84 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
was strengthened again in the middle of January, 1780, by the addition 
of ‘‘a great many recruits,’ who deserted from an American force that 
invaded Staten Island from the Jerseys under Lord Sterling. Some of 
these deserters, Simcoe tells us, had enlisted with the enemy in order 
to free themselves from imprisonment, and now embraced the oppor- 
tunity to return to their old companions. The result of these acces- 
sions is apparent in the next muster, which was held on Staten Island, 
March 24, and showed an enrollment of 595 men.! 
Early in April the Rangers’ infantry sailed, along with the Hessian 
regiment of Ditforth, the Volunteers of Ireland, and the Prince of 
Wales American Volunteers, to join the British before Charleston, 
South Carolina. It arrived at its destination, April 21, numbering 
400 rank and file, After the surrender of Charleston to the King’s 
troops it re-embarked for Richmond Redoubts on Staten Island, reach- 
ing its quarters, June 21. In the course of the next month it was 
joined by the Hussars and a hundred more of its cavalry, and then 
(August, 23) proceeded once more to Oyster Bay, where it was aug- 
mented by three troops of Dragoons under the command of Captains 
John Saunders, David Shank, and Thomas Joseph Cooke. These 
troops, together with the Hussars (now increased to seventy-eight 
men), the German Hussars, and the Bucks County Light Dragoons, 
are all included in the muster of August 24, which shows their com- 
bined membership to have been at that time 288 men, while the 
strength of the eleven infantry companies was 501 men, and the 
number of officers was eighty-five, making a total of 874. 
On October 8, Captain Saunders’ troop, which numbered only 
sixteen men, was detached.to accompany General Leslie to Virginia, 
of which Saunders was a native, and where he expected to complete 
his company. Two and a half months later this detachment was 
followed by Simcoe and the Rangers on an expedition to the same state 
under Arnold’s command, but Captain Cooke was permitted to re- 
main in New York to fill the ranks of his Dragoons. The hardships 
of this expedition told heavily on Simcoe and his men, so much so, 
in fact, that by the early days of June, 1781, the corps had “‘scarcely 
more fhan 200 infantry and 100 cavalry fit for duty,” and Lord 
Cornwallis found it necessary to order Captain Hutchinson and the 
71st Regiment (200 rank and file) to join Simcoe. At the capitulation 
of Yorktown, October 19, ten infantry companies and three troops of 
cavalry of the Rangers were involved. A muster taken two months 
later showed 282 members of the corps, besides officers, detained in the 
victors’ camps at Frederickstown, Fredericksburg, Winchester, and 
1MS. Muster Rolls of Col. Edward Winslow; Abstracts from the Muster Rolls 
by Rev. W. O. Raymond; Simcoe’s Journal, t00, 107, 121, 128. 

