I'm lucky enough to have a grandmother who is interested in genealogy, and she found that one of our earliest family members to arrive in America came as a soldier from England, but appears to have deserted almost immediately and started a family in New York City.
I love knowing that one of my ancestors came in such a dishonorable, yet totally understandable way, essentially getting a free ride to a new country on King George III's ten pence. I'm curious how common that story was, and how easy it would be for a British soldier to desert and start a new life in New York unnoticed.
Thank you for your time. I always love reading AskHistorians and this is the first question I've thought of that I haven't seen answered (though there have been answers about the high rate of Hessian and mercenary desertion).
I think this answer will both cover your question and that of /u/buddythebear.
Desertion was a signficant manpower drain for the British Army in North America, sapping away the strength of thousands over the course of the war. Defectors made up a notable portion of the Continental Army, though we don't have any exact figures on that that I know of.
British and German ("Hessian") soldiers had a number of reasons to leave their ranks and/or switch sides. For both armies, desertion increased as food supplies and living conditions decreased. Soldiers scheduled to or in danger of being flogged also seemed to run off at a pretty regular rate - the enemy was more likely to be welcoming than a drum major with a whip. Prisoners of war also tended to desert, either joining their captors armies when offered the opportunity or becoming civilian laborers in the communities they were camped in. Time in garrison or in prison camps - pretty open camps established in the American interior, such as at Lancaster, Pennsylvania - offered British and German soldiers chances to form times with the surrounding community and favorably compare American life with life in the army and back in Europe. No matter what the cause, deserters would have an easy time fitting in: the years right before the American Revolution were one of the busiest periods of white European immigration to the colonies, so many communities had newcomers only recently arrived on the continent. Most Americans, or at least the American governments, were happy to accept these deserters, since they were benefiting from the their enemies' loss.
As far as your ancestor's story: The British held New York City from the summer of 1776 until November of 1783, with rebel forward positions usually somewhere between Stoney Point/Verplanck's Point and the Croton River to the north. These long-standing static positions offered deserters ample opportunities to plan a pretty detailed escape route. The British were able to draw this very accurate map or the rebel defenses at West Point based entirely on interviews of American defectors. So, the setting of your family's story certainly makes it plausible. What would be very, very difficult is deserting the British army and remaining in New York City. Since they controlled the city, the British would be on steady lookout for deserters, and a runaway would be constantly surrounded by people who might recognize him. An exception would be deserting just as the the British left the city. Desertion spiked when the British army pulled out of Philadelphia, and the same probably happened when they left New York.
Sources: Charles Neimeyer, America Goes to War
James Kirby Martin and Mark Edward Lender, A Respectable Army
Mark Urban, Fusileers
Mark Edward Lender and Gary Wheeler Stone, Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle
As a follow up to this, how common was it for British soldiers to defect to the American side? Were defectors welcomed with open arms or were they treated with suspicion and disdain?
What was the punishment for desertion if they were caught? Also, did American soldiers desert to the British side?
