Indian Department, movements by Department and Indians, and from Major John Butler a letter concerning pay for soldiers and the suffering of other families. A calendar is available in print.