- Call Number:
- HIL-MICL FC LMR .T6J6L6
- Category:
- Military
- Creator:
- Tottenham, John.
- Material Description:
- 1 microfilm textual records 35 mm
- Background:
In the course of his research toward a Ph.D degree in history from the University of Michigan in the early 1980's, John Tottenham compiled a body of data which traced the military service of officers, NCOs, and men from several Loyalist units during the American Revolution. The title of the dissertation was intended to be, Loyalists in Arms: Recruitment, Organization and Operations of Armed Loyalists in the American Revolutionary War. By 1985 the thesis project had been abandoned and John Tottenham had embarked on a teaching career. The data that he had assembled was placed in the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan.
- Contents:
The reel is comprised of huge, specially prepared sheets containing data which was extracted from muster rolls and other sources.
Each sheet holds the data for one company and gives detailed information about each soldier, including name, dates, events, duties and the source for the data. Depending on the number of muster rolls that have survived, it is possible to trace a soldier's military service at two-month intervals from the time of enlistment until the end of the war. However, this is true for only a limited number of individuals, and for the great majority of individuals there are huge gaps in their records. Since most of the information is taken from the National Archives of Canada, RG 8, 1, C Series, British Military and Naval Records, and as some of the muster rolls for Loyalist regiments which served in the Southern Campaign, 1780 - 1782, are missing from these records, a considerable amount of information is unavailable.
The Loyalist corps/regiments which are represented in the Tottenham Notes include the following: six battalions of the New Jersey Volunteers; three battalions of Delancey's Brigade; Loyal American Regiment; Prince of Wales American Volunteers; Emmerick's Chasseurs; and several Light Companies including Thomas Cornwell's of the King's American Regiment.
- Originals:
The original records are held by the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan.
- PDF Finding Aid:
- Tottenham, John. Loyalist Research Notes 1776 - 1783. Document List.pdf
- Notes:
In 1988 John Tottenham and Galen Wilson, the manuscript curator of the Clements Library at that time, gave their permission for the large sheets of data to be microfilmed by the University of Michigan and the film deposited in the Loyalist Collection at the Harriet Irving Library of the University of New Brunswick. Correspondence regarding this arrangement with Kathryn Hilder, the librarian in charge of the Loyalist Collection, was microfilmed at the beginning of the reel.