Nova Scotia in the American Revolution

Nova Scotia theatre
Part of the American Revolutionary War

Naval battle off Halifax (1782)
Date12 July 1775 – 5 September 1782
Location
Result

British victory

  • American forces driven from Nova Scotia
Belligerents
United Colonies
(1775-1781)
United States
(1781-1782)
Kingdom of France Kingdom of France
 Great Britain
Commanders and leaders

United States George Washington
United States Jeremiah O'Brien
United States John Paul Jones
United States Jonathan Eddy
United States Benoni Danks
United States John Allan
United States John Manley
United States Hector McNeill
United States Louis-René Levassor
United States Noah Stoddard
United States George Wait Babcock
United States Herbert Woodbury
United StatesWilliam Williams
United StatesJoseph Olney
United StatesDavid Ropes 
United StatesJohn Selman
United StatesNicholson Broughton
Kingdom of France Latouche Tréville

Kingdom of France La Pérouse

Kingdom of Great Britain Thomas Gage
Kingdom of Great Britain Sir William Howe
Kingdom of Great Britain John Creighton (POW)
Kingdom of Great Britain Dittlieb Jessen
Kingdom of Great Britain Joseph Pernette
Kingdom of Great Britain Phillips Callbeck (POW)
Kingdom of Great Britain Joseph Goreham
Kingdom of Great Britain Thomas Dixson
Kingdom of Great Britain Gilfred Studholme
Kingdom of Great Britain Michael Francklin
Kingdom of Great Britain George Collier
Kingdom of Great Britain John Brisbane
Kingdom of Great Britain Simeon Perkins
Kingdom of Great Britain Benjamin Belcher
Kingdom of Great Britain Jonathan Crane
Kingdom of Great Britain Phineas Lovett
Kingdom of Great Britain Jonathan Prescott

Kingdom of Great Britain Captain Henry Francis Evans[1] 
Kingdom of Great Britain Captain Rupert George[2][3][4]
Kingdom of Great Britain Richard Peter Tonge (POW)

The Province of Nova Scotia was heavily involved in the American Revolutionary War (1776–1783). At that time, Nova Scotia also included present-day New Brunswick until that colony was created in 1784.[5] The Revolution had a significant impact on shaping Nova Scotia, "almost the 14th American Colony". At the beginning, there was ambivalence in Nova Scotia over whether the colony should join the Americans in the war against Britain. Largely as a result of American privateer raids on Nova Scotia villages, as the war continued, the population of Nova Scotia solidified their support for the British. Thousands of Loyalist refugees fled to Nova Scotia during the war, and many were resettled in the region after the signing of the 1783 Treaty of Paris as "United Empire Loyalists".

  1. ^ "Henry Francis Evans".
  2. ^ "Sir Rupert George".
  3. ^ Rupert George's Obituary - married in Halifax
  4. ^ George Family, p. 8
  5. ^ Hanc, John (5 June 2017). "When Nova Scotia Almost Joined the American Revolution". Smithsonian.