The Queen's Rangers: Emerald Character

The real history

Loyalists were colonists who stayed loyal to the king during the Revolution. Robert Rogers, famous for Rogers' Rangers in the Seven Years' War, raised the Queen's Rangers in America in 1776 as a Loyalist corps. Its first fight came near Mamaroneck, New York, in October 1776. In early 1777 an inspector found the unit in poor condition, and Rogers was retired on half pay.

John Graves Simcoe took command on October 15, 1777, with the provincial rank of major. He rebuilt the regiment into eleven companies of about 30 men each: one of hussars, one of grenadiers and nine of light infantry. Where British regulars wore red coats, the Rangers were known as the green-clad regiment.

Simcoe trained his men to march and deploy quickly and to fight well with the bayonet and rifle, and he banned plundering. The Rangers worked as reconnaissance and outpost troops in the 1778 Pennsylvania campaign, in Benedict Arnold's raid on Richmond, Virginia, and in the Yorktown campaign.

At Yorktown about 320 Rangers under Simcoe held Gloucester Point, across the York River, where they guarded a possible escape route for the British commander. Simcoe was sent home sick before the surrender in October 1781.

After the war Simcoe became lieutenant governor of Upper Canada. A second Queen's Rangers was formed there around 1792 and 1793 and spent much of its time building roads until it was disbanded in 1802. Today the Queen's York Rangers carry on the regiment's name in the Canadian Army.

Sources

1. Simcoe, John Graves, Dictionary of Canadian Biography
2. Rogers, Robert, Dictionary of Canadian Biography
3. Colonel John Graves Simcoe, Yorktown Battlefield, National Park Service
4. The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment), Canadian Army, Government of Canada

Checked against these sources on October 3, 2026. Spot a mistake? Report an error. How we check facts.