History of Halifax City

The salaries to the public officers of Cornwallis' Government appear exceedingly small in comparison with the arduous duties which devolved upon them in organizing the settlement. His Aides-de-Camp, Capt. Bulkely and Mr. Gates,25 had no allowance except some trifling commission on the issue of molasses and spirits.

In June, 1750, the Governor and Council assigned as a site the spot on which the [old] City Court House stands, for a market for black cattle, sheep, etc., and made market regulations. In July, the settlers were ordered to clear the streets in front of their respective lots to the centre. They had begun to clear George's Island and to erect block-houses. Seven 32-pounders had been mounted upon it, and a palisade carried all around the works. The frame of the Church, which had been brought from Boston, was erected and was being covered in, the estimated cost of finishing the edifice being £1000 sterling. The temporary barricades were removed, and the palisades carried completely round the town. 30,000 bricks had been manufactured in the neighbourhood and found very good. The meeting house for Dissenters had not yet been commenced. The town was increasing every day in settlers and the number of its houses, but no improvement of the lands in the neighbourhood had been made beyond a few small gardens. The fishery was prosperous and produced 25,000 quintals the first year.

In the month of August, 1750, three hundred and fifty-three settlers arrived in the ship Alderney; and in September following, three hundred German Protestants, from the Palatinate, in the ship Ann. The Governor and Council were embarrassed in providing for their support, and found it necessary to enter into pecuniary arrangements with the merchants of the town, who at this early period had formed themselves into an association for the benefit of trade. Those who came in the ship Alderney, were sent to the opposite side of the harbour, and commenced the town of Dartmouth, which was laid out in the autumn of that year. In December following, the first ferry was established, and John Connor appointed ferryman by order in Council.

In the spring of the following year the Indians surprised Dartmouth at night, scalped a number of settlers and carried off several prisoners. The inhabitants, fearing an attack, had cut down the spruce trees around their settlement, which, instead of a protection, as was intended, served as a cover for the enemy. Captain Clapham and his company of Rangers were stationed on Block-house hill, and it is said remained within his block-house firing from the loop-holes, during the whole affair. The Indians were said to have destroyed several dwellings, sparing neither women nor children. The light of the torches and the discharge of musketry alarmed the inhabitants of Halifax, some of whom put off to their assistance, but did not arrive in any force till after the Indians had retired. The night was calm, and the cries of the settlers, and whoop of the Indians were distinctly heard on the western side of the harbour. On the following morning, several bodies were brought over – the Indians having carried off the scalps.26 Mr. Pyke, father of the late John George Pyke, Esq., many years police magistrate of Halifax, lost his life on this occasion. Those who fled to the woods were all taken prisoners but one. A court martial was called on the 14th May, to inquire into the conduct of the different commanding officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned, in permitting the village to be plundered when there were about 60 men posted there for its protection.

There was a guard house and small military post at Dartmouth from the first settlement, and a gun mounted on the point near the saw mill (in the cove) in 1749. One or two transports, which had been housed over during winter and store ships were anchored in the cove, under the cover of this gun, and the ice kept broke around them to prevent the approach of the Indians. The attempt to plant a settlement at Dartmouth, does not appear to have been at first very successful. Governor Hobson in his letter to the Board of Trade, dated 1st October, 1753, says, "At Dartmouth there is a small town well picketed in, and a detachment of troops to protect it, but there are not above five families residing in it, as there is no trade or fishing to maintain any inhabitants, and they apprehend danger from the Indians in cultivating any land on the outer side of the pickets."

There is no record of any concerted attack having been made by the Indians or French on the town of Halifax. Many stragglers were cut off during the first years of the settlement, particularly along the western side of the Basin, where the best firewood was to be obtained. It was at length found necessary to send out an armed body when fuel or lumber was required. The enemy usually retired before a regular organized force. The Ranger companies under Goreham and Bartelo, were most efficient for this purpose; they were usually recruited in New England, where men for that service were more readily found.

The German settlers who came in the ship Ann, were employed in the public works at 2s. per day, besides a supply of beer and other liquors to each. It was decided that all settlers who came in the previous year, should cease to draw provisions after the 15th September, 1750. This order was afterwards repealed on 29th, and it was determined that all settlers already in the town or who should come before 1st December, should be entitled to one year's provisions from the time of their names being entered on the victualling book.27

It was the intention of Government that the Germans should be sent into the interior of the province; but they having arrived so late in the season, and the want of a sufficient supply of provisions then in store to sustain them through the winter rendered it impossible, and they were retained in the town. They were very sickly, many of them old and unfit for settlers, and their passages not being paid, and there being no person to purchase them, they were employed on the public works to work out their passage money.

About this period a gloom was cast over the settlement by the news of the murder of the Hon. Edward How, one of the Council at Chignecto. "Captain How was employed on the expedition to Chignecto as knowing the country well and being acquainted both with the Indians and the inhabitants, and furthermore he knew personally their leaders, LeCorne and LeLoutre. His whole aim and study was to obtain a peace with the Indians, and get the English prisoners out of their hands, for which purpose he often had conferences with the French officers under a flag of truce. LeCorne one day sent a flag of truce by a French officer to the water side, a small river which parts his people from the British troops. Capt. How and the officers held a parley for some time across the river. How had no sooner taken leave of the officers than a party that lay in ambush fired a volley at him and shot him through the heart, an instance of treacherous brutality not to be paralleled in history, and a violation of a flag of truce, which had ever been held sacred, and without which all faith is at an end, and all transactions with an enemy." – [Cornwallis' letter 27th November.]

The spring of 1751 the five acre lots on the Peninsula were laid out; the people engaged in clearing the land. The uncertainty from surprise by Indians, however, much retarded the work; a large space, however, was cleared around the town before winter set in.

Another vessel having arrived on the 10th June, with German Palatine settlers, they were directed to be employed at Dartmouth in picketing in the back of the town. In July, the arrival of 200 more was reported, and they were ordered to be placed at the head of the N. W. Arm and mouth of the Basin; and those who owed work for their passage, were directed to picket in their stations. Monsieur Dupacquir, who had engaged to bring out 300 Swiss, brought but twenty this year, but more were expected in the following spring.

Ninth July, a proclamation issued to forfeit all lots of the town settlers who only put up slight frames of houses, unless they immediately proceeded to board them in and finish them as dwellings.

On the 18th June, Jas. Stephens and Wm. Harris were hanged for house-breaking; this was the second public execution which took place in the town.

William Piggot had a license granted him to open a coffee house on the 8th April the same year.

In January of this year the Council passed a series of regulations for the General Court and County Courts, and ordered them to be published by the Provost Marshal by reading the same after the beat of drum through the settlement, and on the first day of the next sitting of the General Court and County Courts.

The only matters further recorded worthy of notice during the year 1751, was the dismissal of Mr. Otis Little, the Commissary of Stores, for remissness in his office, and the resolution of the Governor and Council to pay a draft for £882, sent from Quebec, for the ransom of English prisoners taken by the Indians and carried to Canada. It appeared that Lt. Hamilton and upwards of sixty officers, soldiers and settlers had fallen into the hands of the savages, and Priest LeLoutre had agreed to ransom them for the sum above mentioned.

It may here be mentioned that several batteries have already been erected on George's Island,28 and expensive earth works had been thrown up.

Towards the close of the year Mr. Joshua Mauger, a gentleman from England, who came out at the commencement of the settlement to trade and distil rum for the soldiers, was charged by government with having attempted to make Halifax the repository for Louisburg merchandize, brought up secretly and to be carrying on an illicit traffic, he being at the time agent victualler to Government. Governor Cornwallis, upon information, caused Mr. Mauger's stores to be searched for contraband articles brought from Louisburg. Much discussion ensued, and the settlement was for some time thrown into commotion, by what Mr. Mauger called in his letter to England, the high-handed proceedings of the Governor.

CHAPTER III

In January, 1752, Mr. Collier, who had been acting as Chief Justice, and Captain Frotheringham, were called to the Council in place of Mr. Salisbury and Col. Horseman, who had returned to England. On 3rd February, a public ferry was established between Halifax and Dartmouth and John Connors appointed ferryman for three years, with the exclusive privilege, and ferry regulations were also established. At the same sitting of the Council, an order was passed for the recording of deeds and mortgages, making all papers unrecorded void against those which had been registered. Col. Horseman's stone building was purchased for a prison in place of that before used.

April 29th, Charles Morris, James Monk, John Duport, Robert Ewer, Joseph Scott, John Wm. Hoffeman and Leonard Christopher Redolf were appointed Justices of the Peace. It was resolved in Council at their sitting on 12th June, that a lottery should be held for building a Light House near Cape Sambro, to raise £450. One thousand tickets at £3 each. Prizes from one of £500 to £7 the lowest. Two hundred prizes, in all amounting to £3000, 15 per cent. to be deducted from the prizes, to be drawn publicly in the Town House at Halifax, under the direction of managers to be appointed by Government.

The winter of 1751-2 had been severe, but the harbour had not been frozen or at all impeded by ice, and the spring opened early, and preparations for prosecuting the fishery were soon in active operation.

The Government mills at Dartmouth, under charge of Captain Clapham, were sold at auction in June. They were purchased by Major Gilman for £310.

16th July – An order passed to strike off the victualling lists all the German and Swiss settlers, who had arrived in the Speedwell.

In the spring of 1752, a number of settlers arrived in the Nancy, under the charge of Lt. Young. About the same time the Marquis DeConte, a Sicilian nobleman, and a number of other foreign settlers, came to Halifax from the island of Tercera, one of the Azores, and settled in the town.

Governor Cornwallis having obtained permission to resign the Government, the Hon. Peregrine T. Hopson, was appointed his successor, and was sworn into office before the Council on Monday, 3rd August. Mr. Cornwallis, however, did not leave the province until after the 10th of October, as he appears to have attended the Council held on that day.29

In September, 1752, John Baptist Cope, commonly called Major Cope, a Mic-Mac chief, head of the Shubenacadie Indians, came in with terms of peace, which were agreed to. This bears date the 15th September, in that year. Immediately after this document was signed, Cope left town in a vessel, having requested Capt. W. Piggot should be sent to Indian Harbour, to meet the Indians there, to ratify the Treaty. Mr. Piggot was accordingly dispatched, and brought up with him two or three Indians, who appeared before the Council, after which they were sent back to Beaver Harbour, under the conduct of Mr. Piggot, with blankets, provisions, etc. The terms of the Treaty were agreed to and confirmed in Council, and the whole was engrossed on parchment and ratified on 22nd November, 1752. The names of the Indian delegates on this occasion were, Andrew Hodley Martin, Gabriel Martin and Francis Jeremiah. Mr. Saul received directions to issue provisions, according to the allowance of the troops for six months, for 90 Indians, that being the number of the tribe under Cope, occupying the eastern part of the province.

This treaty does not appear to have been respected by the Indian Chief, who we find, not more that eight months after its ratification, refusing to respect the pass of Governor Hopson to one Anthony Cartel, who had been captured by the Indians, in one of the harbours eastward of Halifax, and carried through the country to Shubenacadie, the head-quarters of Major Cope, from whom he was ransomed by a French inhabitant. It would appear that the terms of amity, entered into by Cope and his men with the Government at Halifax, had been in some manner without the sanction of Abbe LeLoutre, who, when Anthony Cartel was brought before Count Raymond at Louisburg, was present, and as Cartel expresses it, inveighed bitterly against Governor Cornwallis, and said if he wanted peace he ought to have written to him, and not to have treated with the tribe of Indians. That he, Cartel, might depart, having been ransomed, but that the first Englishman he caught should be retained until he, LeLoutre, had full satisfaction for himself and his Indians.

In April following, two men named John Connor and James Grace, arrived at Halifax in an Indian canoe, bringing with them six Indian scalps. They informed the Council that they and two others, having put into a place between Tor Bay and Country Harbour, in a schooner, were captured by the Indians, and carried ten miles into the country, where their two companions were murdered; that they had surprised the Indians at night, killed several, whose scalps they secured, and having escaped to the seaside, seized a canoe, and made their way to Halifax. Along the coast, both east and west from Halifax, Indian massacres had been frequent. Those persons engaged in the fishery, who were compelled to land for wood and water, were chiefly the sufferers.

Much had been said and written in Europe at the time, relative to the aggressions of the French, during the suspension of hostilities between the two nations. The Indians, from their religion and trading intercourse, more favourable to the French in Canada and Acadia, were made use of to harass the British settlers, who (though the two nations were then at peace) were looked upon with a jealous eye by the resident French population. A French writer, (I refer to a little work, now a scarce book, published during the second siege of Louisburg), states that the English neglected to cultivate an acquaintance with the manners and customs of the Indians, and it was therefore not surprising at the time, that they should show less affection towards them than towards the French, who had great regard to their humours and inclinations.

"So strong is their aversion to despotic power," says the author, "that force will never do; they will yield to nothing but persuasion. Though they know nothing of precepts or subordination, yet they enjoy almost every advantage derived from well-regulated authority. Their laws and customs appear impressed on their hearts. In order to gain an ascendancy over them, you must gain their esteem, for they never confide in a person whom they do not value, and this esteem is very difficult to obtain."

The savages were exasperated against the English by a speech delivered by Count Raymond, at a meeting of the chiefs, in which, to suit his own purposes, he depicted the most frightful cruelties perpetrated by the English.

During the Indian hostilities, opposition on the part of the Colonists was altogether of a defensive nature. The regular troops, as well as the undisciplined militia, proving unfit for such warfare, it was found necessary to employ the New England Rangers. These were volunteers from the New England provinces, accustomed to Indian warfare, many of them Indians and half-bloods. They ascended the rivers, penetrated into the heart of the province, and attacked the enemy in their strongholds. The Indians finding they were opposed by men equally accustomed to the forest with themselves, soon found it their interest to make peace with the British.30

In 1758, it was found necessary to procure the services of 250 of these Rangers from New England, by promises of high pay and other advantages. Long accustomed to the border war with the Indians and French of Canada, they had become well disciplined, and accustomed to hardships and fatigue, and were perhaps at this time superior to all other provincial troops in America. The Provincials were troops raised in the Colonies at the expense of the Provincial Government, and were distinct from the Rangers, who were independent companies paid by the British Government. They served at Havannah, at Louisburg in the first siege under Pepperell, and with Wolfe at Louisburg and Quebec, and afterwards served to form the groundwork of Washington's army in 1775.

After the fall of Fort William Henry in 1758, it was said that the Marquis de Montcalm sent a number of prisoners taken at that place, in a vessel to Halifax. They were Provincial soldiers, chiefly from the New England provinces. This was said to have been an attempt to introduce the small pox into Halifax, many of the men being ill of the disorder on their embarkation. Providence, however, frustrated this benevolent design. The prisoners being kept on low diet, half starved, and exposed to the cold, soon recovered, while the French in charge of the vessel, having indulged in the use of wine and strong fare, were thrown down with the disease, and nearly all perished. The vessel was brought into port by the prisoners.31

In the spring of 1751, nine hundred and fifty-eight Protestant German settlers arrived, and in the following year 1000 more.32 The latter were from Montbeliard, of the Confession of Augsburgh, and were placed under the spiritual charge of the Rev. J. B. Moreau. They had been induced to emigrate by promises from King George II, which it is said were never realized. Considerable difficulty appears to have been experienced by the Government in providing a suitable situation for settling so large a number of persons. The original design with regard to the foreign Protestants was to place them in the interior of the country, on the lands unoccupied by the French Acadians, it being supposed that their proximity to and intercourse with the French, would be the means of lessening the bad feeling which had been fostered by emissaries from Canada. The project was unfavorably received by the Acadians. There were, however, other difficulties in the way of its accomplishment, of a particular nature, which compelled the Government to abandon the object. The want of sufficient provisions to maintain so many settlers through the winter, the lateness of the season, and the helplessness of a large portion of the Germans, who were unfit for labour, induced the Government to place them in the neighbourhood of Halifax. It was at first proposed in Council to send them to the opposite side of the harbour over against George's Island, and Captain Morris was sent to survey the grounds. The mouth of Musquodoboit River was also suggested, and a survey of that part of the country ordered, but the distance from Halifax and the danger of the Indians, rendered the scheme impracticable. "All I could do," says the Governor, "was to build boarded barracks for them. They must be sustained by Government until they are capable of raising something of their own; most of them are poor and wretched, and have scarce a farthing of money among them."

These people had been collected together by a Mr. Dick, the Government agent for that purpose. He had persuaded these who came out this year to sell everything they possessed even to their bedding, before going on board; and they stated that owing to the want of bedding and other conveniences, many of them died on the passage and since their arrival. Many of these people are represented as very old, and as objects fitter to be kept in almshouses, several of them above 80 years of age. The Governor in his letter to the Board of Trade, says, "On the 26th September last, when the last of these settlers were landed, there were 30 of them who could not stir off the beach, and among the children there were 8 orphans, who in twelve days increased to 14 by the death of their parents. These had to be removed to the public orphan house, and had the best care taken of them." Many of these settlers became discontented with their condition, and went off to the Island of St. John, where they endeavoured to settle themselves. The difficulty of procuring provisions was very great. The Government appears to have been altogether dependent on the contracts of Althorp and Hancock of Boston, and Delaney and Watts of New York, for the necessary supplies for the settlement.

In June, 1753, about 1500 of these German settlers embarked for Malagash Harbour, west of Mahone Bay, where they afterwards built the town of Lunenburg. They were accompanied by a company of Rangers under Major Goreham. The expedition was placed under the command of Col. Charles Lawrence. There were also some regular troops, under Major Patrick Sutherland, who took a very active part in planting the settlement. Lieutenant John Creighton, of Warburton's Regiment, also accompanied the German settlers, and also the Rev. J. H. Moreau, who officiated as their minister.

The Lunenburg settlers were placed under similar regulations with those at Halifax, and received Government allowance for several years after their arrival at Malagash.

After the removal of the Germans from Halifax to Lunenburg, there were but 15 German families left in the north suburbs. Not knowing any English, they formed themselves into a separate congregation for religious worship, and built themselves a small house upon the German burial ground on Brunswick street, in which they had prayers every Sunday. In 1760, a steeple was built on this house, and the next year the Rev. Dr. Breynton, Rector of St. Paul's, preached there for the first time, and it was on that occasion dedicated by the name of St. George's Church. The congregation followed the English Church rules of doctrine and appointed their Elders and Vestry. This old building still remains in its primitive state, the only monument now remaining of the old German settlement, called Dutchtown.

In October, 1752, Mr. Cotterall was appointed to the Council, and John Duport sworn in Clerk of the Council. An order in Council and proclamation appeared on the 14th of November, forbidding persons from assembling or carrying about effigies on the anniversary of the holiday, called Gunpowder Treason, being the 16th of November, according to the alteration of the style.

At the Council held on the 22nd December, 1752, the Justices were ordered to look out for a proper place for a bridewell or workhouse, and to form a plan for the building of a block-house for that purpose, and to obtain an estimate of the probable expense, and to report rules and regulations for the government of the same. The Constables were to go about the streets on Sundays to prevent disorders, and to make a report to the Justices in the evening after divine service, and to apprehend disorderly persons during the night. Proprietors of land were obliged to fence their quota; on failure, to be liable to an action for the recovery of the charges for fencing the same.