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Lost Stories: Slaves and Masters
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
War can make strange bedfellows. As the compensation claims that Loyalists made to the British government demonstrate, those who enslaved Africans often depended on them for survival in the midst of violent conflicts.
Like their Patriot neighbours, Loyalists had no qualms about enslaving Africans who had been kidnapped across the ocean, putting them to work on their plantations, in their businesses, or in their homes. Some loyal Americans used their slaves’ talents to generate income rather than employing them directly on their estates.
Ann Scales, an unmarried woman living in Georgia, said that before the war, her father owned a number of slaves and that he obtained income from their hire. At the end of the revolution, she was unable to “recover any Negroes” who had been put out for hire within her neighbourhood.
Other Loyalists were compelled to use their slaves’ labour for the greater good. The Thompson family of Norfolk, Virginia, suffered the loss of their slave, a sail-maker. The British took him to join Loyalist defenders at Great Bridge in a failed attempt to fend off rebel forces in 1775. Unnamed, the slave was one of 62 casualties the British suffered.
John Fox was required to furnish all of his working slaves for the defense of Fort Cornwallis in Augusta, Georgia. Thomas Young of Southampton, Georgia had his slaves burn wood into ashes to make soap during the siege of Savannah in 1779. He and his enslaved Blacks were captured by Patriots and taken to North Carolina where the Africans were sold.
Jermyn Wright was a Loyalist who constructed a fort at a crucial pass in East Florida. He fought side by side with his “own servants and slaves” to repel Patriot attacks on two different occasions.
Such a dramatic shared experience would, one might imagine, create a bond between Loyalist master and African slave. Elizabeth McCaw, a doctor’s wife, became ill while seeking refuge on a British ship anchored off of Norfolk, Virginia. After going ashore in January of 1776, she was arrested by rebels and confined in a house with “only a prison blanket” to keep her warm. With the help of an unidentified Black, she got away, and was able to return to the safety of the Loyalist fleet. Strangely, her testimony before the compensation board contains no expression of gratitude for the help she received.
In November of 1776, James Kitching of Sunbury, Georgia escaped from rebels in an open boat with an enslaved boy. They managed to cross the river bar to the sea, only to have a violent thunderstorm drive their small craft out of sight of land. Neither master nor slave had anything to eat or drink. The pair was eventually rescued by the crew of the H.M.S. Raven. The British naval vessel took Kitching and his young slave to New York. Despite all that the two had shared in escaping from rebels, Kitching sold the boy who had been his companion so that he could have enough money to pay for a passage to Portsmouth, England.
Sadly, this was not an isolated act of ingratitude. At the end of the revolution, Susanna Wylly, the widow of a Loyalist, fled Georgia for Jamaica with her daughter and “the few negroes she saved” from her husband’s estate. Because of daughter’s declining health, Susanna had to leave Jamaica. Like Kitching, she sold her slaves to raise money for the 7,500 km journey from Jamaica to England.
Did Loyalist slave owners ever recognize their slaves as fellow human beings? The cases cited above lack any sense of concern, appreciation, or gratitude for the service that enslaved Blacks provided their masters.
When he died in 1787, John McGibbon of St. George, New Brunswick owned seven slaves. In his will, the Loyalist parceled out his possessions to his children, parents, and uncles. His slaves Perth, Pollidor, George, Tom, Jamnica, Dick and Cudjae had previously been hired out to work in Jamaica. When McGibbon’s debts were paid, the executor of his estate was to sell all seven Blacks to provide dowry funds for the Loyalist’s sisters, Peggy and Ann. How many other marriages were enriched at the expense of slave labour?
The Rev. James Scovil, a Connecticut Loyalist, settled in Kingston, New Brunswick with his large family and four slaves. When Trinity Church –the oldest Anglican Church in the colony– was built, it included a pew along the sanctuary’s back wall for the vicar’s Africans. Every Sunday, Loyalist parishioners would see these slaves sitting apart from the congregation, reinforcing the idea that slavery was acceptable and that Africans were an inferior people.
As he contemplated his will, Scovil demonstrated a change of heart; he made arrangements to emancipate his two “servant boys, Robert and Sampson“. However, the two Africans would have to wait five years for Scovil to die for his intentions to be made known — and then Robert and Sampson would only be “set at liberty” after they reached the age of 26, “provided they do faithfully discharge the duty of servants until that period“. Scovil could hardly be called a champion of the abolition of slavery.
The Rev. John Beardsley, a New York Anglican minister, also brought four slaves with his family, Africans who had “always been in the family“. One can only imagine how the example of their clergyman allowed Loyalists to justify slavery and the subjugation of Africans.
William Wanton brought his slave, Buck with him when he settled in Saint John, New Brunswick. Before he died in 1816, Wanton had set Buck free. His will stated that Wanton’s widow was to pay their former slave one hundred dollars from his estate.
The treatment received by the Africans mentioned above was not typical by any means; most of the Black slaves that were included in Loyalist wills were simply considered property and were willed to various family members along with mirrors, furniture, and paintings.
Female loyalists were more likely to treat their African slaves with kindness. The will of Sarah Cory of Gagetown, New Brunswick stated that upon her death, her servant Dorothy and all her children were to be free from slavery “with her bed and bedding and wearing clothes without any demands of my children.”
After Euphemia Harris of Charlotte County, New Brunswick saw to the needs of her mother and son in her will, she instructed her lawyer to see that her slave, Silve, should be given 50 acres “off the farm where I live for her life, after her decease to her son, George Field.”
Kindness towards the slaves of Loyalists was rare – and when demonstrated it often came far too late.
In next week’s Loyalist Trails, the Lost Stories series concludes with a look at Loyalists and their indentured servants.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

Hessian Soldiers Travelling to America: Daily activities at Amboy NJ.
From a Hessian Diary of the American Revolution.
This excerpt from the diary of Johan Conrad Dohla (170 pages).
Having set out marching on 28 February 1777, they boarded ship and set sail on 29 March from Dordrecht, crossed the English Channel (first time on ocean waters for most; seasickness), passed Dover, anchored at Portsmouth to add provisions for seven days and finally set sail on 7 April. Passed the Azores, and after almost two months sailing, sighted America on 2 June. At June 6, the author relates relates the march from New York City to Amboy NJ.
Daily activities at Amboy NJ (page 32, 33)
14 June 1777. General Howe marched his army from Brunswick back to Somerset Courthouse. In the evening I went on field watch. Here we encountered a strong plague of mosquitoes, as they are called in English. Where they bite the flesh immediately swells up, burns, and causes a great pain so that a person does not know what to do. It is a type that is much larger than in Germany.
15 June. The first field sermon, confession, and communion was held for the soldiers of our regiment.
16 June. During the morning our outposts were alarmed and attacked for the first time by the American rebels, who were beaten back with losses and drew a heavy fire from one of our pickets. Against the rebels’ superior strength, our picket displayed their courage. A single grenadier from the Ansbach Regiment was slightly wounded by a shot in his right leg.
17 June. During the morning I worked on field fortifications. We had to throw up these fortifications and redoubts in order to secure ourselves against an enemy attack, because the enemy general [Alexander William, Lord] Stirling stood opposite Amboy with fourteen thousand men.
18 June. I went on field watch. There was much for us to do. Today, Captain [Christoph] von Cramon, commandant of the Ansbach Jaeger Corps, earned great fame as they rode into a hot engagement with the rebels not far from Brunswick, from which they had only three wounded and one man missing.
19 June. At noon a strong force was detached to reconnoiter the region of Elizabethtown and returned at night. Today also, three hundred Hessian jaegers from Germany arrived here in Amboy. There were two hundred riders among them, who, however, had no horses, but must first get their own in America.
20 June. At noon some English troops, light infantry and Scots, joined us and camped in our front. In the evening I was ordered to the reserve force. This force must remain dressed and prepared to move out at the first alarm shots.
21 June. In the morning I was detached with the reserve to a height in front of our camp to observe the enemy. In the evening I went on picket duty.
22 June. The entire army of General Howe came from Brunswick and Somerset Courthouse to Amboy and set up camp in front of us. Upon their return they set fire to the city of Brunswick. Today I saw a rebel deserter’s paper money with the legend („Death or Freedom”), with which the Congress pays its Americans. Today in camp I wrote a letter home.
23 June. Both our regiments fell out, and the British commissary general held a muster, at which General Howe was also present.
24 June. We began drilling.
25 June. Our picket was alarmed again. The enemy, however, withdrew into the bushes and forests with some losses. In the evening General Howe sent a detachment of the army forward (namely, English light infantry, as well as grenadiers, Scots, and Hessians, and the grenadier companies of our two regiments). This brigade, led by the English General [John] Vaughan, was to attack the enemy.
26 June. Today an all-out attack by the detached troops against the rebels, a few miles from Amboy, was successful. The fire from large and small weapons continued from three o’clock in the morning until noon. The enemy had to retreat, leaving behind in his defenses seventy prisoners, including two captains, one hundred dead, and three cannon. On our side the losses were not as great.
27 June. The prisoners were transported to New York.
28 June. The detached corps returned to camp, bringing with them many cattle and sheep that they had taken from the inhabitants of Jersey. Because the heat was exceptional and the troops had to make a long march, two men of our Grenadier Company, [Jakob] Kolb and [Martin] Brodmergel, dropped with fatigue on the way and died. Our two Grenadier Companies formed the rear guard during this attack and did not come under fire.
29 June. We received orders to march. We immediately struck camp. The regiments were shipped over a small arm of the sea and, after a two-hour march, again set up camp.
30 June 1777. General Howe, with the entire army, left the camp at Amboy, and the province of Jersey, and pulled back to Staten Island.

Prelude to Trenton: The Strategic Contest for Burlington County
by Colin Zimmerman 16 Nov. 2023 Journal of the Amrican Revolution
Count Carl Emil von Donop was at the pinnacle of his military career as his corps of Hessians marched victoriously south into New Jersey in the fall of 1776. Von Donop’s professional ambition had been to obtain an appointment to the Prussian Army, widely considered the best in Europe, yet his previous service in the Seven Years’ War and experience as the personal adjutant to the Landgraf of Hesse-Kassel did not give him the reputation required for the rank of his ambition. Since only the best officers were considered for appointments in the Prussian service, von Donop felt that he needed to prove himself in an independent command if his professional goals were to be realized. Fortunately for him, the war in North America had escalated to the point where the British government felt it necessary to utilize its common practice of employing Hessian and other ethnic German troops. Seeing this as his opportunity, von Donop through his influence was able to procure the command of a brigade of Hessian Grenadiers and Jaegers which became known as Donop’s Corps. This command, perhaps the most elite of the early Hessian forces to deploy to America, made its battlefield debut in the tiny village of Flat Bush on Long Island in August of 1776.
Von Donop illustrated his military prowess by aggressively taking and holding the small village for several days. Flat Bush, which sat astride low ground, was flanked by wooded ridges which harbored American riflemen. Over the next several days von Donop and his men fortified the village and repelled a number of American sorties, all while under continuous harassing fire form the riflemen. Read more…

Citadel Hill, Halifax NS
by Katie Houston
Explore the legacy of Citadel Hill in our vintage postcard series. From its 18th-century beginnings to the iconic signal mast communication, learn about the fort’s pivotal role in Halifax’s defence.
A glimpse into the military grandeur of Citadel Hill’s past. The fort has stood sentinel over Halifax since 1749, witnessing the city’s evolution and echoing its strategic importance through time.
The fortification of Citadel Hill began in 1749 with the founding of the city of Halifax and served as one of four major overseas naval bases in the British Empire. The fort was one component of the Halifax Defense Complex that was constructed to defend the city. The first fortification was nothing like what we are familiar with today; it was a small redoubt with only a guardhouse and flagstaff. Since then, the fortification has undergone three expansions. The second was a permanent fort built during the American Revolution; it had a fourteen-gun battery and could accommodate over 100 troops. The third expansion began in 1796 to combat threats from the French Revolutionary War and was completed in 1800. This is the only fortification to be officially given the name of Fort George after King George III. His son Prince Edward was stationed in Halifax as the Commander-in-Chief during this period and was instrumental in the design and construction of the new fortifications and the Halifax Town Clock. The fourth and final fortification of Citadel Hill that we know today began in 1828 and was not completed until 1856. Read more…

John Montresor: The King’s Engineer
The struggle for North America during the 18th century featured an array of gallant and industrious men from frontier woodsmen, hearty yeoman farmers, professional soldiers, wily politicians as well as the merchants, tradesmen, and farmers whose industry financed and supplied them. There is another category, one critical to the building of an empire, especially an empire carved from the wilderness – the engineer. Skilled at planning, surveying, and map-making, engineers connected people to the land. And warfare in North America was about land and shaped by the land. Geography drives history.
Servant of Empire
One such engineer was John Montresor. Montresor was the son of a British officer of French Huguenot roots, James Gabriel Montresor. John was born in 1736 on the key British base at Gibraltar. The senior Montresor was chief engineer at the time. John spent four years (1746-1750) at Westminster school in England. When he returned to Gibraltar, his father instructed him in the principles of engineering and took him to North America when he was named chief engineer for General John Braddock.
Fighting the French and Indians
John Montresor was commissioned an ensign in the 48th Regiment of Foot in March 1755 and was appointed engineer in June. The Braddock campaign against Fort Duquesne is storied (see Yankee Doodle Spies Blog Post: Road of Destruction). The defeat of Braddock’s column by native warriors and French soldiers at the battle of the Monongahela and the Braddock’s death had a chilling effect on the British effort. It also made a hero out of young George Washington. Young ensign Montresor saw action in that battle and was himself wounded during the massacre. Read more…
Read his entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

Loyalists and descendants who participated in the War of 1812: Casper Ramey and Four Sons
While the American Revolution raged, Casper Ramey left Pennsylvania and headed to Canada. En route, he was captured by Revolutionary soldiers who apprehended him for being a Tory. Casper was jailed for this crime for several years. At last in 1788 he did make it to Upper Canada where he settled first in Wainfleet Township and, a few years later, in Humberstone Township on Lot 25, Concession 2.
When Casper Ramey finally applied for a Land Grant in 1820, his application said, “At the commencement of hostilities…your petitioner declared himself to be a British subject…had his property taken and destroyed by the Revolutionists…was detained in prison until the peace for adhering to the British cause.” He also said “that your petitioner being ignorant and illiterate did not know until of late that there was such a thing as an U.E. List, or that a person could draw land though he had adhered to the Unity of the Empire.” The implication is that, had Casper known, he would certainly have been on that list!
Casper Ramey no doubt felt that he had been treated badly. When the War of 1812 broke out, his four oldest sons all joined up. Perhaps, like so many sons of Loyalists, they saw this war as an opportunity to avenge their father’s mistreatment in the last war. Read about Casper’s four sons…
Submitted by Janet Hodgkins, UE, 4th great-granddaughter of Casper Ramey, UEL

Read about other Loyalists and the sons and daughters of Loyalists who participated in the War of 1812.

The perilous role of the Georgian Firefighter
By Sarah Murden 13 Nov. 2023 at All Things Georgian
Should you have the misfortune to suffer a household/business fire in the Georgian period, then let’s hope you had taken out fire insurance. If you hadn’t then you would not be eligible to call on the services of the firefighters to save all your treasured possessions, not to mention your life.
However, this suggestion seems to be a little unfounded, as, if your home/business was on fire, there was a great risk of it spreading to surrounding buildings, so it seems unlikely that, if possible, firefighters would actually allow a neighbouring building to be demolished.
Each insurance company had its own fire service, and the way in which the firemen knew you had insurance was by a metal plaque on your house which would confirm your eligibility, such as this one: Read more…

Advertised on 10 November 1773: “For terms of freight or passage apply…”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“For terms of freight or passage apply … at the London Coffee-House.”
The Clarendon prepared to sail from Philadelphia to Kingston and Old Harbour in Jamaica on November 10, 1773. In advance of the ship’s departure, newspaper advertisements promoted “genteel accommodations for passengers” and solicited cargo for the voyage. Those notices continued until the day the Clarendon was scheduled to leave port, appearing in the November 10 edition of the Pennsylvania Journal. By then, neither Samuel Smith, the merchant who sponsored the voyage, nor William Townsend, the captain, probably did not accept freight that would cause delays by taking too long to load, but perhaps welcomed passengers who waited until the last minute. Townsend likely gathered letters to deliver to correspondents in Jamaica for as long as the ship remained in port. The advertisement advised that anyone with business for the Clarendon should apply to Smith “in Front-Street,” the captain “at Mr. Knox’s wharf, or at the London Coffee-House.”
It was not that only advertisement in that issue of the Pennsylvania Journal that listed the London Coffee House as one of the locations designated for meeting with masters of vessels to conduct business. Read more…

Congratulations to The Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
On behalf of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada (UELAC) and its Board of
Directors, we extend our heartfelt congratulations on your recent appointment as Ontario’s
30th lieutenant-governor. We were honored to witness your official installation in a
ceremony marked by grandeur and tradition, accompanied by your pledge to build an
inclusive province. Read the letter from President Carl Stymiest UE…

The Honourable Edith Dumont is the 30th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. The first Francophone to hold the office, she was appointed following a long and distinguished career in education.
Driven by a desire to build relationships; strengthen communities; create collaborative teams; and advocate for diversity, inclusion, and the celebration of la francophonie, Madame Dumont’s journey has led her across Canada and around the world. Read her biography.

Edith Dumont sworn in as Ontario’s new lieutenant-governor.
by Liam Casey and Allison Jones 14 Nov 2023, posted at CBC
Ontario’s new lieutenant-governor was officially installed Tuesday in a ceremony full of pomp and procedure, and a pledge to help build an inclusive province.
Lt.-Gov. Edith Dumont is the province’s 30th lieutenant-governor and the first francophone to hold the office.
In her first remarks as lieutenant-governor — speaking in the legislative chamber after taking the oath of office and an Oath of Allegiance to King Charles — Dumont said she will work to ensure the office remains a “relevant institution for advancing civic engagement, building inclusive communities and supporting the future of our democracy.” Read more…

Book: Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic
Authour: by Michael A. Blaakman (Early American Studies. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023)
Review by Gene Procknow 13 Nov. 2023 Journal of the American Revolution
The mark of excellent historical analysis is a fresh point of view on highly contested, deeply entrenched issues, whether you fully agree or not with its arguments. This is the case with Michael A. Blaakman’s new book, Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic. Over the past several years, there has been intense debate over whether the practice of slavery was foundational to the emerging United States. The Princeton University professor poses a different argument. He asserts that the dispossession of Native American land is also central to America’s founding (page 18). As a collateral contention, Blaakman claims that settler colonialist access to Native territories sparked maniacal land speculation inappropriately dominated by commercial elites turning land ownership rights into financial commodities . This unbridled sale of large land blocks created an economic system that Blaakman terms speculative capitalism. He argues that the resulting land mania helped knit the nascent union and solidified the Federal government’s power and authority (279). The first part of the author’s thesis is solidly supported, while the second part is open to additional debate. Read more…

Archive of Indigenous Slavery, by Estevan Rael-Gálvez
At Ben Franklin’s World
Long before European arrival in the Americas, Indigenous people and nations practiced enslavement. Their version of enslavement looked different from the version Christopher Columbus and his fellow Europeans practiced, but Indigenous slavery also shared many similarities with the Euro-American practice of African chattel slavery.
While there is no way to measure the exact impact of slavery upon the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, we do know the practice involved many millions of Indigenous people who were captured, bound, and sold as enslaved people.
‌Estevan Rael-Gálvez, Executive Director of Native Bound Unbound: Archive of Indigenous Slavery, joins us to discuss the Native Bound Unbound digital project. Listen in…

The 1903 Frank Slide: In the shadow of the mountain
The story of Frank, Alta., the deadliest landslide in Canadian history and a town that endures
13 Nov 2023 in Canadian Geographic
In the early hours of April 29, 1903, 110 million tonnes of rock slipped off the eastern side of Turtle Mountain and onto the sleeping town of Frank, Alta. Those woken by the chaos heard what sounded like steam howling under high pressure, resonating 200 kilometres away to Cochrane, Alta. When the slide came to a halt just two minutes later, it had buried three square kilometres of the valley some 14 metres under — in some places as deep as 45 metres — homes, cottages, work camps, farms and businesses.
From above, the slide altered the skyline forever, splitting Turtle Mountain into two peaks. From below, it became the deadliest landslide in Canadian history. The death toll remains uncertain — estimates range between 70 and more than 90 — and only 18 bodies were recovered. Those cacophonous two minutes have defined Frank for 120 years, the coal town becoming colloquially known as Frank Slide. Read more…

Recognizing and rewarding our UELAC Volunteers – Dorchester Award
Do you know of a UELAC member who has gone the extra mile in volunteering for the Association? If so, consider nominating them for the annual Dorchester Award.
The UELAC Dorchester Award was created by the Board in 2007 to recognize volunteer excellence and participation.
The Volunteer Recognition Committee is actively seeking nominations for the Dorchester Award (past recipients). For more information and to download a nomination form and instructions, members only go to https://uelac.ca/members/. The deadline for nominations is February 29, 2024.
Diane Faris UE, Vice-President Pacific Region, Chair – Volunteer Recognition Committee”

Loyalist Monuments, Memorials and Commemoratives
The mission of the United Empire Loyalists’ Association calls on members to “preserve, promote and celebrate the history and traditions of the Loyalist epoch in Canadian history” in a variety of ways. Over the years the contributions of the United Empire Loyalists have been recognized by the Association, governments, community groups and individuals in the form of monuments, memorials, and plaques (listed geographically East-to-West), and commemorative stamps, plates, and more. They both remind and inform about how the Loyalists are honoured and remembered across Canada. Read more…

Monument to the 84th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Highland Emigrants
There is a unique loyalist monument located in Hants County, Nova Scotia. It is the only monument in Canada built by descendants as a tribute to a Regiment that served with the British during the American Revolution. It is located in the Saint Thomas Anglican Church Cemetery on the Georgefield Road.
The monument was completed in 1995 by Peter Ashley and Winston MacPhee. Both are descendants of members of the 84th Regiment, 2nd Battalion that served during the American Revolution.
Thank you to Brian McConnell UE, current President of the Nova Scotia Branch UELAC. He has described this addition to the Monuments section with a document, photos and a short video. Read more…

In the News

Learn about the United Empire Loyalists during Perth ON historical society meeting
Saturday, November 11, 2023 InsideOttawaValley.com
For the next meeting of the Perth & District Historical Society, Brian Tackaberry makes a return visit. This time, Brian takes us back to the roots of many residents of eastern Ontario and the story of some of the settlements of the United Empire Loyalists.
During and following The American Revolution, many of the colonists fled north from the American colonies choosing to remain loyal to Britain and resettling in British North America. They established settlements along the St. Lawrence River, Bay of Quinte and the Niagara Peninsula as well as The Colony of Nova Scotia, including what is now New Brunswick. However, unknown to many people today, a smaller group of Loyalists braved the backwoods of what is now eastern Ontario to make their homes along the Rideau River. The names of some of these families are still found in the region today. Read more…

Upcoming Events

Kawartha Branch “Who’s your Gramma?” Phillip Mintz Sun. 19 Nov @2:00 ET

Phillip was 33 – 40+ yeara ago – when the fateful family history/genealogy bug hit him. The number 2 hobby in North America, it has been his passion ever since. With a database of almost 125,000 names and 2,300 photos. Along the way he has discovered in his tree in-laws, outlaws, pirates and royalty. DNA has helped. He discovered that his 2x great grandfather Isaac Mintz was adopted, and perhaps his father Joseph as well. Phillip will describe his journey. Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89531103434?pwd=nGvxvXKInF2tsoy3jsbW21NgAttcdJ.1 Meeting ID: 895 3110 3434 Passcode: 433526

New Brunswick Branch Christmas Luncheon Wed 29 Nov at noon, Union Club in Saint John

It had been a branch custom, prior to the pandemic, to hold a pre-Christmas luncheon for branch members. It is scheduled for Wednesday, 29 November at the Union Club in Saint John N.B. , beginning at 12 noon. Following a social half-hour (with cider and bar service), the meal will be served at 12.30 pm. The menu will include soup, roast turkey with mashed potato and seasonal vegetables, and club home-made pie for dessert. Since this is intended to be a social occasion, there will not be a speaker; however, if circumstances permit, we might be able to have a carol-sing following the meal.
Tickets are priced at $50 per person. The deadline to order tickets is Wed 22 November (we will need a minimum of 25 participants). Yours loyally,
(Revd Dr) Marc Smith, UE President NB Branch, UELAC (506) 455-1872 smith.marquis@gmail.com

Kingston Branch: Battle on the Ice, Jean Rae Baxter Sat 25 Nov @1:00

Kingston and District Branch, United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada will meet on Saturday, November 25 at 1:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Hall, 137 Queen Street, Kingston or, if you prefer, on Zoom. Doors open at 12:30 p.m.
Award-winning author Jean Rae Baxter UE will discuss her 2023 book, Battle on the Ice. Most Canadians have never heard of the Battle of Point Pelee in 1838. Why did the grandchildren of Loyalists, who had fought hard and had given up land and lifestyle to support the British Crown, rebel against the government in 1837?
For the Zoom link for the meeting, visit the website www.uelac.org/Kingston-Branch.

David Center for the American Revolution “Could the Empire Have Been Saved?” Panel, Fri 1 Dec 6:00 ET

Opening Keynote for conference “Empire and its Discontent, 1763-1773” hosted by the David Center for the American Revolution and the Massachusetts Historical Society
The approach of the 250th anniversary of American independence has led scholars to reexamine the British Empire and the events of the imperial crisis that are generally understood to have led to the American Revolution. The panelists of the keynote session “Could the Empire Have Been Saved?” engage this issue by discussing the problems in the empire revealed by resistance to imperial authority in British America between 1763 and 1773. What kind of empire was it? What was the character of British policy in the colonies? Was the American Revolution really inevitable? And might better decisions have avoided it? In engaging these questions, the panelists aim to reveal the broader implications of new thinking about the British empire and the coming of the American Revolution.
This keynote is part of the conference on “Empire and its Discontent”. Panel includes:

  • Serena Zabin, Carleton College
  • Patrick Griffin, Notre Dame
  • Christopher Brown, Columbia University
  • Moderator: Brendan McConville, Boston University

Click here to access the livestream
For more information on this livestream hosted by GBH, please click here.
For more information on this conference, please see our website.
Questions? Email ccloutier@masshist.org.

Col. John Butler Branch “This is Anne, Older and Wiser” by Maja Bannerman Sat 2 Dec noon Luncheon and Speaker

“What is it like to look back on a life?” asks Anne. Anne Shirley Blythe, now in her 60s, delves into her journals and letters to reminisce and reflect on her past—the very difficult moments and those of great joy.
Created, complied and performed by Maja Bannerman with accompanying music by Rusty McCarthy, this 50 minute performance includes many of the beloved moments from Anne of Green Gables and the subsequent novels in the series by L.M. Montgomery.
Maja Bannerman is a Niagara based performing artist.
Meetings take place at Betty’s Restaurant in Chippawa at 11:45 am. To attend RSVP to colonel.john.butler.branch@gmail.com

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

  • Loyalists vs. Rebels. Shelburne Founders’ Day July 18, 2015 (video) Brian McConnell, UE @brianm564
  • An 18th C. sailors plate had a rim around called a fiddle. If you had dishonestly got more than your fair share the food would lap over the fiddle, hence the phrase ‘On the fiddle’ if you had enough, you’d had a ‘Square meal’ due to the shape used to stop them rolling. Brian McConnell, UE @brianm564
  • Townsends – or Food
    • Yard Game For the Poor And Rich – Skittles Full Gameplay – Engineering America
    • JYF Museums: Today is #NationalHomemadeBreadDay and at the JYF Museums, we are here for it! First up, we have a lovely wheat bread, of the sort common to much of Europe in the 17th century. At its most basic, bread is flour, water, salt, and yeast, and this one is no exception.
      For the Powhatan and other Indigenous communities, maize had long been their primary grain. Early English accounts talk about Indigenous bread, and when John Smith was first captured in 1608 he said “a quarter of Venison and some ten pound of bread I had for supper…”
      Fritters of cornmeal, water and fat were adopted by the colonists at Jamestown. When the first Africans were brought to Virginia, they came with their own tradition of corn cakes. By the late 18th century, various corn cakes were a dietary staple for the enslaved population, too.
      By the 18th century, not much had changed. For free, White Virginians, wheat bread was still the most commonly eaten and though still baked in Dutch ovens, it was more often baked in brick ovens than clay ones by then. But what about the rest of Virginia
  • This week in History
    • Nov 17, 1773, definite news of the tea ships came to Boston from London, along with tea consignee Jonathan Clarke. A crowd attacked the Clarke house. Gentlemen petitioned for a town meeting asking all consignees to resign:
    • 17 Nov 1774. Philadelphia, PA. The First City Troop, still in existence, was organized. One of the oldest units still operating in the US. Fought at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine & Germantown. Also helped save the signer of the Declaration, James Wilson.
    • 13 Nov 1775, Continental Army Brigadier General Richard Montgomery takes Montreal, Canada, without opposition. Carleton had withdrawn his forces to Quebec, where he would await reinforcement from Britain.
    • On 13 Nov 1775, Continental Army Col. Benedict Arnold’s “rabble in arms” made a night crossing of the St Lawrence River near Quebec where he awaited Montgomery’s forces.
    • 14 Nov 1775 Col Benedict Arnold’s forces arrive on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec. Arnold demands that the garrison surrender. Lt Col Allen Maclean refused. Short on supplies & lacking artillery, Arnold goes to Pointe-aux-Trembles to await reinforcements.
    • 14 Nov 1775 King George III notifies Lord North that he has contracted 4,000 professional German soldiers for Great Britain, mostly from Hessen. He originally wanted to hire Russian infantry from Catherine the Great, but she rebuffed his request.
    • 17 Nov 1775 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, NS Privateers from the American ships Hancock and Franklin raid the town, taking stores & prisoners (incl Gov Phillips Calbeck) & spiking guns. Capturing the governor would draw Gen Washington’s ire.
    • 17 Nov 1775 London. Parliament soundly defeated Edmund Burke’s bill of reconciliation with the American colonies. Burke was the great Whig statesman of his age, who argued his case with facts, logic, and reason. The rejection would cost Britain an empire.
    • 17 Nov 1775 Col Henry Knox sets out from Boston for Ft Ticonderoga at the direction of George Washington to bring 60 tons of captured British artillery across the frozen mountains of New England and back to Boston to help drive the British out of the city.
    • 18 Nov 1775 Fort Ninety-Six, SC. Col. Patrick Cunningham’s 1,800 Loyalists invested the 600 rebels under Col. Andrew Williamson. A desultory exchange of shots occurs over the next few days.
    • 14 Nov 1776 London The St. James Chronicle reports, “The very identical Dr. Franklyn [Ben Franklin], whom Lord Chatham (pro-American politician) so much caressed, and used to say he was proud in calling his friend, is now at the head of the rebellion in North America.”
    • 15 Nov 1776 Isle of New York. British engineers began building artillery positions to provide fire cover for forces crossing the Harlem River in preparation for an attack on Fort Washington.
    • 16 Nov 1776 The Andrew Doria under Capt. Isiah Robinson arrives at the Dutch island of St Eustatius. West Indies, where it receives the first salute to an American flag by a foreign power.
    • 16 Nov 1776, Hessian Gen Wilhelm von Knyphausen, with 3K Hessians & 5,000 Redcoats, lay siege to Ft. Washington on NY island. Patriot riflemen inside the fort resisted but were finally overwhelmed & the commander, Col Robert Magaw, surrendered 3K men.
    • 15 Nov 1777 Phila PA After 5 days of pounding Ft Mifflin, the British launched bombardments by 5 warships while two others closed on the fort, slamming 3,000 rounds per hour at the mud walls. Maj Simeon Thayer abandons the fort
    • 11 Nov 1778 Cooperstown, NY Capt Walter Butler’s Loyalists & Chief Joseph Brant’s Iroquois kill more than 40 Patriots & take 70 prisoners in the Cherry Valley Massacre. Col Ichabod Alden of the 7th Massachusetts Regt, who took no defensive measures, was killed in the attack.…
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Last Post: MCKENZIE UE, Jim
On November 9, 2023 James (Jim) Bruce McKenzie passed on quietly and peacefully in his home surrounded by love.
Born in Hampton, New Brunswick, the youngest of 4 children born to Otto and Beulah McKenzie, he attended Hampton Consolidated School from Grade 1 to Grade 12. During the first UNB Winter Carnival, while a student of business, he met the beautiful woman who was to become his wife of 64 years, Marilyn Downey from Upper Coverdale.
Upon his graduation from UNB they married and he began a 29 year career with Burroughs Business Machines. Jim and Marilyn and their 4 children (Diane, David, Scott and Ellen) lived many places as Jim was transferred and promoted to branches from St. John’s Newfoundland, Halifax, Sydney, Toronto and finally back to Saint John where he finished his career with Burroughs before going on to become a financial advisor with Investors Group. He thrived on the house visits with clients who became friends. His energy for the industry never flagged and his bright and optimistic outlook never wavered.
Jim was a joiner. He loved to be on committees and over the years he was very active in several groups and associations such as the ROTC, Scouts, Inter-School Christian Fellowship, United Empire Loyalists, St. Andrews Society, Saint John Deaf and Hard of Hearing Society, Historical Society, Genealogical Society, Masonic Lodge, Heart and Stroke, Liberal party, United Church of Canada. Jim was the recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee medal. Jim was passionate about his family tree and he did an immense amount of research into it before the internet made it easier.
He was a born salesman and even in his last month of life he wanted to go door to door selling tickets to the church supper.
His children, 11 grandchildren, great grandson and numerous nieces and nephews knew him not as a salesman though. To them he was the gentle and generous man who loved to cook steak over the fire and host enormous lobster boils. He was the kind father who rarely said no and whose support was unconditional. He was the good sport who, with equal pleasure, lost and won the daily games of cards. He was the loving father who would carry his sleeping children in from the car when they were young and displayed the same selfless attention to them as adults.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Reid’s Funeral Home (506-832-5541), 1063 Main Street, Hampton, NB. We will gather at Hampton United Church on Saturday, June 1, 2024 to remember Jim and to celebrate his life together. Charitable donations in Jim’s memory may be made to Hampton United Church or the charity of choice. Funeral Home details. Comments from last week.

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