The Black Refugees (War of 1812) were Black American slaves who escaped slavery in the United States during the War of 1812 and settled in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Trinidad and Tobago. The Black Refugees were chiefly from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia. Most of them were evacuated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, as well as Trinidad & Tobago on British ships from the East Coast of the United States. These individuals were formerly enslaved African Americans who had escaped the slave plantations during the War of 1812 and joined the British forces. Over 2000 Black Refugees reached Nova Scotia, they were chiefly settled in depopulated sterile lands in The Prestons, Hammonds Plains, Beechville, and by 1848 became the Founders of Africville.[2][3] The Black Refugees are the progenitors of the majority of the black community in present day Nova Scotia.[4] They were the most numerous of the African Americans who sought freedom during the War of 1812. In The Nova Scotia Archives many of the arrivals are recorded as "Blacks From The Chesapeake".[5]
Many among the refugees were recruited into the British military as part of the Second Corps of Colonial Marines. In 1816, approximately 700 were settled in southern Trinidad, where they and their descendants came to be known as the Merikins (also spelled Merikens).[6] Black Refugees is the term used in Canada for those who settled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They were the most numerous of the American Blacks who sought freedom during the War of 1812. The Black Refugees were the 2nd group of American Blacks after the Black Loyalists, to flee American enslavement in wartime and settle in Canada. The 2nd group, "Black Refugees" from the War of 1812, make up the most significant single immigration source for today's African Nova Scotian communities.[7] During the antebellum period, however, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 Black refugees reached freedom in Canada, often traveling alone or in small family groups.
During 1813 and the War of 1812 with the United States, Vice Admiral Warren was ordered to receive aboard his ships any blacks who might petition him for assistance. These he was to receive as free men, not as slaves, and send them to any of several of His Majesty's colonies.[8] Captain Robert Barrie of HMSDragon reported to Admiral Warren "there is no doubt but the blacks of Virginia and Maryland would cheerfully take up arms and join us against the Americans."[9] By the time that the Admiralty received the report, they had already decided to order Warren's successor, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, to encourage emigration of African-American slaves.
As with the precedents of Lord Dunmore's Proclamation of November 7, 1775, and the Philipsburg Proclamation, Cochrane issued a Proclamation in partial implementation of instructions from his superiors. He made no explicit mention of slaves, although he presumed it would be read as encouraging them to join the British:
'A Proclamation
Whereas it has been represented to me that many persons now resident in the United States have expressed a desire to withdraw therefrom with a view to entering into His Majesty's service, or of being received as free settlers into some of His Majesty's colonies.
This is therefore to give notice that all persons who may be disposed to migrate from the United States, will with their families, be received on board of His Majesty's ships or vessels of War, or at the military posts that may be established upon or near the coast of the United States, when they will have their choice of either entering into His Majesty's sea or land forces, or of being sent as free settlers to the British possessions in North America or the West Indies where they will meet with due encouragement.
Given under my hand at Bermuda this second day of April, 1814, by command of Vice Admiral.
Cochrane's proclamation made no mention of slaves, and it was widely misinterpreted by some American slaveholders as an incitement to violent revolt by their slaves.
The flow of African-American refugees to the British had already been considerable. Cochrane's action did no more than confirm what had been happening for over a year. Some years after the arrival in Nova Scotia of the Black refugees, a plan was proposed for them to be sent to the Colony of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Nearly 2,000 of their African-American brethren had relocated there in the late 18th century, but the plan was only partly fulfilled. For the most part the Black refugees remained in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. A group responded to a related invitation to move to Trinidad and Tobago.
To a limited extent like the Black Loyalists, some of the Black refugees' names were recorded in a document called the Halifax List: Return of American Refugee Negroes who have been received into the Province of Nova Scotia from the United States of America between 27 April 1815 and 24 October 1818. This list was compiled and used to take account for American "property" from the War of 1812. By International Arbitration, Britain was found to owe The Americans 1,204,960 for Black Refugees carried away from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia. The majority of these came from the first two states, and the bulk of them sent to Nova Scotia.[7]
Outcome
In total, about 4000 Africans escaped to the British by way of the Royal Navy, the largest group emancipation of African Americans prior to the American Civil War.[12] About 2000 settled in Nova Scotia, 700 in Trinidad, and about 400 settled in New Brunswick.[13] Together they were the largest single source of African-American immigrants, whose descendants formed the core of African Canadians.
Black refugees in Nova Scotia were first housed in the former prisoner-of-war camp on Melville Island. After the War of 1812, it was adapted as an immigration facility. From Melville Island, they moved to settlements around Halifax and in the Annapolis Valley. These settlements were given as licensed property for the refugees entering Nova Scotia. While it was not land they owned completely, it gave the refugees the chance to start communities of their own.[14] The passengers on the shipwrecked HMS Atalante (1808) included twenty American refugee slaves from the James River in Virginia. They were among the first of the Black refugees of the War of 1812 to reach Canada.[15]
It is claimed by Elizabeth Lutes Hillman that many of the fugitives were resold into slavery in the West Indies, and that the British reneged their promise of liberty.[16] Joseph McCarthy states that some British critics alleged that some were sold into slavery in the West Indies.[17] James Scanlon notes that during the Chesapeake campaign, Virginians believed some slaves were being sold as indentured labourers by the British[18] This is countered by Malcomson. A British investigation into this American claim was proven false in 1815.[19]
Other Black refugees were settled in Trinidad, most having served in the Corps of Colonial Marines. They included around 200 refugees from Louisiana and East and West Florida and 500 from Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia. The community in Trinidad became known as the Merikins and their villages, established by members of different companies, still exist.
Descendants
The Black refugees make up the largest single source of ancestors for Black Nova Scotians and formed the core of African Nova Scotian communities and churches that still exist today.[20] In 1848 William Brown Sr. and William Arnold established and founded the boundaries of Africville.[21] Edith MacDonald Brown has become the first recorded black female painter in Canada. Numbers of Black Refugees settled in Hammonds Plains, North and East Preston, Nova Scotia, where their descendants still live. Many other Black refugees settled in other communities, such as Hammonds Plains, Beechville, Windsor and communities throughout the Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. Africville was the solution to the hardships encountered by the sterile lands at Preston & Hammonds Plains.
The migration included the religious leader and abolitionist Richard Preston, who established the first African Baptist church in Halifax; the parents of William Hall, one of Canada's first winners of a Victoria Cross; and Benjamin Jackson, a decorated veteran of the American Civil War.[22] The Black refugees in Nova Scotia were largely from Virginia and Maryland, and they brought basket-making skills from the Chesapeake Region. These are still practiced by their descendants. These baskets are very distinct in style from the existing Mi'kmaw and Acadian basket-making styles by other ethnic groups in the region.[23]
↑ Clairmont, McGill, Donald & Dennis (1974). Africville: The Life And Death of a Canadian Black Community (3rded.). McClelland Stewart Limited. p.51. ISBN978-155130-093-1.
↑ Fergusson & Harvey, C.B. & D.C. (1948). A Documentary Study of The Establishment of The Negroes In Nova Scotia Between The War of 1812 and The Winning of Responsible Government (Publication Number 8ed.). Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Archives Library. pp.11–14.
↑ "Panel Locations". VANSDA. Valley African Nova Scotian Development Association. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
Crawford, Michael J.; Hughes, Christine F., eds. (2002). The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, Vol. 3. Washington: Naval Historical Center (GPO). ISBN978-0-16-051224-7.
Heidler, David Stephen; Heidler, Jeanne T., eds. (2004) [1997]. Encyclopedia of the War of 1812. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-59114-362-4.
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