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Loyalist Muster Rolls |
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The New York Volunteers, and their earlier incarnation the New York Companies, was one of the first Provincial Regiments raised during the American Revolution. Despite this, their existing muster rolls start no earlier than that of most other (then serving) Provincials, which is August of 1777. For the rest of the war, however, their rolls are fairly numerous, with the attendant gaps typical to the locale in which they were serving. That is to say, there is but one muster of them in 1779, none in 1780, only half of 1781, and but one in 1782. All these musters occurred in Georgia and South Carolina. Once the regiment returned to New York in January of 1783, the musters are once again complete. The rolls of the Rifle Company under Captan ALTHAUSE are different from those of the rest of the regiment until 1783. Formed in September of 1779 from drafted men of Emmerick's Chasseurs, the Rifle Company sailed to join the rest of the Volunteers during the Siege of Charlestown in 1780. However, the transport ship carrying the company was separated from the fleet in a storm and the ship ended up in England! Here the company stayed until it returned to New York City much later that same year. There are no rolls for it during its stay in England. Once it returned to New York, it was intended to embark upon an expedition to Virginia under General LESLIE. The expedition set sail in October of 1780 but the Rifle Company did not accompany it, for reasons unknown. Another expedition to Virginia embarked in December of 1780, this one under Brigadier General Benedict ARNOLD. The Rifle Company did join this campaign, and their rolls for 1781 are from Virginia, up until their capture at Yorktown. The company was mostly attached to the Queen's American Rangers during that time period. For additional information on this regiment please see the Regimental History of the New York Volunteers. Virtually all muster rolls for the New York Volunteers may be found in the National Archives of Canada, RG 8, "C" Series, Volumes 1874-1875. The muster roll abstracts can be found in the Ward Chipman Papers, MG 23, D 1, Series I, Volume 25.
New York Volunteers Muster Rolls
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The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies
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