Impressment in Nova Scotia

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Military history of Nova Scotia
Citadel Hill in Halifax
Notable events Battle of Port Royal 1690 Siege of Port Royal 1710 Battle of Winnepang 1722 Northeast Coast Campaign 1745 Battle of Grand Pré 1747 Dartmouth Massacre 1751 Bay of Fundy Campaign 1755 Siege of Louisbourg 1758 Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax 1758 Halifax Treaties 1760–1761 Battle of Fort Cumberland 1776 Raid on Lunenburg 1782 Establishment of New Ireland 1812 Capture of USS Chesapeake 1813 ‪Battle of the Great Redan 1855 ‪Siege of Lucknow 1857 CSS Tallahassee escape 1861 ‪Halifax Provisional Battalion 1885 ‪Battle of Witpoort 1899 ‪Battle of Paardeberg 1899 Imprisonment of Leon Trotsky 1917 Jewish Legion formed 1917 Sinking of Llandovery Castle 1918 Battle of the St. Lawrence 1942–1944 Sinking of Point Pleasant Park 1945 Halifax VE-Day riot 1945
Notable regiments Mi'kmaq militias 1677–1779 Acadian militias 1689–1761 40th Regiment of Foot 1717–1757 Louisbourg Garrison 1717–1758 Gorham's Rangers 1744–1762 Danks' Rangers 1756–1762 84th Regiment of Foot 1775–1784 Royal Fencible American 1775–1783 Royal Nova Scotia Volunteers 1775–1783 King's Orange Rangers 1776–1783 1st Field Artillery from 1791 Royal Nova Scotia 1793–1802 Nova Scotia Fencibles 1803–1816 Halifax Rifles from 1860 Princess Louise Fusiliers from 1867 78th Highland 1869–1871 Cape Breton Highlanders from 1871 Nova Scotia Rifles 1914–1919 No. 2 Construction Battalion 1916–1919 West Nova Scotia from 1916 Nova Scotia Highlanders from 1954
Related topics Captivity narratives Impressment
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Impressment by the Royal Navy in Nova Scotia happened primarily during the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Guard boats of the Navy patrolled Halifax harbour day and night and they boarded all incoming and outgoing vessels.^[1] The Navy consistently struggled with desertion in Nova Scotia, and senior naval commanders recognised that only impressment could ensure local squadrons had enough men onboard.^[2] The guard boats were used as floating press gangs, impressing every fiftieth man on merchant ships entering the harbour. Due to constant manpower shortages, they even pressed Americans from cartels and prison hulks.^[2]

Royal Navy warships frequently sent armed press gangs into Halifax and other Nova Scotian towns, where they occasionally fought with local townspeople.^[1] Such incidents were often violent and a number of people were killed. The behaviours of the press gangs were the subject of constant criticism from local colonial officials in Nova Scotia.^[1]

Stemming from impressment disturbances, civil-naval relations deteriorated in Nova Scotia from 1805 to the War of 1812, by which time the Royal Navy had publicly exempted Nova Scotians from impressment, and groups such as the Society of Merchants campaigned against perceived high-handedness of the Navy's actions in Nova Scotia.^[3] However, as their warships were short-handed, Navy captains began to violate impressment regulations in the final years of the Napoleonic Wars.^[4] Impressment had a negative impact on Nova Scotian privateers during the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.