The No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), was raised in Nova Scotia and was one of two predominantly Black battalions in Canadian military history and the only Canadian battalion composed of Black soldiers to serve in World War I. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Hugh Sutherland, formerly of the 193rd Battalion, CEF.
The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) is an infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. The regiment consists of four battalions, three in the Regular Force and one in the primary reserve. The RCR is ranked first in the order of precedence amongst Canadian Army infantry regiments, but in a quirk of the rules of seniority, its 4th battalion is ninth.
The Canadian Grenadier Guards (CGG) is a reserve infantry regiment in the 34 Canadian Brigade Group, 2nd Canadian Division, of the Canadian Army. The regiment is the oldest and second-most-senior infantry regiment in the Primary Reserve of the Canadian Army. Located in Montreal, its main role is the provision of combat-ready light infantry troops in support of Canadian regular infantry. It is a Household Foot Guard regiment and also provides soldiers for public ceremonial duties, performing similar ceremonial duties as the Guards regiments of the British Army. This primarily entails mounting the guard at Government House, the King's and Governor General's residence, and performing the "Changing the Guard" ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, a task it shares with Canada's senior Household Foot Guard regiment, the Governor General's Foot Guards of Ottawa. The Canadian Grenadier Guards is an allied regiment to the British Grenadier Guards.
William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, GCVO, PC, DL, styled Viscount Valletort between 1839 and 1861, was a British courtier, Conservative politician, and Volunteer officer.
A rifle regiment is a military unit consisting of a regiment of infantry troops armed with rifles and known as riflemen. While all infantry units in modern armies are typically armed with rifled weapons the term is still used to denote regiments that follow the distinct traditions that differentiated them from other infantry units.
The Halifax Rifles (RCAC) is a Canadian Army regiment that served between the years of 1860 and 1965 before being reduced to nil strength and placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle. The regiment was reactivated on May 10, 2009, as a reserve force unit performing the role of armoured reconnaissance. It is the first and only regiment since the 1960s to be reactivated from the Supplementary Order of Battle.
Captain Runchey's Company of Coloured Men was a Canadian militia company of free blacks and indentured black servants, raised in Upper Canada as a small Black corps under a White officer, Robert Reuben Runchey (1759–1819), a tavern keeper from Jordan, Upper Canada. The unit fought in several actions during the early part of the Anglo-American War of 1812. In 1813, Runchey's Company was converted into a unit of the Canadian Corps of Provincial Artificers, attached to the Royal Sappers and Miners, in which sappers and miners performed specialized military operations. They served on the Niagara River front during the war, and were disbanded a few months after the war ended. The Company of Coloured Men's military heritage is perpetuated in the modern Canadian Army by the Lincoln and Welland Regiment.
The Halifax Provisional Battalion was a military unit from Nova Scotia, Canada, which was sent to fight in the North-West Rebellion in 1885. The battalion was under command of Lieutenant-Colonel James J. Bremner and consisted of 350 soldiers made up three companies from the Princess Louise Fusiliers, three companies of the 63rd Halifax Rifles, and two companies of the 1st "Halifax" Brigade of Garrison Artillery, with 32 officers. The battalion left Halifax under orders for the North-West on Saturday, 11 April 1885 and they stayed for almost three months.
Nova Scotia is a Canadian province located in Canada's Maritimes. The region was initially occupied by Mi'kmaq. The colonial history of Nova Scotia includes the present-day Maritime Provinces and the northern part of Maine, all of which were at one time part of Nova Scotia. In 1763, Cape Breton Island and St. John's Island became part of Nova Scotia. In 1769, St. John's Island became a separate colony. Nova Scotia included present-day New Brunswick until that province was established in 1784. During the first 150 years of European settlement, the colony was primarily made up of Catholic Acadians, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq. During the last 75 years of this time period, there were six colonial wars that took place in Nova Scotia. After agreeing to several peace treaties, the long period of warfare ended with the Halifax Treaties (1761) and two years later, when the British defeated the French in North America (1763). During those wars, the Acadians, Mi'kmaq and Maliseet from the region fought to protect the border of Acadia from New England. They fought the war on two fronts: the southern border of Acadia, which New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine, and in Nova Scotia, which involved preventing New Englanders from taking the capital of Acadia, Port Royal and establishing themselves at Canso.
The Sebastopol Monument is a triumphal arch that is located in the Old Burial Ground, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The arch commemorates the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855), which is one of the last classic sieges of all time. This arch is the 4th oldest war monument in Canada (1860). It is the only monument to the Crimean War in North America. The arch and lion were built in 1860 by stone sculptor George Lang to commemorate British victory in the Crimean war and the Nova Scotians who had fought in the war.
The Halifax Volunteer Battalion (1860–1868) included six companies that were raised in present-day Halifax Regional Municipality. The six companies included the Scottish Rifles, Chebucto Grays, Mayflower Rifles, Halifax Rifles, Irish Volunteers and Dartmouth Rifles which were all raised in the fall of 1859. The upper ranks of the battalion was made up of distinguished people from the community filling the ranks of officers. The battalion served ceremonial functions, raised money for charities as well as defended the city against possible military threat during the Fenian Raids. The present-day The Halifax Rifles (RCAC) descended from the 63rd regiment of the battalion.
The South African War Memorial is a memorial located in the courtyard of Province House in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Royal Nova Scotia Regiment was a battalion of infantry raised in 1793 to defend British interests in the colony of Nova Scotia during the Wars of the French Revolution. The unit was commanded by Colonel John Wentworth, the lieutenant-governor of the colony, throughout its existence. The Royal Nova Scotia Regiment (RNSR) had an undistinguished history through most of its existence, and saw very limited action, mostly in the role of marines, but did play an important role in the defense of Nova Scotia during these wars.
The New Year Honours 1915 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were announced on 1 January 1915.
Alice Mary Hagen was a Canadian ceramic artist from Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was trained in china painting, and earned her living through selling painted chinaware and teaching. She was among the artists selected to paint plates for the 1897 Canadian Historical Dinner Service. She gained a high reputation for the quality of her work, for which she won various prizes. She married happily and had two daughters. She continued to paint china while raising her family in Canada and Jamaica. When she was about sixty and her husband had retired she learned to make pottery at her studio in Nova Scotia, and was a pioneer of studio pottery in the area. She continued to produce and sell painted pottery until she was aged 93. Many ceramic artists acknowledged their debt to Alice Hagen as a teacher and an example.
The 1915 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were published in The London Gazette and in The Times on 3 June 1915.
James J. Bremner was a prominent military figure in Nova Scotia. He was active in repelling the Fenian Raids (1866–1871). He later led Halifax Provisional Battalion to the North-West Rebellion (1886). He was also a member of the North British Society. Sir Sandford Fleming served under him as a private.
Chebucto Grays was a volunteer rifle company that was raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In the wake of the Crimean War (1853–1856), there developed a Volunteer Force in Britain. As part of this movement, in Nova Scotia, thirty-two Volunteer companies were raised in Nova Scotia, with a total strength of two thousand three hundred and forty-one. In Halifax there were eleven companies with a total strength of eight hundred and sixty-eight men. The Chebucto Grays was the most distinguished company, many of the members belonging to The Halifax Club. The Chebucto Grays were one of 8 units to serve in the Halifax Volunteer Battalion.
The Black Battalion (1916-1920) Canada's best kept military secret is a 1987 book by Calvin Ruck, CM, about the No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, the only all-black battalion to serve in World War I. It chronicles the contributions of black Canadians to the Great War (1914-1918), whose military heritage had been forgotten. Ruck served in the Senate of Canada from 1998 to 2000, and was honoured with the Order of Canada and Governor General's Award.
The Norfolk Regiment of Canada was an infantry regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia of the Canadian Militia. First raised in the 1860’s as The Norfolk Rifles, the regiment was converted to a Line Regiment in 1928. In 1936, the regiment was converted from infantry to artillery and now forms part of the 56th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA.
