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Funding Future Knowledge – 2023 Scholarship Challenge, June 1 – September 1, 2023
The 2023 UELAC Scholarship challenge is a concentrated push to encourage donations to support the Masters and PhD students who apply and are awarded scholarship money. We are very happy to report that the total raised so far has reached just over $3665. With 4 weeks to go we are very encouraged. Thank you.
This week we hear from the newest member of the committee with her encouragement for people to donate:

“My name is Jayne Leake, from the Abegweit PEI UELAC Branch, and I am a new member of the Dominion Scholarship Committee. In my work life, I was responsible for reviewing and nominating postsecondary student applicants for scholarships and awards in the Engineering field. The price of graduate education has increased significantly over the last number of years. These scholarships and awards play a crucial role in enabling graduate student recipients to continue their work. Every funding dollar they receive goes a long in offsetting the costs. I guarantee that your support of these students is very gratefully appreciated by them.”

There are two funds for you to choose from when on the Scholarship Challenge page: the Loyalist Scholarship Fund and the Scholarship Endowment Fund.
Members can also learn more about the UELAC Scholarship on page 11 of the Spring 2023 Loyalist Gazette (available in digital format in the Members’ Section after logging in at uelac.ca).
Christine Manzer UE Chair of the Scholarship Committee.

Anthony Stewart and That Detestable Weed: Part Two of Three
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
Anthony Stewart is unique in the annals of Loyalist history in that an event in his life is commemorated on an annual basis in Annapolis, Maryland. When local Patriots discovered that one of Stewart’s vessels was carrying tea into Annapolis in the fall of 1774, they forced the merchant to burn his ship and its “detestable” cargo in the city’s harbour. The ship in question was named for Stewart’s oldest daughter, Margaret (Peggy), who would have been just seven years old at the time of her father’s humiliation. This event has continued to be commemorated as Peggy Stewart Day, a celebration that is observed every October 19th in Annapolis.
Following the destruction of the Peggy Stewart, its Loyalist owner fled Maryland to find sanctuary in England. However, he returned to the rebelling colonies in 1777 and worked as a civil servant with the British forces headquartered in New York City.
In December of 1780, the Board of Directors of Associated Loyalists was created. William Franklin, the last royal governor of New Jersey and the son of Benjamin Franklin, served as its president.
The Associated Loyalists was a guerrilla force “established for embodying and employing such of his Majesty’s faithful subjects in North America, as may be willing to associate under their direction, for the purpose of annoying the sea-coasts of the revolted Provinces and distressing their trade, either in co-operation with his Majesty’s land and sea forces, or by making diversions in their favor, when they are carrying on operations in other parts.”
One of the objects of the organization was that the Associators (as the “faithful subjects” were titled) could “retaliate for the outrages and murders that {the Patriots} had committed upon the Loyalists“. They were the counterpart to the Association for Retaliation, a group of rebel vigilantes who preyed on loyal Americans.
Small groups of “associators” known as societies were to be commanded by officers recommended by the Board. They would be furnished with arms, ammunition, and rations and have all captured vessels for themselves. They would be given vessels for transport that they alone would man. The rebel prisoners taken by them would only be exchanged for Associated Loyalists named by the Board. Any sick and wounded members would be treated in the King’s hospitals. Those serving the regular army as guides would receive wages, and each who should act under the directors’ orders during the war, were promised “a gratuitous grant of two hundred acres of land in North America.”
Anthony Stewart, the Loyalist refugee from Annapolis, Maryland, was made one of the board’s ten directors. But how Stewart contributed to the activities of the Associated Loyalists – beyond serving as its secretary– is not recorded.
By 1781, the Stewart family was reunited in New York City. Jean Stewart gave birth to the couples’ last child, Alexander Leslie Stewart, on January 17, 1782.
The collected correspondence of Sir Guy Carleton, the last commander-in-chief of the British forces based in New York, contains three letters that mention Anthony Stewart. In June of 1783, he is described as the paymaster to the Maryland Loyalists. This regiment had seen action in West Florida, and ended their wartime service by doing garrison duty on Long Island.
In August of the same year, “a number of gentlemen, clergy and merchants” were the subject of a memorial that Carleton sent to John Parr, the governor of Nova Scotia. Because they thought it was not safe for them to remain in the United States after the British army left – and because they were “determined to live under the mild influence of the British Government“—these 55 Loyalists were intent on seeking asylum in Nova Scotia. Four names, including that of Anthony Stewart, were put forward as the petitioners’ agents to solicit land in the northern colony. The petitioners were seeking to acquire a total of 275,000 acres in grants.
When other Loyalists heard about this attempt to make a pre-emptive acquisition of Nova Scotia land, they were outraged, and signed a counter-petition. They were shocked that “there could be found amongst their Fellow sufferers Persons ungenerous enough to attempt engrossing to themselves so disproportionate a Share of what Government has allotted for their common benefit.” The attempt of the 55 to acquire estates in Nova Scotia came to nothing, but their 1783 petition made the “less respectable” middle and working class Loyalists wary of the “most respectable” Loyalists for years to come.
Anthony Stewart is last mentioned in a letter Sir Guy Carleton wrote on September 20, 1783. The commander-in-chief recommended him to Governor Parr for consideration of a government post. He noted that Stewart had once served as the postmaster in Annapolis, Maryland.
During the family’s time in New York City, they had acquired a 30 year-old African named James (Jem) Butler as a slave. He ran away from the Loyalist just before the Stewarts sought sanctuary in Nova Scotia. Nevertheless, five other enslaved Blacks accompanied the family on their trip north. Strangely, these slaves are not recorded in the Book of Negroes. They were later set free by Stewart and “sent to Bermuda“.
In late September, the Stewart family boarded an evacuation ship bound for Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Anthony and some other Scottish settlers received land grants on the west bank of the Sissiboo River, but the settlement known as New Edinburgh did not flourish. Stewart eventually moved to Halifax where he established himself as a merchant.
The story of the Stewart family and their life in Halifax will conclude this series in next week’s Loyalist Trails.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Book: South Carolina Provincials: Loyalists in British Service During the American Revolution
Author: Jim Piecuch (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2023)
Review by by Patrick H. Hannum 24 July 2023 Journal of the American Revolution
In his recently published text, South Carolina Provincials, Jim Piecuch provides a well-researched and informative account of South Carolina’s Provincial Loyalists units and their actions in the southern theater during the American Revolution. These units are often referred to as royalists. Provincial units formed a substantial part of the British military establishment and filled the void between regular British army units and local militia. Provincial forces were raised to serve for the duration of the war, and as such were better trained, more capable and professional than most militia. These units often augmented regular British army forces, and also operated independently or in conjunction with militia. Late in the war, many South Carolina Provincial Loyalists units were mounted on horseback.
Piecuch’s detailed discussions of people and events begins in 1775 as Loyalists resisted the actions and demands of revolutionaries. He outlines the challenges faced by the South Carolina revolutionaries in attempting to gain support of various groups of backcountry leaders who held strong Loyalist convictions and opposed the actions of the “association,” some forming a “counter-association.” Read more…

Editor’s Comment: A short issue
My technology problems are not yet fully behind me, but I am making progress. When the major pieces come together I will be in a better shape than before the incident.
This is a short issue, mostly for me to see if my technology and I are ready for a bigger issue on Sunday. We will go for it. I hope I did not entirely lose any items which were in progress.
It is mid-summer. For those of you celebrating some variant of Civic Holiday with a day off on Monday, enjoy.
….doug

Published by the UELAC
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