The discontented and hostile feeling of the American Colonies at this period rendered it advisable to transfer The Royal Americans to the West Indies, recruited as they were from the Colonists themselves. Thus it fell to the lot of the Regiment to take a prominent share in the conquest and annexation of the West Indian Islands and the adjacent coast, which took place at this period. The officers in many instances filled important posts as Governors and Administrators of the various islands.
On the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1775 the 3rd and 4th Battalions were again raised in England and despatched to the West Indies, and thence to Florida, where they figured prominently in the operations in that region.
1779, SAVANNAH.
AMERICAN WAR.
In 1779 the 3rd and some companies of the 4th Battalion formed portion of an army under General Augustine Prevost in Georgia and South Carolina. The Regiment played a leading part at the brilliant action of Briars Creek (March 3rd, 1779), and also in the subsequent siege of Savannah, where a superior force of French and Americans under Comte d’Estaigne and General Lincoln was successfully held at bay by a very much smaller army under Prevost, and at the final assault was signally defeated with great loss (October the 9th, 1779). An improvised body of Light Dragoons (or Mounted Infantry), organised by Lieut.-Colonel Marc Prevost,[[9]] of the 60th, did remarkable service during these operations, and at the victory on the 9th of October lost heavily, but greatly distinguished itself by repulsing the main column of the enemy and capturing the colour of the Carolina Regiment, now in the possession of the Prevost family.
Upon the termination of the American War of Independence in 1783 the 3rd and 4th Battalions were disbanded for the second time, but were again raised in 1788 and despatched to the West Indies.
WEST INDIES.
The Regiment, for the most part quartered in the West Indies, took part in the following military operations:—
| Capture of the Island of Tobago, a brilliant feat of arms | April 17th, | 1783 |
| Capture (2nd) of Martinique | March | 1794 |
| Capture Saint Lucia | 1794 | |
| Capture Grande Terre Guadaloupe | 1794 | |
| Capture Saint Vincent | 1796 | |
| Capture Trinidad | Feb. | 1797 |
| Capture Porto Rico | April | 1797 |
On the 23rd of August, 1797, Field-Marshal H.R.H. Frederick Duke of York[[10]] was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment, vice Lord Amherst deceased.