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August 1: Emancipation Day in Canada
March 24, 2021: Canada’s House of Commons voted unanimously to officially designate August 1 Emancipation Day. It marks the actual day in 1834 that the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 came into effect across the British Empire.
Only those enslaved under the age of six were freed. Enslaved people older than six years of age were re-designated as “apprentices” and required to work 40 hours per week without pay, as part of compensation to the enslavers. Full emancipation was not achieved until midnight on July 31, 1838. Read a history – BC Black History Awareness Society

On 1 August 2023, the Celebrations of Emancipation Day was designated as an event of national historic significance under Parks Canada’s National Program of Historical Commemoration.
Historical importance: people of African descent in Upper and Lower Canada marked the abolition of enslavement in 1834 with organized celebrations that gave rise to annual events.
Emancipation Day celebrations began on 1 August 1834, when people of African descent in Upper and Lower Canada marked the end of more than 250 years of enslavement throughout the British Empire. Nineteenth-century events celebrating Emancipation Day took place in what are now Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and British Columbia, inspiring an annual tradition that continues to this day throughout Canada.
The Slavery Abolition Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1833 and took effect on 1 August 1834, legally ending the centuries-old system of colonial enslavement of people of African descent throughout the British Empire. Emancipation was immediate in what is now Canada and in other colonies such as Bermuda and Antigua. Elsewhere in the British Caribbean, the transition to freedom took another three or four years as formerly enslaved people were forced to serve mandatory periods of apprenticeship imposed by the Act as additional compensation to slave-holding planters. By 1838, roughly one million people of African descent had been legally freed in Great Britain and its colonies.
In what is now Canada, annual celebrations were often known as West Indian Day because the largest number of enslaved people who were freed lived in the Caribbean (called the West Indies by European colonists). Later these events became known as August First and Emancipation Day. Festivities ranged from small picnics to grand public affairs, typically with church services, parades, communal meals, formal dinners, and entertainment.  Read more and see image of plaque to be unveiled today Sunday 28 July 2024.

Emancipation Day – Wikipedia
Emancipation Day is observed in many former European colonies in the Caribbean, Canada (provinces) and areas of the United States (states) on various dates to commemorate the emancipation of slaves of African descent. Read more…

Piecing Together a Passenger List: The Bridgewater, Part Two of Four
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
The victualing musters of Fort Howe record the names, occupations, family sizes, and colonies of origin for the thousands of Loyalists who found sanctuary at the mouth of the St. John River. Because they also contain the names of the vessels that brought refugees, it is possible to piece together the passenger list for the Bridgewater, a ship that brought Loyalists to New Brunswick in July of 1783.
An unusual entry that ties together the victualing muster and the Bridgewater’s passenger manifest is the name of the ship’s captain, Daniel Adnett (Adnitt/Adinot). Typically, the captains of loyalist evacuation vessels were either British naval officers or American mariners whose ships were hired for specific journeys.  The exception to this would seem to be Daniel Adnett. Given that he received provisions from Fort Howe as well as a land grant within what is now Saint John, it would seem that he was a Loyalist who was hired by the British to transport refugees away from New York City.
Adnett brought refugees to Saint John on two separate occasions: June 13 and September 5, 1783. (There is also a record of a vessel called Bridgewater sailing for Saint John on September 13, a mere week later.  As Adnett is not listed as its captain –and given that the round trip journey would have been from 4 to 6 weeks—it seems logical to assume that this was another vessel that was also named Bridgewater.)
Since some Loyalists are known to have used their own ships to find refuge in other parts of the British Empire, it is entirely possible that Adnett hired out his ship before he settled among other Loyalists. Unfortunately, his name only appears once outside of the victualing muster, the land grant list, and records pertaining to the Bridgewater‘s June voyage. He was named as the captain of the Achilles, a privateer “licensed” by the British to prey upon American shipping during the American Revolution.
Another entry that links Fort Howe’s victualing muster to the Bridgewater’s passenger list is the one for the only widow known to have sailed on the evacuation vessel. While there may have been other widows aboard the ship, Fort Howe’s muster simply recorded them as numbers within the household of male Loyalists. (John Cochran travelled with his wife and two dependent females – as did Nathaniel Dickinson). Sixty-five year-old Miriam Eager, however, travelled by herself.
Miriam (née  Wheeler) was  about 27 years old when she married James Eager in Westborough, Massachusetts in 1745. The couple had 8 children, six of whom lived to become adults. At some point in time the Eager family moved to nearby Northborough, Massachusetts. Miriam’s husband died in 1761 when he was 40. His widow was 43 years old, their oldest child was 16, and their youngest child would have been just 4 years old.
In the summer of 1777, Miriam was 59 years old – and living in a colony prepared to root out, punish, and banish its Loyalists. Miriam was not just loyal in her politics, she had actually make numerous speeches against the rebels. Northborough created a committee to identify those within the town who were “inimical” to the new republic and to have them tried in local courts. Among the list of six Loyalists were the names of Miriam and her two sons, James (23) and John (20). The creation of a list of proscribed Loyalists was not uncommon for Massachusetts, but to have a woman named within it was highly unusual and signifies how outspoken Miriam must have been.
How Miriam fled Northborough and made her way to New York City sometime during the next six years is not known. But she was not the only family member to sail north to sanctuary. Her daughter Miriam was the wife of a Loyalist named Ebenezer Cutler who had been banished from Massachusetts. The Cutler family found refuge across the Bay of Fundy from Widow Eager, making Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Royal their new home. Were mother and daughter aware of their geographical proximity? Had they assumed that the other one was dead? We will never know for sure.
Described as a public servant from New Hampshire, John Cochran was accompanied by his wife Sarah, two dependent women, four children, and two servants in his journey on the Bridgewater. One of his servants was 11 year-old Adam, a free Black, who had entered into a ten-year indenture with the Cochran family.
Cochran had served with the British Army at Halifax, Rhode Island, and New York. He arrived in Saint John “with {his} understanding almost lost and in a paralytic state, having had a stroke nine months before and a second one since his arrival.” His wife Sarah claimed that he could “scarcely be understood by strangers” and was “totally unfit for business“.  A second stroke completely disabled him for eight months, and he was only kept alive “by medicine and broths“.  What the testimony of Cochran’s sufferings failed to reveal was how active his wife and children had been during the revolution.

At the outset of the war, Cochran had been in command of the fort in Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s harbour. On December 14, 1774, hundreds of rebels stood outside the gates of Fort William-and-Mary. Cochran warned them he would fire if they tried to enter.
Suddenly a signal was given to storm the fort, and Cochran ordered his men to fire their cannon. Despite being outnumbered 25 to 1, Cochran and his men fought off the rebels with bayonets and muskets. When Sarah Cochran saw her husband being overpowered, she grabbed a bayonet and drove back his attackers, but both Cochrans were soon overpowered and disarmed.
Six months later, John Wentworth, the last royalist governor of New Hampshire, took refuge in the fort until Cochran was able to escort him to Boston.  In the absence of the two men, rebels confronted Sarah Cochran at the door of the fort’s house, demanding to make a search for the former governor.
After searching through the house, they asked for a light to inspect the cellar. One of the Cochran’s young daughters said she would guide them with a candle. An account from this era says, “She held the candle until they were in a part of the cellar from which she well knew they could not retreat without striking their heads against low beams, when the roguish girl blew the light out. As she anticipated, they began to bruise themselves, and they swore pretty roundly.” Little Miss Cochran then asked if the rebels had found Wentworth. Her questions “only served to divide their curses between the impediments to their progress and the “little Tory.”
In 1801, a Fredericton newspaper carried news of the death of Mrs. Ann (John) Atkinson, a daughter of John Cochran. This daughter would have been 6 years old when rebels invaded the Cochran home in New Hampshire, so she may have been the “little Tory” who raised the ire of Portsmouth’s rebels.
John Cochran died in 1790, just seven years after his arrival in New Brunswick.
More of the stories of the Bridgewater‘s passengers will be told in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Were There Really 1,500 British Wagons on the Road to Monmouth?
by Jason R. Wickersty 23 Juky 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
“On the 18th of June, the British army, now under the command of Clinton, evacuated Philadelphia for New-York. The figure they made on the road had something the air of the sublime; for their baggage, loaded horses, and carriages, formed a line not less than twelve miles in length. General Washington, whose eye, like that of the sacred Dragon, was always open and fixed upon the enemies of America, immediately crossed the Delaware after them—pushed on detached corps to obstruct their advance—gall their flanks—and fall on their rear, while he himself moved on with the body of the army.”
It’s an image synonymous with the British army during the June 1778 Monmouth campaign – an enormous line of baggage wagons snaking along a scorching, sandy road in southern New Jersey, filled with what couldn’t be packed aboard the transports bound for New York upon the evacuation of Philadelphia. Lurking nearby, a detachment of Jersey militia follows along, ready to pounce on what they hope to be their next prize.
In his public after action report to Secretary of State Lord George Germain of the march across New Jersey that would eventually lead to the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778, Gen. Sir Henry Clinton reported that, “under the head of baggage was comprised not only all the wheel-carriages of every department but also the bat horses, a train which, as the country admitted but of one route for carriages, extended near 12 miles.”
General Knyphausen further elaborated on the number of wagons in this extensive train, in his report of July 6, 1778 to the Landgrave, informing him that, “On the 18th the 1st Division under my command, including the whole of the artillery and provision train of the army, (numbering 1,500 wagons), marched to Haddonfield, where the Commander-in-Chief with the last Division of Lt-General Earl Cornwallis also arrived towards mid-day.”
That’s a lot of wagons. [or were there that many?] Read more…

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: New York – A Soldier’s Life August 1780
From a Hessian Diary of the American Revolution.
This excerpt from the diary of Johan Conrad Dohla (170 pages).

Major Moves during Johan’s deployment:

  • March 1777:   Depart Germany
  • 3 June 1777:   Arrive New York, then Amboy NJ
  • November 1777:  To Philadelphia
  • June 1778: to Long Island
  • July 1778: To Newport RI
  • October 1779: to New York

August 1780: At New York (page 86)
Continuation of Occurences in North America During the Fourth Year, 1780

IN THE MONTH OF AUGUST [1780]
1 August.  An  investigation  and  courtmartial  was  held  in  our  regiment  concerning  the desertion of Glatz.
2 August. At seven o’clock in the morning the execution of Joseph Glatz was carried out. He was a Bohemian of the Catholic religion and  forty-six  years old. The regiment  formed a circle and Glatz, as an example to others, was shot and immediately buried on the spot.
11 August. During the night one of the most severe storms, with unheard of rage, struck all the islands in the West Indies and caused severe damage to all the islands and among the ships in those waters.
13 August. I was making cartridges.
16 August.  The  New  York  newspapers  reported  that  the  Portuguese  Court  had  signed  a treaty with France and Spain and joined those countries.
17 August. I went on watch at General Clinton’s.
18 August. We received orders to march.
Today, not far from Camden in  the  province ofSouth Carolina, an important battle occurred between the armies of General Lord Cornwallis and  the  American  General  Gates,  in  which  the  Continental  troops,  under  the  leadership  of General [Johann] Kalb, initially fought bravely and inflicted heavy casualties on the English. After  an  hour,  however,  they  were  weakened  and  had  to  surrender  the  battlefield  to  the victorious  Britons,  having  won  undying  fame  for  their  courageous  resistance  and  well-executed  withdrawal.  General  Kalb  was  fatally  wounded  and  died  shortly  thereafter.  The American losses amounted to 1,859 dead and wounded, as well as sixty captured. They also lost three cannon and nineteen baggage wagons during the retreat. On the English side more than  four hundred dead were counted also, among which was the  brave  General Thompson; and  about  606  wounded.  The  battle  lasted  more  than  three  hours.  Nightfall  and  the  forests prevented pursuit of the enemy.
19 August. At three o’clock in the morning we moved out of our camp on the Bowery and at four o’clock were at Bloomingdale, eight English  miles  from New York, where we again set up camp as if for battle.
20 August.  During  the  night  our  command  returned  from  Paulus  Hook.  Two  men  had deserted  from  it  on  August  18,  namely  Grenadier  [Matthias]  Prell,  of  Molitor’s  Company, from  Thiersheim  in  the  Sechs‡mter,  and  Private  [Andreas]  Gebhardt,  of  the  Colonel’s Company, from the M†nchberg area at home.
22 August. I went to work on the defenses at Harleben and Turtle Bay.
23 August. I went on field watch as lance corporal.
29 August.  I  went  on  picket  duty  at  Bitch  and  George  House. This  month  was exceptionally warm weather throughout.
(to be continued)

Advertised on 25 July 1774: “A MASTER-KEY to POPERY”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

July 25, 1774

“A MASTER-KEY to POPERY … highly necessary to be kept in every protestant family.”

As the imperial crisis intensified in the summer of 1774, Solomon Southwick, printer of the Newport Mercury, peddled an American edition of A Master-Key to Popery.  For many months, Southwick circulated subscription proposals in his own newspaper and several others in New England, seeking to generate sufficient interest to make publishing the book a viable venture.  He took it to press in 1773 and distributed to subscribers the copies they had reserved.  Apparently, he produced surplus copies that he offered for sale at his printing office, perhaps anticipating opportunities to disseminate the assertions made by Antonio Gavin, formerly a “secular Priest in the Church of Rome, and since 1715, Minister of the Church of England.”  Who better than a priest who converted to Protestantism to reveal the true workings of the Catholic Church?
Southwick addressed the subscription proposal to “all Protestants of every Denomination, throughout America, and all other Friends to religious and civil LIBERTY.”  He considered an American edition necessary because “POPERY has lately been greatly encouraged, by the higher Powers in Great-Britain, in some Parts of America, and the West-Indies” and “if successful must prove fatal and destructive to every Liberty, Civil and Religious, which is dear to a rational Being.” Read more…

Book Review: The Soldiers Fell Like Autumn Leaves
Author: Rick M. Schoenfield. (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2024)
by Al Dickenson 22 July 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
In The Soldiers Fell Like Autumn Leaves, author and historian Rick M. Schoenfield presents a unique perspective on an often-forgotten part of American history: the Battle of the Wabash, November 4, 1791. He illustrates how this battle was the culmination of so many seemingly unrelated events as well as the catalyst for so much history since this event. Placed in the broader Northwest Indian War campaign, the first military expedition this side of the newly established Constitutional rule of the United States, the Battle of the Wabash was, simply put, a disaster. Schoenfield does not shy away from this fact, nor does he fail to involve a variety of sources, hostile or friendly, contemporary or recent.
Though Schoenfield primarily refers to it as the Battle of the Wabash throughout the book, he does mention its other names, which provide far more context. The Indian name, The Battle of a Thousand Slain, is very apt as, of the 1,000 soldiers led into battle by Gen. Arthur St. Clair, only 24 escaped unscathed. This brings the third most common name for the battle, St. Clair’s Defeat, and leads into one of Schoenfield’s assertions—that, despite the United States Congress exonerating St. Clair, ultimately, as commander-in-chief, he was the primary reason for this military disaster.
Schoenfield is a masterful storyteller. When reading, it is easy to get lost in the world he describes—a world of untamed land and raw adventure. Read more…

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions

    Entries which have been added, or revised, this week, with thanks:

  • to Katie Cleghorn for information about:
    • John Cook Sr.  who served in the KRRNY and resetlled in Osnabruk & Williamsburg UC. Married twice – Catherine Carman and Sarah Ann Wilkinson and fathered six children
    • Conrad Wert born in Herkimer NY and resettled in Osnabruck, he married twice Christina ? and Jane Finney and with Jane had seven children
    • Hannah Schaver Sypes from Pennsylvania settled in Bertie Twp, Welland County, Upper Canada. Hannah applied for UE status and land on the basis of her first Loyalist husband Jacob SYPES who died in 1776. She came to Canada with her second Loyalist husband Edward STOOKS. She had nine children wth Jacob and two more with Edward.
  • To Kevin Wisener for information about:
    • Samuel Nelson from Philadelphia who settled at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He married twice, to 1. Mary Robinson 1784/85 – August 25, 1848 daughter of Loyalist Joseph Robinson and Mary Smith (of New Jersey and later Manhattan, NYC, NY) and 2. Mary McKenzie (died at Pictou, Nova Scotia). He fathered twelve children.
    • John Nelson from Philadelphia resettled at China Point, Queens County, PEI.  Samuel and John Nelson and their sister Maria left Philadelphia and were brought to Prince Edward Island in 1786 as wards of Governor Fanning. (Fanning was Governor of Nova Scotia and appointed Governor of PEI in 1786.). John married Hannah Jane Hill and they had seven children. John died in 1856.
    • Capt. Isaac Coffin  Born in Boston Massachusetts, Isaac served in the British Navy. He settled in Prince Edward Island, then England. He served as a Volunteer after enlisting in 1773; promoted to Lieutenant in 1776; promoted to Commander in 1781 and was the Shipmaster of the vessel Thisbe. Married Elizabeth Greenly on April 3, 1811, no children

If you are willing to submit some information, send a note to  loyalist.trails@uelac.org All help is appreciated. …doug

Boudica and the American Revolution
by Liam Connor 25 July 2024 Journal of the American Revolution
In 1991, Queen Elizabeth II gave an address to a joint session of the United States Congress, the first address of its kind delivered by a British monarch. As part of her remarks, she reflected on the end of the American Revolution and eventual partnership between the United States and the United Kingdom. “Some people believe that power grows from the barrel of a gun,” said the Queen, her speech actually written by staff at the British Embassy in Washington. “So it can, but history shows that it never grows well nor for very long. Force, in the end, is sterile. We have gone a better way: our societies rest on mutual agreement, on contract and on consensus.” The exhibition of anxieties about violent pasts was a strange choice, as if intended to absolve modern listeners of any connection to people who made war on each other. But these anxieties were not new; those who participated in the American Revolution possessed anxieties about their histories to that time, and grappled with them as the Revolution and wider imperial crisis unfolded.
In the eighteenth century, the British largely saw their ancient Britannic heritage as an embarrassment to their self-conception as a beacon of proper civilization. The history of the Iceni tribe and their last queen, Boudica, proved especially fraught. Polytheistic, influenced in large measure by Druids, and lacking a method of government that would have been recognized as enlightened, the eighteenth century Briton found little about the Iceni, or any other ancient Celtic tribe, worth emulating. To add to the complications of heritage, the Iceni revolted multiple times against the Roman Empire, whom the British were attempting to emulate.
Boudica led an Iceni revolt against the Romans in approximately 61 CE. Responding to a litany of Roman offenses, the Iceni sacked the modern towns of Colchester, London, and St. Albans before being defeated in battle by Suetonius Paulinus somewhere in the British midlands, possibly near modern Wroxeter. After the uprising failed, Boudica died, likely from self-inflicted poisoning. The only detailed accounts of Boudica and her revolt come from Roman historians Tacitus and Cassius Dio. The Roman histories did not become widely available in Britain until the early 1500s.
These early modern uses of Boudica presented the English with an identity crisis. The Elizabethan period, by simple virtue of the Queen’s gender, necessitated a softening of gender norms, and authors portrayed Boudica more positively, drawing parallels with Elizabeth I. Read more…

Reflections on Space, Imagination, and Maritime Safety in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 1820 – 1839
By Zachary A. Tingley 22 July 2024 in Borealia
In 1835, A. C. Buchanan, the crown’s agent for emigration in Upper and Lower Canada, sent a letter to Lord Aylmer, Governor of British North America, on the subject of possible improvements that could be made for vessels navigating the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In his opening remarks, Buchanan wrote “I have the honor to submit to your Excellency the accompanying Chart, illustrative of my plan for rendering more safe the Navigation of the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, to which I alluded in my general Emigration Report of last year that I had the honor to lay before your Lordship.” Buchanan goes on to express his concern for the wellbeing of the “many thousands of Emigrants” destined for the Canadas and indicated that he had as a “consequence been prompted to devote much thought to the subject.” In submitting his evaluation of navigation in the Gulf and proposed solutions to various challenges therein, Buchanan’s thoughts about that space elicited a strong emotional response, and in his view, required immediate action on part of the Imperial government…
…Between 1820 and 1830 roughly 100,000 British Subjects migrated to the Canadas, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, some in search of new opportunities, and others fleeing from the plight of famine and social injustice. Between 1830 and 1840, specifically, the number of people choosing to settle increased from about 10,000 people a year over the course of the previous decade to over 50,000 people annually. Read more…

18th Century Silk Dyers – in London
By Viveka Hansen 11 July 2016 in ikfoundation.org
A selection of 68 trade cards and bill-heads from 1703 to 1818 demonstrate some fascinating facts of the dyers and cleaners of London. To regard oneself as silk dyer dominated, whilst secondary titles were scarlet dyer, scourer or cleaner of various garments, dyer of cotton/calico or woollen fabrics. These randomly preserved trade cards and receipts also give some idea of preferred colours by the customers and all other services that were available in such establishments. Additionally, this case study will include some information about the most used and desired natural dyes – in a time when neither synthetic dyes or dry-cleaning with non-water based methods were invented.
A search for “trade card dyer” in British Museum’s collection online returned 68 results and all of these traders worked in London. Even if 50 establishments or ca 75% were named “Silk dyer” – these professionals were also often taking care of other materials like cotton, wool and linen garments or interior textiles.  Read more, with discussion of various dyes…

Nazaire Dugas   New Brunswick’s first professional Acadian architect
by Nordais Collectif, 10 April 2024 at Canada’s History
Nordais Collectif, a recipient of the 2023 John Bragg Award, set the objective of identifying and making accessible the work of Nazaire Dugas — an Acadian architect whose vision gave shape to his community in New Brunswick.
Born in Caraquet, New Brunswick, Nazaire Dugas (1864-1942) was the first Acadian architect to make a living from his profession. He created plans for many prominent buildings in the region, as well as a number of private residences and businesses. His conceptual, technical and practical know-how has had a major influence on the development of the entire Acadian Peninsula. Despite this, much of his work is not well-known and is at risk for demolition or disrepair.
The Acadian town of Caraquet is known for its magnificent view of Chaleur Bay. But along the town’s main boulevard, a visitor’s eyes are also drawn to the understated beauty of several buildings. There are cozy, wood-clad heritage homes decorated with detailed mouldings; a busy café whose elegant front window hints at its hundred-year history; the stone remains of a former convent, whose façade now serves as a backdrop for outdoor cultural events; and an artists’ workshop bursting with colour. These buildings share a common origin: an architect who inspired the people of the Acadian Peninsula with his quest for beauty, Nazaire Dugas. Read more…

Events Upcoming

Friends of St. Alban’s Centre: Fish Fry, Sunday 28 July at 5:00pm

The popular annual St. Alban’s Fish Fry has two prices: $25 for adults and $15 for children under 10 (smaller helping). Again, tickets are available online and buying now will avert disappointment as this event traditionally sells out.
Tickets:  adult    children under 10
Both adult and children’s tickets can also be purchased at the Hallowed Grounds Café, while they last.

American Revolution Institute. Panel Discussion—Waging War in America: Operational Challenges of Armies During the American Revolution Thurs 1 Aug 6:30

Historian Don Hagist moderates a panel of contributors to the recent anthology Waging War in America 1775-1783, exploring the significant operational challenges faced by American, Loyalist, French and German forces during the Revolution. From recruitment and training to tactics and logistics, the panelists also examine how the various armies adapted to the specific circumstances of this war. Panelists for this discussion include Robert Selig, Ph.D., Alexander Burns, Ph.D., Todd Braisted and John Rees. Details and registration…

Fort Plain. Remembering the August 2nd 1780 Raid of Canajohary  Fri 2 Aug at 6 pm and the Frontier Women Save Fort Plain Sat 3 Aug 12 – 5

Join us at the Fort Plain Museum & Historical Park as we hold a Commemoration on the hilltop near the flagpoles. The American Veterans and First Tryon County Militia will be on hand. See…
Holding Down the Fort, the Frontier Women Save Fort Plain
Sat 3 August 12:00 – 5:00  Extensive program – details

Abegweit Branch: Loyalist Freemasonry in Charlottetown Thurs 8 Aug 5:30

A free public lecture by Dr. Bonnie Huskins, Adjunct Professor and Loyalist Studies Coordinator at University of New Brunswick.
Title: “Reflections of Loyalist Freemasonry, St. John’s Lodge No. 26, Charlottetown, PEI”
At the Rotary Auditorium, Charlottetown Library. More details and registration…

Black Loyalist Heritage Centre: Academic Conference of Knowledge Sat. 10 August

The schedule is set for the Black Loyalist Academic Conference of Knowledge on August 10 at the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre. If you are interested in the latest research and public history concerning the Black Loyalists and/or looking to connect with fellow travelers at ground zero of the Black Loyalist diaspora; Beautiful Birchtown, this is an event for you. Please review the event schedule
Please if you intend to participate, register to help manage logistics. Stay tuned for further updates.
Register here.

America’s History: Bus Tour: Capture of Fort Ticonderoga Fri 20 Sept.

In the Footsteps of Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold and John Brown: The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga – Friday September 20, 2024
Led by: Jim Rowe and Bruce Venter
Departure: Fort Ticonderoga parking lot
Tour Registration: $150.00
Registration and details…

Glengarry ON History: Lancaster Twp bus tour, Four dates Sept & Oct

The Glengarry Pioneer Museum, Glengarry County Archives, and the Glengarry, Nor’Westers & Loyalist Museum have partnered for the third installment of the hugely successful historic “Glengarry Rambles” bus tour! LANCASTER TOWNSHIP.
Led by Allan J. MacDonald, County Archivist, registered attendees will get to explore what was once known as the Lake Township and will discover the location of  Elbow Bend and Church Hill. Highlights include one of Ontario’s eleven bicentennial farms; Glengarry’s poultry capital; the North Lancaster Races; the home of a Rhodes Scholar. Ticket information to come.
Four tour dates September 28, 29, October 5, 6.

From the Social Media and Beyond

  • Step into history at the Ross-Thomson House & Store, Nova Scotia’s only surviving 18th-century store. Explore Shelburne, a town founded by Loyalist refugees after the American Revolutionary War. image
  • Sunday, Aug. 11 ring an historic bell made in 1792 in London, England at Whitechapel Bell foundry where the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia came from. Do this at  Anniversary Church Service of first one at Old Holy Trinity in Middleton, NS on August 14, 1791 which starts at 10 a.m. The public are welcome. image
  • Townsends, and “anything food”
    • Investigating Historie’s Food Secrets (14 min).  We are Food Detectives on a quest to uncover the secrets of Hash! Where the heck did it come from? Is it a potato dish? We are looking at recipes spanning over 150 years to find the common threads. Come along as we investigate!
  • This week in History 
    • 23 Jul 1764 James Otis of MA publishes The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved – a polemic against taxation without representation & urges businesses to boycott English goods. image
    • 24 Jul 1766 Oswego, NY Chief Pontiac concludes a peace treaty with Indian Superintendent Sir William Johnson. image
    • July 26, 1774, as if there wasn’t enough conflict in British North America, Virginia forces crossed the Ohio River to attack the Shawnee village of Wakatomika in what became known as Lord Dunmore’s War. That deadly fight ended on October 10.
    • 20 Jul 1775 Turtle Bay, Island of New York Marinus Willet &Alexander McDougall capture stores from the Royal arsenal, which are sent to provide the troops besieging Boston. image
    • 20 July 1775 Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. This day was observed as a day of fasting and prayer by the 2nd Continental Congress with the following proclamation:  “As the great Governor of the World, by his supreme and universal Providence, not only conducts the course of nature with unerring wisdom and rectitude, but frequently influences the minds of men to serve the wise and gracious purposes of his providential government; and it being, at all times, our indispensible duty devoutly to acknowledge his superintending providence, especially in times of impending danger and public calamity, to reverence and adore his immutable justice as well as to implore his merciful interposition for our deliverance:       – it is recommended to Christians, of all denominations, to assemble for public worship, and to abstain from servile labour and recreations on said day.” image
    • 21 July 1775 Presented in Congress was Benjamin Franklin’s plan of confederation and perpetual union; the new country he proposed would be called “The United Colonies of North America.” Congress tabled the plan. image
    • 22 July 1775 Cambridge, MA Gen Washington organized his army into three divisions under Gens Charles Lee, Artemus Ward, and Israel Putnam.  image
    • 23 Jul 1775 Rebel leader William Dayton arrives in backcountry SC to rally rebels. In the face of resistance by Loyalists, he rallies local patriot militia to begin arresting Loyalists. image
    • 25 Jul 1775 Cambridge, MA The first of the Pennsylvania Rifle companies under Capt Michael Doudel of York, PA arrives. The rifle companies were the 1st Continental Army units authorized by Congress & would play an important role in future engagements.  image
    • 25 Jul 1775 Cambridge, MA. Dr Benjamin Church was appointed 1stSurgeon General of the Continental Army over Mechanics leader Paul Revere’s objections and concerns he was a British spy. image
    • 21 July 1776 A British fleet under Commodore Peter Parker and General Henry Clinton abandons Charleston, SC and sails for NYC. The British cut their losses to reinforce the effort to take NY. They would not return to the south for several years.  image
    • 20 Jul 1776 Eaton’s Station, NC Chief Dragging Canoe’s Cherokee braves attack the station on the Holston River. They suffer 13 killed & retreat. They are also repulsed at Ft Caswell, TN, but inflict 40 casualties on the defenders. image
    • 22 Jul 1776 The Declaration of Independence arrived in Halifax, North Carolina. image
    • 23 Jul 1776 Occoquan Creek, VA. Prince William County militia drives off the Potomac River plantation raiding parties directed by VA Gov Earl Murray (Lord Dunmore). image
    • 20 Jul 1778 Vincennes, IN Col George Rogers Clark’s volunteers occupy the town. Thanks to the support of a local priest, Father Pierre Gibault’s support helped secure the support of the locals.  image
    • 22 Jul 1778 White Plains, NY Gen George Washington writes Adm Comte D’Estaing, lamenting the shallow waters around Sandy Hook, and suggests an attack on Newport, RI, with a reinforcing army under Gen John Sullivan marching to support it.  image
    • 22 Jul 1779 Minisink, NY. Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant leads a force of  Loyalists & Indians surrounding colonial NY & NJ militia. The patriots were overwhelmed. Some 45 – 50 others were killed. About 29 others escaped. image
    • 24 Jul 1779 Penobscot Peninsula, MA (today’s ME) A 10-ship & 700-man naval/amphibious expedition under Commodore Dudley Saltonstall arrives and begins siege operations against the newly constructed British Ft George. image
    • 25 Jul 1779 Penobscot Bay, MA   Comdr Dudley Saltonstall’s squadron is driven off by three British sloops under Capt Henry Mowat. Saltonstall is afraid to maneuver his vessels in the Bagaduce River, where British shore batteries can pound him at will. Image
    • 20 Jul 1780 Brigadier General Anthony Wayne led American troops from New Bridge on a raid against the Bull’s Ferry Blockhouse.  image
    • 21 July 1781 Richmond, VA British Gen Charles Cornwallis receives orders from Gen Henry Clinton to march to Williamsburg and establish a base from which he can be reinforced from the sea. image
    • 24 Jul 1781 Suffolk, VA. British Lt Col Banastre Tarleton & his cavalry returned to the main British army following a 400-mile raid deep into Virginia. The raid shook locals & damaged much property. image
  • Clothing and Related:

    • Exhibit Spotlight: A rare extant homespun linen at-home/work dress, c1800 with a #NewHampshire provenance from the Bowen Collection @unhlibrary  Read on for more information & photos…
    • It might be a sculpture, this sweep of structured silk with its curves and contours, able to support itself without the shape of a body beneath. Stays from the late 18th century are a feat of craftsmanship, a piece of sartorial engineering. image
    • In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, all children in the Netherlands. wore skirts until they were about seven years old. This was common and practical, and surprisingly gender-neutral when compared with now. image
  • Miscellaneous

 

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