In a Sharpe film, Sharpe's Eagle, a character is present who is an English officer who fought for England during the War for Independence, and then again against Napoleon. Is this a thing that happened, if so, how much?
Bonus question. When asked if he's American, he specifies that he's Virginian. What is the meaning of this beyond being from Virginia?
When asked if he's American, he specifies that he's Virginian. What is the meaning of this beyond being from Virginia?
This is exceptionally common early in the American republic. In many cases one's primary loyalty was to one's home colony/state, not the new nation as a whole. Even in political terms, states took a much more prominent role in national life during the early republic; the dominant federal government model that is seen as the norm today was really born of the Progressive era in the early 20th century, culminating in the massive expansion of federal prerogatives under the New Deal.
The pattern of identifying primarily with a state tracks up until the mid-19th century; one oft-cited story about Robert E. Lee is that he was asked by Francis P. Blair (a prominent Republican politician from Maryland acting on Lincoln's direction) to command the Union army, which he declined while saying that his "loyalty to Virginia ought to take precedence over that which is due the Federal Government." It is difficult to find an exact source for this quote--it is cited in places like this amateur history website dedicated to a NC Civil War unit, but I am not aware of any verified basis for its origin.
There weren't a great many American-born officers or soldiers in the British Army. However, there were a fair few Americans in the Royal Navy. American sailors could be press-ganged, enticed by enlistment bounties, or fugitives from the law. Regardless of their motives, thousands of Americans served on Royal Navy warships during the Napoleonic Wars. In fact, after Britons, Americans were the most numerous nationality serving in the Royal Navy of the time.
In the case of the British Army, there are a handful of cases. Some, like New York native Samuel Auchmuty (1756–1822), fought for the Loyalist cause during the Revolutionary War and joined the British Army proper after the war. Auchmuty would go on to become a lieutenant general, a knight, and a veteran of fighting in Egypt, India, Java. Others, like Wiliam Howe De Lancey were children when their Loyalist families fled America. From there, they started their own army careers. De Lancey would be a rising star until his death at Waterloo in 1815.