Active 1780-1783 Size regiment (1,200) | Country Great Britain Allegiance United Kingdom | |
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Branch British provincial unit Type infantry, dragoons (mounted infantry) (auxiliary troops) Garrison/HQ Long Island, Province of New York Headquarters Long Island, Province of New York | ||
The American Legion was a British provincial militia unit raised for Loyalist service late in the American Revolutionary War by Benedict Arnold, the former Continental Army general who had crossed over from the Patriots to the British. The unit was composed primarily of deserters from the Continental Army. "Legion" was an 18th-century term for a military unit the size of a regiment, but consisting of infantry and dragoons (cavalry), or infantry, dragoons, and artillery, all under one command to make it more flexible for scouting or irregular operations than a regiment, which consisted of infantry or cavalry alone.
Contents
Regiment formed
The American Legion was raised on Long Island, New York, in October 1780. In the first half of 1781 it was sent with General Arnold on raids in Virginia.
Campaigns
The unit was again with Arnold in the September 1781 Battle of Groton Heights in Connecticut, but was not involved in the notorious attack on Fort Griswold.
Regiment disbanded and resettled in British Canada
The American Legion was disbanded at the end of the war in 1783.