452 How Everyday Loyalists Experienced the Revolution

Liz Covart (0:00)

Ben Franklin's World is a production of Clio Digital Media.

Kacy Tillman (0:04)

So Margaret would love to be left alone, but her house is right on the river where a lot of the soldiers are coming in. And she's a Quaker, so she's already suspected of being a Loyalist, because if you're not with us, you're against us. And they're kind of right, because she's hiding a poet and a Loyalist, Jonathan Hodel, in her house when these so-called Tory hunters come to her door. And she gets caught out because her son is using a spy glass, very innocently, to look at the soldiers as they dock. And one of the soldiers notices and runs to the house to search it and says, I want you to bring out the Tory spy, meaning her son.

But little did he know she was hiding a Tory spy upstairs. So to buy Hodel time to hide in that weird secret room behind the trick bookcase, she puts on this show of being a dumb old woman for the soldiers who have asked to come in and search the house.

Liz Covart (1:03)

Hello and welcome to episode 452 of Ben Franklin's World. The podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and events of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in. And I'm your host, Liz Covart. In October 1781, news of the British surrender at Yorktown reached Philadelphia, and crowds poured into the streets to celebrate. As the revolutionaries celebrated the surrender, they looked around for candles in their neighbors' windows, which signaled that their household had supported the cause. Now Anna Rall refused to light a candle. She had sympathies and strong loyalist ties, although she may not have considered herself to be a loyalist. When the crowd approached her home, its members saw that she didn't have a candle lit, and they began breaking her windows and bashing in her door. Anna fled her house in terror. She was in the backyard where she found two men climbing her fence. Terrified, Anna eventually saw that these men were her neighbors. Her neighbors quickly moved into her house and lit a candle before the crowd could do real damage. And once the crowd saw that the candle was lit, they hussawed three times and moved on to the next house without one.

From our present day, we often ask why Americans chose to remain loyal and why they did not want to seek independence. But the question that Americans asked at the time of the American Revolution was more pressing. How could they protect their families, property, and honor when neighbors, committees, and crowds decided what side they were on?

Today, we're joined by three guests. Timothy Compeau, an Associate Professor of History at Huron University College at Western University in London, Ontario. Bonnie Huskins, who teaches history at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. And Kacy Tillman, a Professor of English and Writing at the University of Tampa.

Tim, Bonnie, and Kacy will help us investigate the American Revolution through Loyalist eyes. Together, we'll explore how Loyalists experienced the American Revolution. Now, during our investigation, our guests reveal how committees, crowds, and neighbors identified Loyalists, often by what a person refused to do.

How revolutionaries used tar and feathering and property confiscation to strip Loyalist families of their honor. And why historians now think that more Loyalists stayed in the United States than left it. And how those who left shaped the histories of both Canada and the United States. But first, have you ever wondered which side your own ancestors took during the American Revolution? Or whether anyone let them choose which side to take? If those questions just sent your mind racing, I'd love to have you in the History Explorers Club. It's our virtual community for curious adults who want to explore, discuss, and indulge in early American history. You don't need a scholarly background, you just need curiosity. And here's what it looks like inside. You post a question in our forum, and members from around the world jump in with sources, ideas, and even better questions. Twice a month, you bring your questions straight to a historian in a live talk, and no one ever groans when you share a cool historical fact. Every event is recorded, so you never miss a thing, and you can cancel at any time. Come find your history people at historyexplorers.club. That's historyexplorers.club, and I hope to see you inside. All right. Are you ready to explore the American Revolution through Loyalist eyes?

Let's go meet our guest historians.

Joining us are three guests. Timothy Compeau is an Associate Professor of History at Huron University College at Western University in Ontario. His research expertise is in the British Empire during the Age of Revolutions, Loyalists in the American Revolution and the History of Upper Canada. He's the author of the book Dishonored Americans, The Political Death of Loyalists in Revolutionary America.