3. Coming of the Loyalists

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D. British North America →→ 1. American Revolution Background → 2. American Revolution Battles → 3. Coming of the Loyalists → 4. Rise of Montreal → 5. Province of Upper Canada → 6. War of 1812 → 7. Northern and Western Exploration →→ E. Conflict and Change

What fate awaited the loyal Americans who had fled northward to escape persecution? On July 16, 1783, the British Crown announces that they would be given free land grants, with heads of families getting 100 acres, members of families 50 acres each, single men 50 acres, and non-commissioned officers 200 acres. On November 9, 1789, Governor Guy Carleton passed an Order-in-Council expanding the land grant, giving every son of a loyalist 200 acres, and every daughter 200 acres when married.

Loyalism in America

The American Loyalists were a diverse group of people, coming from all walks of life and all regions of the newly created United States. They were rich and poor, educated and illiterate, soldier and civilian, northern and southern, rural and urban, farmer and tradesman, white and black. They came from all classes and from all regions. Not all Loyalists were British; there were Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians, Blacks, Mennonites, and Aboriginal peoples. Although primarily English speaking, Loyalists spoke many other languages as well. While the majority was Anglican, some practiced different religions such Catholicism and Judaism.

There were two things that united them through all this diversity. One was the fact that they could no longer remain in the United States. Many had their business boycotted, enterprises vandalized, and children harassed. Blackmail and whippings were not uncommon. Many were also tarred and feathered and run out of town. In short, they shared a common bond of abuse.

Loyalist Groups Preparing to Leave New York

The second unifying element sprang from the first. The Loyalists, whether of the United Empire variety U.E.L.) or the "late Loyalists" shared fondness for things British, be they laws, customs, government, traditions, or King George III. (The "late Loyalists," as the name would suggest came later around the time of War of 1812 and were more motivated by land than by loyalty.)

Loyalists arrive at Saint John; May 18, 1783

Loyalist Numbers

The loyalists constituted a substantial body of citizenry. It is estimated that between ten and fifteen percent of the population of the Thirteen Colonies, or about 250 000, opposed the Revolution, whether passively by simply not supporting the rebels or actively by spying or fighting against them. Some historians put the figure higher, claiming there were upwards of twenty percent, or close to half a million Loyalists. While about 50 000 sought refuge in British North America, about half that number escaped to Britain. Some did return to the United States but the vast majority remained where they migrated.

While those colonists who supported the Revolution called themselves Patriots, those colonists opposed to the Revolution were known as Loyalists or United Empire Loyalists. The Patriots called them Tories. The actual term United Empire Loyalist, devised by governor general of British North America Lord Dorchester, was given to those who fought for the British and who lost their property.

A person could be arrested for being a Loyalist for any number of reasons: hiding Tories or in any way aiding them, drinking to the King's health, or helping the British army in any way. Of that group, close to 50 000 United Empire Loyalists migrated northward into British North America. They would have a major - and lasting - impact.

Loyalists in the Saint John River Valley

About thirty thousand journeyed to the Maritimes, mainly Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and St. John's Island (present-day Prince Edward Island). They radically altered the makeup of the area and forced the British to create the new colony of New Brunswick. The establishment of Birchtown in Nova Scotia marked the first significant Black community in Canada.

Ten to fifteen thousand traveled to the Eastern Townships of Quebec that region north of the border and south of the St. Lawrence River. The presence of many place and family names in that area today, more than two hundred years later attests to their impact.

Finally, about ten thousand UEL's made their way into Niagara peninsula area forcing the division in 1791 of Canada into Upper (present-day Ontario) and Lower (present-day Quebec) as well as providing the Tory foundation that would cast a long and powerful influence, politically, economically, and socially on the area.

Nearly 20 000 Loyalists fought for the British Crown in regiments of His Majesty's army. Thousands of others served in local Loyalist militia bodies. The King's Royal Regiment, for example, was one of several military companies that fought loyally for the Crown against the rebels. The Royal Regiment was composed of displaced refugees who had arrived in the Montreal area from New York State. Using Canadian territory as a base, they conducted sporadic guerrilla raids on the northern states. They harassed the Patriot forces, interrupted their supply lines, and freed Loyalist prisoners.

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Lower Canada Loyalists

Loyalists reach Lower Canada

Loyalists seeking refuge in Quebec faced a different set of obstacles than those who fled to the Maritimes. They began with the arduous overland route to get to the Eastern Townships. Most traveled through the wilderness of New York State to Sorel, located east of Montreal. Entire extended families, carrying all their worldly possessions, made the trek by ox cart or on foot. Somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand risked all and journeyed north to start a new life.

Most of them were settled temporarily at Sorel, at the mouth of the Richelieu River. Hastily built barracks provided immediate shelter. They waited until Governor Frederick Haldimand devised a more permanent solution. Haldimand recognized an immediate problem, over and above providing the necessities of life for the new arrivals. These Loyalists were English speaking Protestants coming into a predominantly Roman Catholic, French speaking colony. There were going to be serious problems of adjustment and integration. The refugees understood nothing about the seigneurial system or French civil law.

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Upper Canada Loyalists

Initially, Haldimand was reluctant to allow them to settle in the Eastern Townships, believing that this was too close to the Americans. A few hundred sailed down the St. Lawrence River and settled in the Gaspe around Chaleur Bay. He thought the real solution lay in settling the Loyalists in the "upper country located on the north shore of Lake Ontario. First selected was the area between present-day Cornwall and Brockville, then later the land between Kingston and Belleville. The land was surveyed into eight townships in each area and Loyalists began settling into the region. It was only later that the danger of American influence was thought to have diminished sufficiently to allow Loyalists into the Eastern Townships.

Loyalists Landing at Adolphustown

Pulling a Bateau up the Rapids

Outdoor Methodist Meeting

Planting a Homestead

Normally the contingent that moved into the "upper country" did so on bateaux, large, flat-bottomed boats. Five or six families, plus all their possessions would share the ride. The journey was long and difficult, with over 200 km of rapids to be negotiated. It was completely open to the elements, so it was very hot in the summer, and often wet throughout the year as well. Camps were set up nightly on the shore. The numerous rapids could only be navigated with an empty vessel so that meant everybody - and everything - had to be removed.

Loyalists Drawing Lots

The land that was given to the Loyalists had been the territory of the aboriginal peoples. Various treaties were negotiated and signed that diminished the aboriginal rights and gave them to the new arrivals. For example, by a 1781 land and friendship treaty, the Mississauga People surrendered their rights to a six-kilometre-wide strip along the west bank of the Niagara River in exchange for 300 suits of clothing.

Settlers were assigned lots by drawing "location tickets" out of a hat. (Today's lotteries and the term "drawing lots" comes from this practice.) Each family head was given 40 ha, with another 20 ha for each family member. The best and largest tracts went to members of the military. Lower ranking officers received 200 ha, while senior officers received twice as much.

Once again the task of pioneering and settling the land was a most difficult one. It was long, lonely, and often dangerous. Trees and rocks had to be cleared off the land, a homestead built, and crop put in. Self-reliance, ingenuity, and strength were all much in demand. However, through diligence, perseverance, and effort, within a couple of generations the Loyalists prospered. The land was rich and they rapidly learned how to get the best from it. Within a matter of decades a thriving trade was established along the Great Lakes.

As prosperity became evident, so too did the demand for political change. The more successful voiced their displeasure at having to live under what they perceived to be the pro-French terms of the Quebec Act of 1774. They wanted change.

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1791 Constitutional Act

The British recognized the fact that the status quo was not viable. The Loyalists wanted an elected assembly and their own colony. Thus, in 1791 the British passed the Constitutional Act, that divided the colony at the Ottawa River into Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) and Lower Canada (present-day Quebec).

In addition, the Act created a parallel oligarchic political structure that did contain an elected assembly. So under a policy of "divide and conquer," the British hoped to lessen the chance for conflict between the two races as well as acquiescing to the demand of an elected political body. One-seventh of all the land was set aside, in the form of Clergy Reserves, for the maintenance of the Anglican Church, as opposed to other Protestant sects like the Methodists.

Ontario Aboriginals

Joseph Brant

Carleton Purchases Toronto Region from Mississauga, Sept 23, 1788

The Aboriginal people were a major loser in the coming of the Loyalists. In exchange for treaty rights, support and reserves set aside for their "use and benefit," they were stripped of much of their aboriginal rights through a series of treaties negotiated by the British Crown and their representatives.

Adding to the difficulty was the fact that boundaries were often vague at best. Further, often there were serious language problems and misunderstandings. Both sides meant different things. Some translators were merely weak; others were dishonest. The only constant was that the aboriginals lost each and every time. The "Haldimand Grant" of three million acres along the Grand River was surrendered for trade goods valued at just slightly more than 1100 pounds.

Joseph Brant, the brilliant leader of the Six Nations, realized that the future would be very different than the past. Survival, he believed, only through selling off or leasing his people's rights to Crown land. Thus, over 150 000 hectares of land were sold off within a generation.

Loyalists Leaving New York on British Transport Ships

Other tribes followed their example. In 1790 the Ottawa and Ojibwa people ceded their rights to close to one million hectares around the Thames River area of present-day southern Ontario for 1 200 pounds. Three years later, for the same amount they sold more than 1.2 million hectares again in the same region. Throughout the nineteenth century, the aboriginal peoples who had lived freely and independently for centuries on the land were shunted aside by advancing European settlement.

Maritime Loyalists

By far the largest migration of Loyalists went to the Maritimes. The British assembled a fleet of ships, under the command of Guy Carleton, to evacuate tens of thousands of Loyalists gathered in New York City at the close of the American Revolution. Traveling in convoys to escape attacks of American privateers, they went northward arriving in Nova Scotia. That colony held a number of attractions for the Loyalists. It was close, accessible, possessed the command center for the British Navy's North American operations, and had substantial fertile land available for settlement and farming.

Loyalists Reach Annapolis, 1781

Unfortunately land speculation of the 1760s, which predated the arrival of the Loyalists, had resulted in much of the best land being given away to favourites of the Court. Governor John Parr could not settle the new arrivals along the St. John River (in present-day New Brunswick), so he had to look at alternative areas. Parr, in a daring and deft move, managed to have the previous land grants in Nova Scotia cancelled arguing that those who had been given title had not fulfilled their obligations to settle the land. By invoking the principle of escheat, the land was returned to the British Crown. Now Parr had good land available for the new arrivals. The land allocation in Nova Scotia saw each male head of a household receive about 50 hectares of land and a further 20 hectares for each additional family member. Retiring senior army officers received even larger tracts.

Because the land grants on St. John Island (present-day Prince Edward Island) had largely been given to sixty-seven absentee landowners, the principle of escheat could not be invoked as easily. Thus the grants were not cancelled and so the Loyalists generally stayed clear of the island settlement. They did not want to undertake the arduous journey simply to become someone else's tenant.

Charlottetown in 1778

Clearing the Land & Logging

New Brunswick Government

First New Brunswick Assembly

Governor Parr initially selected Port Roseway, which possessed an excellent harbour, as the first major Nova Scotia reception area. Almost immediately the Loyalists chopped down trees, began to clear the land, and laid out the town of Shelburne. By 1784, Shelburne had mushroomed to a population of 12 000, the largest town in British North America, eclipsing even Quebec. However, in time, the residents discovered that the land around Shelburne was too poor to support crops. So, after being sustained by government rations, the recent arrivals began to leave for other parts of the Maritime or Britain. In fact, Parr and his administration had done much to support the Loyalists. They had surveyed, apportioned, and divided up the land. They had distributed food, tools, seeds, and other needed supplies. However, for about twenty percent, it was not enough.

Founding of New Brunswick

About 15 000 Loyalists settled along the Saint John River in what today is New Brunswick. Even with the government assistance, they faced a difficult adjustment. Food and building materials were in short supply. The first winter was often harsh and exacted a heavy toll as many succumbed to starvation or having to live in tents. Nevertheless, the majority of Loyalists hung on with grim determination and eventually made successful lives for themselves.

Loyalist Traditions

Used to the tradition of having an elected assembly back in the Thirteen Colonies, the new arrivals demanded the same thing in the new home. However, the British were not ready to accede to that request. The 1774 Quebec Act, which contained no provision for such a body, was the law of the land. The Loyalists continued to lobby for an elected democratic assembly. Quickly they came to believe that their interests could best be promoted through the creation of a separate colony. Within months of the first wave of Loyalists, in June 1784 the colony of New Brunswick was created out of the mainland portion of Nova Scotia.

Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 1789

Black Loyalists in the Maritimes experienced something very unique. Slavery had been abolished by this time within most parts of the British Empire. Nevertheless, the buying and selling of slaves in Nova Scotia continued into the first two decades of the nineteenth century. (Slavery was not totally abolished in the Empire until 1834.) However, slavery was very much the norm in the Thirteen Colonies and the recently created United States. Estimates range as high 100 000 African Americans who escaped from their owners during the Revolutionary period. By the terms of peace, Carleton agreed to Washington's request that Americans have their 'property' - slaves - returned to their owners. Many much preferred the freedom in British North America and longed to journey north. Eventually, about three thousand Black Loyalists made their way to Nova Scotia. Many had gained their freedom by fighting on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War. Many more simply escaped.

About half that number settled in an area known as Birchtown, close to Shelburne. Another 1 500 settled in and around Halifax. They faced all the usual difficulties of immigrant, refugee, and Loyalist; but then even more because of the colour of their skin. Most Black Loyalists did not receive the land allotment that they had been promised. And even when they did receive the land, it was typically of inferior quality. It was the least fertile land, located in isolated areas.

The Cape Breton Assembly, Before Union with Nova Scotia

Many of the existing population, and the other Loyalists, did not accept the Black Loyalists as equals. Discrimination and prejudice came out daily in a variety of hurtful ways. The legal system treated white and black differently. As harsh as life was, as great as the racism was, as destitute as Birchtown became, the Black Loyalists could not return to the United States. In 1792, the British government offered to transport Black Loyalists to Sierre Leone in West Africa. About 1 200 took advantage of the free passage traveling across the ocean and eventually establishing the city of Freeport. However, in the end, sixty percent remained in Nova Scotia becoming successful farmers, tradesmen, and artisans and in the process building a distinctive- and better - life for themselves and their families.

Arms of the United Empire Loyalists

Loyalist Influences

The coming of the Loyalists inaugurated major changes in British North America. It almost doubled the population. In addition, it made the population much more diverse from the exclusive Roman Catholic, French speaking colony it had been. Now a major British Protestant element was added to the mix, along with much smaller groups of other races and cultures.

The influx of Loyalists led directly to the creation of two new colonies, New Brunswick in the east and Upper Canada (Ontario) in the west.

Economically, the new arrivals had a major influence. Not only did they clear substantial tracts of land, but they also brought their various skills as artisans, merchants, and traders. Politically too, the Loyalists had a significant impact. Their calls for an elected assembly led to political change in the form of the Constitutional Act, which itself would be both a precursor and cause for the coming of responsible government.

The Loyalist migration led to conflicts with the aboriginal peoples and established the precedent of land treaties as the preferred method of removing the perceived obstacle that the original inhabitants posed. Finally, the coming of the Loyalists, and their rejection of the American Revolution, led to the forging of a significant streak of anti-Americanism. All in all, the Loyalists cast a very long shadow on Canadian history.

Canada's first Christmas Tree

Pre-Christian Celts felt that evergreen trees had magical powers that let them withstand the shortest and coldest days of the year. The modern use of evergreens as Christmas trees comes to us from 15th century Estonia and Latvia and Germany. In the Middle Ages, trees in guild halls were decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers" to be enjoyed by the apprentices and children. An old German legend tells of a woodcutter and his wife who help a small hungry child, who turns out to be the Christ child. He tells the couple to break a branch of fir and bring it in the house. On Christmas morning they find the tree is laden with apples of gold and nuts of silver.

1981 Commemorative Stamp (Courtesy Canada Post)

Another story says that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking home one winter evening, and composing a sermon in his head, he looked up and was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling through the branches of evergreens. To inspire his family, he put up a fir tree in the main room of his house and started the dangerous practice of lighting candles wired to the branches.

The Christbaum, or “Christ tree,” became a popular tradition in Germany in the 1700s. In North America, the early Puritan settlers had forbidden Christmas entirely - anyone caught celebrating Christmas was fined 15 cents. But German immigrants soon adopted the practice of their homeland. The Moravian community of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, erected North America's first Christmas tree in 1747, covering a wooden pyramid with boughs of fir, and decorating it with candles and apples.

General Riedesel

Baroness Riedesel, Lady Fritz

The first Christmas tree in Canada was lit at Sorel, Québec, in 1781, by Baroness Frederika von Riedesel, wife of the commander of the Brunswick and Hessian mercenary troops who fought with the British in the Revolutionary War.

Major General Friedrich von Riedesel, was born at Lauterbach, Hesse, Germany, in 1738. In 1776 he landed in Canada in charge of a large contingent of soldiers sent by the Duke of Brunswick to defend Canada and help General John Burgoyne put down the American Revolution. The Baroness, known as as "Lady Fritz", followed in 1777, even though she had two small children and was expecting another.

In October of that year, the Americans captured the von Riedesel family at the Battle of Saratoga. They spent two years in captivity and two further years paroled in the U.S., before they were allowed to return to Quebec. In September of 1781, Governor Lord Haldimand posted the General to Fort Sorel where the Richelieu River flows into the St. Lawrence River. The couple, and their four daughters Augusta, Frederika, Caroline, and America, first lived in a private home, but a few days before Christmas Eve, they moved into a new stone house on the site of the present Maison des Gouverneurs in the town.

On Christmas Eve, Lady Fritz hosted a party of officers, with a traditional Christmas plum pudding for the English, and a small candle-lit Christmas fir tree, its branches decorated with fruit and lit with candies, for the Germans. On Christmas day, her four girls had their "Weihnachtsbaum" and their little gifts under the tree.

Today, the town of Sorel still lights a tree outside La Maison des Gouverneurs to commemorate Lady Fritz and the first Christmas tree in Canada.