Nova Scotia theatre | |||||||
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Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
Naval battle off Halifax (1782) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United Colonies (1775-1781) United States (1781-1782) Kingdom of France | Great Britain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
George Washington |
Thomas Gage Captain Rupert George[2][3][4] 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".