Carleton Papers - Loyalists and British Soldiers, 1772 to 1784
This series includes documents retained by Sir Guy Carleton, the last British commander-in-chief in New York, upon his retirement. The records are about Loyalist soldiers, civilian refugees, British and German soldiers who settled in Canada, and people who were on Manhattan Island or the mainland during the American Revolution.
Historical language advisory
In your research, you may encounter historical language referring to Black Canadians that is considered offensive today. Please read the notice about historical language in LAC’s collections.
On this page
Search tips
- Try searching with only a surname. Some entries include only a surname or only an initial for the given name.
- In the advanced keyword search, try searching using an individual’s race, place of origin, place of residence, ship, destination, occupation, etc.
- To identify Black people, try keywords such as “Black” or “mulatto,” or try “Black Pioneers” in the regiment search box.
- Place of residence indicates the place where the Loyalists took refuge (often New York) when they fled their place of origin. It is used to identify the towns, cities, and states where military men were stationed, where civil officials and departmental employees were employed, etc.
- You can also search by names of multiple business partners, for example: Cochran & Abbot.
- Some of the original documents are very difficult to read, so some information in the database may be incorrect or incomplete.
- The content of the database entries reflects the original language used in the documents. This information was not translated.
- Indexing may be inconsistent. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please ask us a genealogy question.
About the records
The British Headquarters Papers (also known as the Carleton Papers) contain records kept by the commanders-in-chief of the British Army in North America during the American Revolution (1776–1783). Library and Archives Canada (LAC) holds a microfilm copy of the papers, as the original records are preserved at the National Archives in England.
The collection includes 54,557 names that appear in the Carleton Papers. Between 1984 and 1996, the Sir Guy Carleton Branch of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada undertook a vast indexing project with the help of volunteers and researchers using the microfilms held at LAC.
Access the records
The records in this database have been transcribed from microfilm. LAC holds a microfilm copy of the Carleton Papers (microfilms M–343 to M–369), which are not digitized.
You will need to view the microfilm in person. If you can't visit us in person, you can order copies or hire a researcher.
Include these details from the database entry when completing the copy or retrieval form for non-digitized items:
- title
- information noted in the record information section