<P> In 1777, 1,500 Loyalist militia took part in the Saratoga campaign in New York, and surrendered with General Burgoyne after the Battles of Saratoga in October . For the rest of the war, Quebec acted as a base for raiding expeditions, conducted primarily by Loyalists and Indians, against frontier communities . </P> <P> The Loyalists rarely attempted any political organization . They were often passive unless regular British army units were in the area . The British, however, assumed a highly activist Loyalist community was ready to mobilize and planned much of their strategy around raising Loyalist regiments . The British provincial line, consisting of Americans enlisted on a regular army status, enrolled 19,000 Loyalists (50 units and 312 companies). The maximum strength of the Loyalist provincial line was 9,700 in December 1780 . In all about 19,000 at one time or another were soldiers or militia in British forces . Loyalists from South Carolina fought for the British in the Battle of Camden . The British forces at the Battle of Monck's Corner and the Battle of Lenud's Ferry consisted entirely of Loyalists with the exception of the commanding officer (Banastre Tarleton). Both white and black Loyalists fought for the British at the Battle of Kemp's Landing in Virginia . </P> <P> Historian Maya Jasanoff estimated how many Loyalists departed the U.S. for British North America . She calculates 60,000 in total, including about 50,000 whites (Wallace Brown cites about 80,000 Loyalists in total permanently left the United States .). The majority of them--about 34,000--went to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, while about 6,600 went to Quebec and 2,000 to Prince Edward Island . Another 5,000 white Loyalists went to Florida, bringing along their slaves who numbered about 6,500 (When Florida was returned to Spain, however, very few Loyalists remained there while most left .). About 13,000 went to Britain (including 5,000 free blacks). The 50,000 or - so white departures represented about 10% of the Loyalists (at 20 - 25% of the white population). Loyalists (especially soldiers and former officials) could choose evacuation . Loyalists whose roots were not yet deeply embedded in the United States were more likely to leave; older people who had familial bonds and had acquired friends, property, and a degree of social respectability were more likely to remain in the US . The vast majority of the half - million white Loyalists, about 20 - 25% of the total number of whites, remained in the U.S. Starting in the mid-1780s a small percentage of those who had left returned to the United States . The exiles amounted to about 2% of the total US population of 3 million at the end of the war in 1783 . </P> <P> After 1783 some former Loyalists (especially Germans from Pennsylvania) emigrated to Canada to take advantage of the British government's offer of free land . Many departed because they faced continuing hostility (in another migration more than 20,000 perhaps as many as 30,000 "Late Loyalists" arrived from the United States in the 1790s lured by Lieutenant - Governor Simcoe's policy of land and low taxes, one - fifth those in the US and swearing an oath of allegiance to the King). They came mainly for economic, not political reasons, The Canadian Encyclopedia, "Loyalists,;" and Liberty's Exiles, Maya Jasanoff, pp. 206--208 . </P>

Who were the loyalists and what became of them