Chapter Ten
Adjusting to Peace
The Treaty of Ghent was heartily welcomed and long awaited, but it presented a new set of challenges. A key issue was the disposition of the British military forces in North America. Would the peace with the United States endure? How large a British garrison should be maintained in North America? How many units could be dispatched immediately to Europe to face Napoleon following his escape from Elba? To ease Britain’s financial crisis, where could military spending be reduced? In considering these questions, there was no lack of advice or suggestions.
General Sherbrooke wrote to Lord Bathurst that the Prince Regent “may probably be graciously pleased to order some of His Majesty’s Land Forces in British North America to be discharged in this Province.” He suggested that disbanded soldiers would be “an useful requisition to the Province” and, “if suitable encouragement can be given to induce them to become settlers upon the Forest Land of this Country,” many would accept the offer, with the result that “the strength and prosperity of these colonies” would be promoted. He concluded by referring to the successful settlement program following the American Revolutionary War, where Loyalists were provided with land, provisions, agricultural tools, and “other marks of the Royal Bounty.”
Lieutenant-General Sir George Drummond, who had replaced General Prevost in command of all British troops in North America, offered a similar suggestion: “With a view to settle the Waste Lands in the Country with Loyal and good subjects, and at the same time to retain a most useful body of men therein, I take the liberty of suggesting in the event of the General Peace causing the reduction of the Provincial Corps, such as the 104th Regiment . . . that these Corps from having a large portion of married men in them, are admirably calculated . . . to become Settlers.” Since many of the soldiers from the provincial corps were native to North America and “accustomed to, and expert in the use of the axe,” he felt they would quickly become self-sufficient. He believed many of the officers would settle with their men and, in the event of another war, they would be able “to supply an excellent militia, well officered, and men well trained and completely effective.” He recommended a sliding scale of grants on Crown land based on military rank under the same conditions given to other settlers. He envisaged depots being established by the Commissariat Department to supply provisions, tools, “barrack utensils,” and furniture to prospective soldier settlers.
Before the question of settling disbanded soldiers could be decided, the disposition of the troops still serving in the region had to be addressed. The garrison in New Brunswick consisted of the understrength New Brunswick Fencibles stationed in Fredericton, the 102nd Regiment at Eastport on Moose Island, and the 99th Regiment spread between Saint John, St. Andrews, and Nova Scotia. In an attempt to bring the Fencibles up to strength, a recruiting party led by Temporary Captain George W.H. Ridge was dispatched to Quebec. To confirm his captain’s rank, Ridge was required to recruit a company, but before he finished he received orders to stop recruiting. This abrupt decision indicated to General Smyth that the Fencibles were to be disbanded. In anticipation, he recommended that the 99th Regiment garrison Fredericton and that half of the 102nd Regiment remain at Eastport, with a company at St. Andrews, and the remainder move to Saint John. He considered such a disposition to be a “considerable saving to the public” because it would eliminate the need for rented barracks and simplify the logistics needed to support the various detachments. He was concerned, however, about the possible loss of the Fencibles; they provided couriers and manned the riverboat flotilla, tasks that required “considerable local information and habit.” Smyth requested that, if the Fencibles were disbanded, a company of the 104th Regiment be returned to the province to undertake these vital tasks. With disbandment looming, he considered continuing the Fencibles’ military training a waste, and proposed employing two hundred men from the regiment on road work along the vital communications route from Fredericton to Grand Falls and on the Fredericton-St. Andrews road. This, he argued, “will be of advantage to the province and some benefit to the Soldiers,” although, since it would involve hard physical labour under difficult conditions, the “benefit” to the soldiers was open to question.
Smyth’s speculation concerning the disbandment of the New Brunswick Fencibles proved premature, as it was the 99th Regiment that was withdrawn and ordered to Halifax on short notice. Colonel Daniell with a portion of the regiment left without delay, and the remainder followed in mid-June on board H.M.S. Regulus after it had disembarked the Black Refugees. Smyth replaced the 99th in Saint John with the headquarters and half of the 102nd, leaving the other half in garrison at Eastport with a company in St. Andrews.
With the 104th’s close connection with the province, New Brunswickers had followed the regiment’s exploits with interest. The deeply mourned Colonel Drummond, killed at the siege of Fort Erie, was replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Moodie, who had been detached from the 104th to command the New Brunswick Fencibles. After handing over command of the Fencibles, Moodie travelled overland in spring 1815 to take up his new command. The future of the 104th appeared assured when, in March 1815, the authorities in London selected it as one of eleven regiments to garrison Upper and Lower Canada. The regiment was assigned duties in various locations in Lower Canada, with its headquarters first in Quebec City and then in Montreal.
As a result of its heavy casualties in the recent fighting, the 104th was woefully understrength, so Moodie’s first major task was to refill the ranks. He received permission to send a recruiting party under Captain William Bradley and Lieutenant William Phair to New Brunswick. With the Fencibles about to be disbanded, it was hoped that some of them would transfer to the 104th. Although the recruiters had some success, it was insufficient. Moodie then sought permission to recruit in Britain and Ireland. This request was not only refused, but orders followed directing that further recruiting for the 104th should cease. This was the first inkling that circumstances had changed. With Napoleon safely exiled to St. Helena and Europe finally at peace, Britain began a major downsizing of its military forces. As a junior regiment, the 104th was one of the first to be eliminated, being disbanded in Montreal on May 24, 1817. The troops received generous terms: those not wishing to return to Europe “should be allowed Grants of land in proportion to their Respective Ranks either in Canada or in any other of His Majesty’s North American Possessions”; the others were given passage home and two months’ full pay on arrival. Although they were entitled to retain their uniforms and knapsacks, there was a limit to the military’s generosity. If a greatcoat had been worn for less than two years, the soldier had to return it to the commissary. Of the almost six hundred members released from the 104th Regiment, approximately one hundred opted to return to New Brunswick.
Upon Moodie’s departure from New Brunswick, Major Tobias Kirkwood assumed acting command of the New Brunswick Fencibles. He was a career soldier who, between 1808 and 1809, had served as a captain with the 100th Regiment in New Brunswick. During this period, he courted and married Miss Catherine Amelia Emily Coffin, the daughter of General Coffin. He transferred to his father-in-law’s new regiment with the rank of major and returned to New Brunswick from Europe in August 1814. He fully expected to be appointed the commanding officer of the New Brunswick Fencibles and was aggrieved to find Moodie in command. Kirkwood had hoped to receive promotion and command on Moodie’s departure, but it was not to be. Instead, Sir James Cockburn’s son, Major Francis Cockburn, who had served in the 60th Regiment with Prevost and was a member of his staff in Lower Canada, was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and given command of the Fencibles, although he was never to spend a day with the regiment or even set foot in the province. In Cockburn’s absence, Kirkwood, much to his frustration, continued to serve as acting commanding officer with all of the responsibility and work until the unit was disbanded.
In spring 1815, as he had intended, Smyth employed members of the Fencibles on road construction. In May, he reported that considerable progress had been made in the Grand Falls area. It became apparent, however, that the Fencibles would not be disbanded any time soon, so Smyth concentrated the regiment in Fredericton for two months “for the express purpose of drill,” and noted that they made “much improvement in their military exercises.” In August, he again requested permission to employ them “in improving communications in the Province previous to the winter setting in,” again emphasizing the importance of this work and expressing the view that it “will prove a useful relaxation to such men as may desire to be indulged.”
In the meantime, a new problem manifested itself. Smyth reported that “a spirit of desertion having very recently shown itself in the N. Brunswick Fencibles originating, as stated to me, from the men considering themselves as entitled to their discharge.” In fact, there was justification for this belief. The Fencibles’ terms of enlistment had been for three years or until six months after the receipt of the signing of a peace treaty. Six months had passed since the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, but this legal nicety was not acknowledged by the military authorities. In the event, with few roads, limited places to hide, and a substantial reward of £10 for the apprehension of a deserter, it proved difficult to desert. For example, Thomas G. Cunliff apprehended Privates Barnabas Cross and Enoch Roach while they were approaching the American border after having deserted from a Fencible detachment at Presqu’Ile. They were turned over to the regimental guard in Fredericton, where Cunliff claimed his reward. Cross and Roach were court-martialled and sentenced “to serve for life in such corps as His Majesty may be pleased to direct.” Since three other men were awaiting trial on similar charges, Smyth requested that Cross and Roach be sent immediately to Halifax. Shortly after joining the 99th Regiment, Roach deserted again, apparently this time successfully.
Despite these problems, the Fencibles continued to perform effectively, garrisoning Fredericton, manning outposts, employed on fortifications in Saint John as couriers, working on the river flotilla, and providing twenty “picked men” under command of Lieutenant William Hatch to take “charge of the King’s Stores at St. Andrews.” Their fate, however, lay with the authorities in London, and Sherbrooke eventually received orders to disband the Fencibles by December 24, 1815. The necessary detailed orders were prepared in Halifax, but inexplicably were misdirected to Quebec City. It was not until mid-January 1916 that Smyth learned of the decision to disband the Fencibles, and he immediately sent Captain Richard Gubbins to Halifax to obtain a copy of the orders. Once received, the new date of February 24 was set and the process of disbanding began immediately.
As usual, Smyth involved himself in the detailed planning. He directed that the outlying detachments be withdrawn to Fredericton and the Fencibles in St. Andrews be replaced with a subaltern, a sergeant, and twelve picked men from the 102nd Regiment. In accordance with military custom, prior to Christmas, the soldiers had been issued new clothing from the commissary, but now that the Fencibles were to be released, Smyth “directed all but Trousers and shoes to be returned back into Stores.” Although Sherbrooke had “no objection to leaving the clothing with the men,” Smyth disregarded this approval, claiming it had arrived too late. It had also been approved that Fencibles who had been recruited in Upper and Lower Canada would receive two months’ pay and rations to enable them to return home. Smyth, concerned that this generous allowance might be abused and that the men would not head home, directed that only one month’s pay be paid in Fredericton and that the second month’s be collected in Quebec City. Smyth worried that, if the whole regiment was paid and released all in one day, the men might become boisterous and create a disturbance. He instructed Major Kirkwood that it was “highly expedient” not to release more than one hundred men a day. As they were not regular soldiers, he gave no thought to their being provided land grants. To fill the void created by the departure of the Fencibles, Smyth redistributed his remaining infantry battalion: the headquarters of the 102nd Regiment and three companies were assigned to Saint John, three companies were ordered to Fredericton, and four companies remained in Eastport.
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This was the start of the so-called Pax Britannia and one hundred years of relative peace in Europe, a period in which Britain had no need for large numbers of troops. Indeed, so many regiments were disbanded that the British military authorities, to the great consternation and frustration of historians and future genealogists, opted in 1816 to renumber the remaining ones. In this confusing renumbering process, the 102nd Regiment became the 100th, the 99th became the 98th, and the 98th became the 97th. Even after the renumbering, the reduction of regiments continued. On February 12, 1817, the 100th Regiment, formerly the 102nd, was ordered to return to England to be disbanded. Two companies of the 98th, formerly the 99th, replaced it as the garrison at Eastport.
This reduction of British regiments directly affected New Brunswick. Soldiers of disbanded regular regiments stationed in North America were given the option of being transported back to England or taking their release in North America with an offer of a land grant. The first unit to take advantage of this offer and to settle in New Brunswick was the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion. The battalion had been employed in Quebec, and Colonel Joseph Bouchette, the surveyor general of Lower Canada, made arrangements to settle its members along the Grand Communications Route as far as the Salmon River, south of Grand Falls. The objective was to help secure the route and facilitate travel by having the new settlers provide accommodation and assistance. These early veterans arrived in June 1814, before the war had even ended. When Smyth received word of this project, he acknowledged that this was “a desirable object,” and pledged the support of the New Brunswick Fencibles who were working on the road in the area. The following spring, Captain Maclauchlan was ordered to construct a log building at Grand Falls for “the purpose of holding a Depot of Provisions to be offered from time to time to settlers of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion in that neighbourhood.”
On June 13, 1816, Halifax, General Orders directed that the Nova Scotia Fencible Infantry and the Royal Newfoundland Fencible Infantry would be disbanded immediately. Although they were not regular soldiers, they were unexpectedly offered grants, provided they settled on the land immediately, improved it, and did not sell it for three years. The size of the grants was based on rank, with captains receiving eight hundred acres, subalterns five hundred acres, sergeants two hundred acres, and privates one hundred acres. Since the New Brunswick Fencibles had been disbanded four months earlier with no such offer of land, Smyth immediately contacted London on the Fencibles’ behalf, emphasizing that it would be “an advantage” to the province to “locate good subjects in it.” Approval was quickly received, and the offer was extended “to such officers and men of the New Brunswick Fencibles as may yet be desirous of accepting [it],” although no further action could be taken until the following spring.
In May 1817, Smyth and the Council set aside a tract of Crown land along the St. John River between Presqu’Ile and Grand Falls as the location for a military settlement. Following the precedent set by the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion, the site had been selected to improve and secure the Grand Communications Route. In July, George Morehouse, the deputy surveyor general and a former lieutenant in the Fencibles, was directed to survey lots on both sides of the river for the Fencibles to settle. By this time, however, the regiment had been disbanded for a year and many of its former members had already established themselves, but those who did accept the offer settled mainly in the southern end of the designated area, on the west bank opposite Upper Kent.
The 104th Regiment was disbanded in Montreal in May 1817, and those of its members who chose to return to New Brunswick sailed for Saint John. About fifty then embarked on military-operated bateaux and were transported upriver to Presqu’Ile, where they were issued tools and assigned lots in the military settlement, mainly between Bristol and Bath. The terms of their release entitled them to receive pay until they reached their destination and then to receive two months’ severance pay.
Mike Bechthold
The largest contingent to come to the military settlement consisted of members of the old 99th Regiment, now renumbered the 98th. The regiment had been stationed in Nova Scotia when war was declared, and formed part of that province’s garrison throughout the conflict until 1817, when it was transferred to New Brunswick. So, when the unit was disbanded in the spring of 1818, the men were familiar with the country and life in the Maritime provinces, and more than four hundred took their release locally. On June 17, Smyth directed Major Arthur S. King, the commanding officer of the 98th, to release within the week those men wishing to settle in the province and provided £500 to facilitate the process. Then, with his usual attention to detail, he gave precise instructions about where the men were to draw their lots, and when and where they were to draw provisions and tools, and directed that bateaux would take them to the military settlement provided the men helped to work the boats. Inexplicable delays prevented their moving upriver until late September, forcing them to winter in the barracks at Presqu’Ile. It was not until spring 1819 that about eighty members of the regiment finally reached their grants.
The most unusual unit to arrive in the military settlement was the Royal West India Rangers, formed in 1806 for employment solely in the West Indies. The region was notorious for deadly tropical diseases, and military units stationed there were routinely decimated by illness. As a result, the Rangers were recruited from among expendable members of the British army, mostly soldiers who had committed major military or civil offences and who avoided capital punishment only by agreeing to serve in this unit for an indefinite period. Another source of recruits was deserters and prisoners of war from Napoleon’s army who wished to escape the terrible conditions found in prison camps. During the War of 1812, the Rangers successfully campaigned in St. Kitts, Antigua, Barbados, and Guadeloupe. As part of the British army reduction, the Rangers were ordered to disband in New Brunswick, where land grants were available. In May 1819, five transport ships arrived in Halifax with seven hundred and fifty Rangers onboard, along with their women and children. The layover was to have been short, but it dragged on for a month, during which the passengers were confined to their ships, adding to their frustration and discontent. After arranging to transport one hundred and fifty men directly to England, three ships sailed for Saint John. There, the municipal authorities attempted unsuccessfully to prevent the Rangers from landing, “as it is considered dangerous to the peace and safety of the city to let loose such a large number of unruly persons.” The release procedure started on 15 June with the men being given the option of accepting land in the military settlement or a cash payment of £10. The vast majority elected to receive the cash, and quickly justified the concerns of the city fathers. The New Brunswick Royal Gazette reported, “of those landed yesterday, and paid off, we were sorry to see very many intoxicated, and bidding fair to squander away the little pittance of which they are possessed, placing them in a very few days objects of compassion if not a charge to the parish.”
Only sixty-two Rangers, under the command of Lieutenant Arthur Blaney Walsh, chose to accept land grants. They travelled by boat to Fredericton, where they transferred to open bateaux for the eight-day trip to Presqu’Ile. There, they received tools and were dispersed to their lots, mostly located north of the Tobique River in an area known as the Ranger Settlement. Like the men of the 98th, they too had insufficient time to prepare for winter, and most spent it in the Presqu’Ile barracks. One of those to prosper was Lieutenant Walsh, who married Margaret Nicholson, a local girl, and developed 205 acres south of the barracks. He died on October 24, 1842, at the age of forty-nine; he was buried at the post, where his grave marker is to be found. Although disbanded soldiers from other regiments were to arrive in the military settlement, the Royal West India Rangers was the last contingent to do so. A report dated August 4, 1819, states that 311 lots had been surveyed in the settlement and 85 married soldiers and 101 single men had received grants.
With the lots in the military settlement on the upper St. John River assigned, new tracts had to be found elsewhere in the province. In April 1818, the commissary general in Saint John was informed “that there are from 40 to 50 disbanded soldiers from the late 104th & [New Brunswick Fencibles] who are assembled at St. Andrews in order to be located between that place and Fredericton as early in the Spring as possible,” and it was anticipated that “there are also many more military settlers going to that part of the Country.” Since these men would require the usual support of provisions for six months and tools, the commissary general was ordered to establish a large depot in the area.
Artist’s conception of the Presqu’Ile Military Post, established in 1791 south of modern-day Florenceville, NB; garrisoned during the War of 1812, then used as a depot for the local military settlement. Courtesy of Ernest A. Clarke
In designating new areas for military settlement, Smyth once again selected locations along key communication routes. George P. Kimball, the surveyor general, was directed to “admeasure and lay out the whole of the ungranted Lands, which are fit for cultivation on the Miramichi Portage . . . in one hundred acre lots, on each side of the Great Road of communications, and also on the old Road . . . to commence at the upper settlements on the Nashwaak, and extending to the South West Branch of the Miramichi River.” Then he was tasked to “admeasure and lay out” one hundred acre lots along the Fredericton-St. Andrews road for military and other settlers. Orders followed directing that a “Depot of Provisions” be established near the Miramichi Portage and “that a supply may be lodged in the store of the [Fredericton] Garrison without delay equal to furnish 200 men daily in addition to those already ordered.” In October 1818, grants were assigned along the portage to Lieutenant John Gallagher, a sergeant, and twelve privates from the 98th Regiment. An 1820 report stated that 113 lots containing 11,300 acres had been surveyed along the portage and that 10 married soldiers and 43 single men had been assigned lots. Along the St. Andrews Road, 118 lots were surveyed containing 12,200 acres, with 92 grants assigned. In addition, some disbanded soldiers opted for land grants outside the designated areas, settling across the province. Others preferred to seek employment or to ply a trade in the established regions of the province. The exact number of soldier settlers from the War of 1812 will never be known, but these military settlers and their many descendants remain an enduring legacy of the War of 1812 in New Brunswick.
