Although American privateering reached new heights during the Revolution, George Washington had given privateers a stern warning not to plunder Nova Scotian ships or harm Nova Scotians unless they were obviously part of Ethe British war effort against America. His decree could have been a sensible act of goodwill, and he may have also been looking forward to the day when Nova Scotians themselves might take up arms against the British and become one with the other colonies along the seaboard. Privateers were forbidden to steal private property or ransom prisoners. Washington also insisted that torture was out of the question.
The larger American privateer vessels followed Washington’s ethical code to some degree, while the smaller New England privateers had little regard for it. Some had also simply forged their letters of marque. So in the end, the line between pirate and privateer became quite blurred, because of the nature of the work and those who were attracted to it. In the early part of the Revolution the New England coast was downright crowded with privateer ships trying to get in on the action. Sometimes they got in each other’s way and had to fight for the right to board a vessel that was about to be a victim. It was a messy business, driven by greed and bloodlust, but still glorified both in its day and in history books to follow. y
The owner of the privateer did not need to get his hands dirty, except to collect his due – one-half of all that could be seized. The officers and crew divided the other half. The business arrangement was a veritable template for other seemingly more dignified enterprises to follow in the American industrial revolution. For those new American patriot investors looking to profit from the war, it was tough to evade the enticement of such easy money. And all supposedly for a good cause.
Supposedly, the American admiralty courts would decide (after the fact) what goods could be legally kept according to the rules of the game and what couldn’t. Sometimes Nova Scotians even appealed through proper legal channels to have their stolen goods returned. But Washington and his military enforcers had more important things on their minds. Rarely did a Nova Scotian appeal actually succeed in gaining the return of stolen property.d
One of the more daring privateer attacks took place not at sea but on land. On November 17, 1775, the American schooners Hancock and Franklin arrived in Charlottetown where they kidnapped Governor Callbeck and looted his house. They plundered the storehouses and threatened to cut the throat of the governor’s pregnant wife, but she couldn’t be found. They kidnapped the surveyor and other hostages and took off *after two days, loaded down with stolen goods.
So much of everything was being stolen as raids increased in 1776 that food prices soared as did the cost of all manner of basic goods. Fishing boats were stolen or wrecked or simply taken for a joyride and left abandoned. Communication and trade between ports was being severed by the extent of this harassment and, since many communities still weren’t self-sufficient, this brought on new hardships.
The smallest of fishing communities were not spared and as privateers became more brazen, they even made their way into the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbour. Sometimes they left their victims stripped of clothes either out of greed to steal absolutely everything they could get their hands on or for sheer sadistic amusement or possibly both.
Liverpool was particularly hard hit but when American Captain Benjamin Cole arrived with two schooners in Liverpool Harbour he met serious resistance. His crew came ashore and captured the town’s fort, taking hostages.u The Liverpool militia, however, succeeded in overtaking Cole’s men and captured the captain. Cole, realizing he was in a tough spot, suggested a prisoner exchange, but his men were greedy to acquire the ammunition and nother supplies at Liverpool. After a stand-off, the militia finally released Cole and the privateers fled without the booty they had been hoping for. t
Raiders of the Resolution
Dreams of stealing gold and costly jewels proved more often than not to be unrealized. Therefore, privateers stole ammunition, food, furniture . . . whatever they could lay their hands on and haul off. Take Captain Amos P/otter, for example. A Yankee privateer captain cruising off the coast of Nova Scotia, he and his crew aboard the Resolution had just seized a schooner full of dry goods and were on their way back to New England. Potter was sailing past Halifax Harbour, feeling pleased with having done well for himself, when he encountered an English military vessel. The captain of the British ship figured the Resolution to be a friend, not a foe. As they drew nearer, he hailed Potter and invited him over to his ship for a drink. Potter, not wanting to show his hand and not wanting to pass up a little free swill, said he’d oblige. He also hoped that he could use the elÿement of surprise to capture this vessel as a prize. Before he boarded, he passed the word to his men to prepare to board the British ship and to wait for his signal.
The British boatswain had somehow heard Potter talking to his men but clammed up until the privateer captain was aboard, at which point he shouted out, “A traitor!” The English sailors grabbed Potter and pulled away from the Resolution.
Now the men on the Resolution felt as if they had been cheated out of an easy capture of a good ship. Their captain had been taken and they felt humiliated. A shipload of dry goods was not enough to assuage their privatbeering machismo. For revenge, they decided to attack Annapolis – a little town that forever seemed to be an easy target for revenge involving injuries that had nothing to do with them. Potter’s men figured they would kidnap some Loyalists and bargain for their captain’s release. On August 19, 1781, eighty men took over the blockhouse from three sleeping soldiers. The lusty lads promptly got drunk and accidentally shot their own ship’s pilot. The sober raiders, however, rounded up the poor citizens of the town and took their weapons. Houses and buildings were properly looted and the scoundrels made off with a prominent citizen as a hostage.
Still smarting from the defeat at Louisbourg and the loss of territories, the French were more than happy to aid the Americans in their efforts toward independence. In 1780, the French Navy began to provide assistance to the American privateers, making life even more difficult for the already disadvantaged Nova Scotians who were so dependent on outside supplies. Supply lines were virtually cut off and some communities such as Pictou couldn’t even get essential ingredients like the salt necessary for preserving food.
Privateers increased their raids between 1781 and 1783, capturing even poverty-stricken fishermen and holding them for ransom. Privateer ships assaulted small communities as well as sailing vessels, ransoming ships and cargo.
In July of 1782, some American ships arrived in Lunenburg to loot and plunder. As the invaders came ashore, a woman named Mrs. Schwartz was going out to milk her cow. When she saw the hoodlums coming, she alerted her husband, who ran a full mile into the town screaming, “The Yankees are coming!” At that point, everybody began to hide their money and jewellery by dropping them down wells or burying their valuables in their gardens. Only three men manned the blockhouse to attempt a defence, but they didn’t stand a chance against the big guns the Americans had brought ashore. So the invaders took control and began to search the houses, stealing what they wanted or simply trashing the residences and stores. The kids in town apparently had a wonderful time of it. They followed the looters around and every now and then an American would give them some stolen candy, knives or trinkets. When the looters were tired of their fun, they threatened to level Lunenburg to the ground unless £1,000 (in the form of a promissory note) was paid. Three hostages were held as insurance that they’d get their way.
It wasn’t until the spring of 1783 that the raids let up and Nova Scotians along the coast could sleep a little sounder at night.
Chapter 22
Chapter 22
“Inexpressibly Rugged”
Jacob Bailey was an Anglican priest from Maine who, as a Loyalist, decided to move to Nova Scotia to keep out of harm’s way during the American Revolution. He arrived in Halifax in 1779 to serve as a parish priest at Cornwallis and later at Annapolis Royal. Bailey p
rovides us with an intimate and opinionated glimpse of Halifax and beyond with notes from his Journal of a Voyage from Pownalboro to Halifax, with Notices of Some Events in the Latter Place.
On June 21, 1779, Bailey sails into the harbour after a truly rotten twelve-day trip at sea. Halifax is a bit of a disappointment. Bailey was expecting to see “lofty buildings rising in conspicuous glory” and a “respectable part of the Royal Navy” at anchor in the harbour. Instead he sees only the blunt rocky fortress of the Citadel, a few scattered, primitive-looking homes and a handful of battered ships in the harbour. Not a shred of conspicuous glory to be found anywhere.
Bailey’s ship is greeted by a large congregation of Mi’kmaq in their canoes, cruising along the harbour. This image, for Bailey, is actually a bit more positive as he refers to them as “copper-faced sons of liberty.” Once anchored at George’s Island, Bailey is pleased to see more ships and more buildings of the town that ascends from the harbour up the hill toward the Citadel. There is no commodore to greet the passengers as expected, so they go directly to the Halifax wharf, where crowds gather around them and throw them into “some confusion.” Bailey records himself as having shouted out, “Gentlemen, we are a company of fugitives from Kennebeck, in New England, driven by famine and persecution to take refuge among you, and therefore I must entreat your candour and compassion to excuse the meanness and singularity of our dress.” a
I doubt if such an oration would have gone over all that well with the rabble on the wharf, but fortunately an old neighbour of Bailey’s is on hand to recognize the preacher’s oratorical tone and to provide a safe haven for him as he becomes acquainted with life in Nova Scotia.
Despite Bailey’s misgivings about his new home, he went on to become a prominent citizen of Annapolis Royal, where he served as a diligent minister for the town and surrounding rural community. In his journals he wrote accounts of undertaking long, difficult journeys through rain and snow to perform a wedding or a funeral. He viewed himself as a kind of frontier missionary and even turned some of his experiences into satirical verse.
Overcrowded and Unsanitary
The influx of the more well-to-do New England Loyalists into Nova Scotia also meant the arrival of a number of slaves. Slaves were advertised for sale in the papers and notices were posted offering rewards for escaped slaves and indentured servants.
As the American war progressed, it brought new money into Halifax and the town grew. In 1781, Joseph Howe printed the first edition of his Halifax Journalwhich stayed in business until 1870. Also in 1781, Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown and it became obvious that the Americans would have their way. Those citizens left in the colonies who wanted to remain under British rule would have to move north to do so.
Until 1783, New Brunswick remained, for all intents and purposes, under the control of First Nations people. Both American and British agents tried to get the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet people to become allies without great success. Michael Francklin, however, had made significant inroads with his language abilities and efforts at goodwill. He died in 1782, but the following year the New Brunswick Native people turned down George Washington*’s proposals for alliance by returning his gifts. Instead, they accepted the so-called “peace agreement” with England. That same year, Loyalist refugees flooded into the Saint John River Valley.
Twenty-five thousand more Loyalists arrived in Nova Scotia, at least half of them in Halifax. The remains of the British army and fleet also packed into the city, jamming it again with military men, this time defeated military men. While the wealthier Loyalists tore down old houses and built themselves new mansions, the poor built shacks with leftover lumber. The soldiers, however, were back to living in tents. Halifax was overcrowded,h unsanitary and disease was rampant.
Runaway Black slaves from New England also arrived, as well as those set free because their American masters were too poor to keep them. Black communities grew in Halifax and in outlying areas. There was also such an influx of Roman Catholics among Loyalists and discharged soldiers that the government finally decided they could now own their own land and build churches.
The Price of Allegiance
The Loyalists who had not abandoned America were in bad shape after the British gave up the fight. They felt forsaken by the king and hoped they could yet live in peace with their revolutionary neighbours, but this was not to be the case. The new American Congress was looking for some form of restitution from the Loyalists. Despite the ill feelings, many Loyalists who had left during the war wanted to return to their homes in America. Many American revolutionaries were violently opposed to allowing them. Those who had left during the war should stay out, they argued, and those who remained should get out as well.
Nova Scotia was the obvious place to emigrate to but it had a reputation as being a snow-ravaged land of hard times and it was decidedly less than civilized. Nonetheless, it was reasonably close and land would be granted to them when they arrived. Charles Morris was the man who would survey the province and decide where the most suitable settlement sites would be.
In America, a mass exodus took place, led by Sir Guy Carleton. He received little financial support from the British government, which was more concerned with protecting the defeated army than the civilian Loyalist population. There simply wasn’t enough transportation to go around. Evacuating families were forced to leave behind mountains of personal possessions. Carleton also worried that if the troops moved out too quickly, the refugees would have little protection.
George Washington was getting pushy and urged Carleton to hurry up and get his people out of New York in particular. Washington was anxious to see them leave behind as much of their possessions, including Black slaves, as possible. Carleton was doing the best he could in a tough situation and at least he knew the Loyalists were, in fact, wanted in Nova Scotia. If not the promised land, at least it was a new home where land could be had and these people could live in peace. Nova Scotia, recently with a population of only 17,000, was about to see the head count double in a very short time.
Loyalists kept coming into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick through late 1783, sometimes under very difficult conditions. Despite the difficulties of travel, the refugees struggled to bring as much of their household possessions as possible. Also arriving were 200 Blacks who had run away from their American masters to the promised freedom and protection of the British government. Washington had opposed this exodus but Carleton had succeedded in allowing the Blacks to join the other Loyalists. Ironically, if you were a Loyalist and owned Black slaves, the slaves would still remain as “property” after they arrived in Nova Scotia.
Cold Comfort for Refugees
Food was in very short supply in Nova Scotia now that everyone had arrived. There just wasn’t enough to go around and Britain was unable to ship enough bare essentials into the province to feed all the hungry mouths. Some families had to keep moving from one community to another in hopes of finding enough sustenance to keep them alive. At least 2,000 left Nova Scotia altogether in search of a better life anywhere but here. The Nova Scotia government also decided to help alleviate some of the problems by shipping the sick and the poorest of the refugees back to America.
The majority of the Loyalists stayed, however, adapting to the tough times and learning the ropes of survival in Nova Scotia. Many became cod and whale fishermen. Some built and worked in sawmills where timber was cut into lumber for the West Indies. Most immigrants, however, were more comfortable with a life of farming. Unfortunately for them, most of the really good land had already been taken, so the agrarian life was a struggle. It was not an easy adjustment for these people who once had comfortable houses, plentiful food, access to shops, education and all the amenities of town and city life.
Food shortages remained at the heart of the immigrant crises. There was a virtual famine in British North America by 1789 and this forced Nova Scotians to work at improving their agriculture.
The Colony of Cape Breton
/> Oddly enough, British colonial policy stood in the way of immigrants settling on Cape Breton Island. At first there was little interest in developing the coal fields there. Inn 1766, however, a group of Halifax businessmen were granted a lease to Spanish Bay (Sydney) to mine coal and sell it for no more than three dollars per ton to customers in Halifax.
People already living in Cape Breton didn’t like this manipulation by distant Halifax. They wanted the right to own and control their own land. They wanted to mine it or farm it as they saw fit. In 1784 Cape Breton was granted its own government, independent from Halifax. Major Joseph Frederick Des Barres was the first governor. He was assisted by a chief justice and a nine-member council. Spanish Bay was the capital and the whole colony had no more than 2,000 people. Land was granted to Loyalist refugees but it was not an extremely popular place to settle. As on the mainland, many who arrived were anxious to move on to greener pastures. B
Various factors led to a short-lived history of an autonomous Cape Breton, but paramount was the intrusion of land speculators and battles over land ownership. The government was eventually dissolved in 1820. Expectations of a Loyalist influx leading to the island’s prosperity were never realized. Even though Cape Breton was again absorbed into Nova Scotia, there has remained a strong sentiment of independence and a distinct identity that is still rooted in the people of the island.
Black Loyalists in Search of Freedom
Unlike Cape Breton, Shelburne had grown quickly with the tide of refugees. There was a large Black population and many Blacks had been forced to become indentured servants or waged labourers in order to survive. Conflicts arose between the white and Black settlers. While white Loyalists were taking advantage of the Black settlers with very low wages and various sorts of abuse, they shamelessly accused Blacks of lowering the “morality” of the community and taking work from the white population. What was the grievance? Black people, the sober white Loyalists said, danced and sang and were having too much fun. And that just wasn’t appropriate for a community that was trying to model itself after a respectable New England town.
Nova Scotia Page 17
