The Speares

In the 1750s the boundaries of the various super powers in North America seemed pretty clear.

France controlled most of it, from as far north as the top end of Labrador to as far west as the middle of the prairies and everything in the middle stretching down to the Gulf of Mexico. Spain had Florida, some desert that no one else wanted, and then broadly speaking everything south through Mexico and beyond. Britain was a smaller player. They had thirteen colonies on the eastern seaboard, and they also had land ceded to them by France in 1713: the fur grounds surrounding Hudson Bay, the island of Newfoundland and the Peninsula of Acadia, sometimes called Nova Scotia due to the large numbers of Scots living there. All was well, and peace ruled. And then the Hapsburgs invaded Silesia.

This set off the Seven Years' War, an event that Churchill would later describe as the true First World War. Frederick the Great of Prussia was fighting Austria, France, Russia and Sweden to the east. To the west, Britain, France and Spain took this opportunity to carve up the new world into more favourable boundaries. Caught in the middle of the new world conflict were the original peoples of the area, who sided with whichever side seemed most favourable to them. So, very broadly speaking, to the north the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Algonquins, the Caughnawaga (Kahnawake) Mohawk, the Lenape, the Ojibway, the Shawnee and the Wyandot people were siding with the French. To the south, the Iroquois Confederacy of Six Nations, the Catawba and the Cherokee were siding with the British. And so, the Seven Years' War was known as the French and Indian War to the people in the British colonies.

Support from the First Nations was vital to the success of the war for either side, but their support was not absolute. It was not, after all, their war. And no matter who won it seemed likely the First Nations would lose. So some allegiances shifted throughout the war. The Cherokee, who initially sided with the British, started actively fighting against them (though not necessarily for the French) after they were attacked by Virginia militia in retaliation for the suspected theft of some horses. This escalated into the war with those in the red coats which saw 23 murdered Cherokee hostages and the massacre of Fort Loudoun.

In the Battle of Lake George, pretty close to the no man's land between the French and the British, 500 British militia using 300 Six Nations Mohawk as a human shield were trapped in a "half-moon" ambuscade by the French and their Caughnawaga Mohawk human shield. When the Mohawks of both sides realized what was happening, a Caughnawaga warrior shouted out, "Stand aside, for our Father only makes War against the English, and does not desire to hurt any of his Children". But, of course, someone fired, and the result was a horrible massacre that haunts the Mohawk people to this day.

So really, the term "French and Indian War" is not really appropriate for this fracas. It was mostly a war between Britain and France, using far-flung grievances as far away as Russia as an excuse. And Britain was losing.

So William Pitt, First Earl of Chatham and destined to become the youngest Prime Minister of Great Britain, gave the matter some thought and decided that the war could be won on all fronts more easily by simply paying others to do most of the fighting. So he started financing Prussia's efforts against the French on the one side, and the colonies' efforts on the other. This strategy worked, the French were severely weakened, and the British forces surged. An invasion of Britain itself was thwarted, and on this side of the ocean, the French were losing ground on the Plains of Abraham in Québec, at 'Capitulation Cottage' in Montréal, and also at Fortress Louisburg on Île Royale, soon to become Cape Breton Island, a new addition to the British province of Nova Scotia. New France had fallen, and Britain was victorious. But it had been an expensive victory.

In order to recoup some of the money Britain had spent on the war they set about heavily taxing the colonies. The Stamp Act made it illegal to print anything on paper unless it was made in Britain, which had an official stamp on it. The Townshend Acts placed taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and, of course, tea, all of which had to be imported from Britain. These taxes, and the large fighting force left over from the Seven Years' War, led to the American Revolutionary War, between Britain and the thirteen colonies. But it could have been fourteen.

When the colonies were fighting for independence there was no U.S. and there was no Canada. There were only colonies. And Nova Scotia, a somewhat newer colony, had closer ties to New England than it did to Britain. There was a strong separatist sentiment, and this led to the Battle of Fort Cumberland, better known as Eddy's Rebellion, in 1776.

Jonathon Eddy, a soldier of negotiable allegiance, along with five hundred volunteers, attempted to storm the Fort and wrest it from British control, thereby securing Nova Scotia which would then join the revolution. He failed, and British response was swift and perhaps a little brutal against those who supported the insurrection. Coincidentally, at about the same time, American privateers (state sanctioned pirates, today you would call them terrorists) were harrying the coast of Nova Scotia, looting and murdering and generally wrecking the economy. And completely stamping out any warm feelings Nova Scotians might have had for the revolution. So Nova Scotia became firmly and permanently on the side of Britain.

As the war raged on south of the border there came the inevitable refugees. These were people who were sympathetic to Britain, or even simply neutral. They were bullied to the point where they had to leave the thirteen colonies, often, but not always, taking nothing with them. New York was still under British control, and so it was the staging ground for those wishing to flee to places such as Nova Scotia, which at that time included what we would now call New Brunswick. Slaves were encouraged to flee, being promised freedom north of the border. Loyal Haudenosaunee from the Iroquois Confederacy were resettled in Upper Canada, but some 33,000 white United Empire Loyalists and 3,000 black were resettled in Nova Scotia. This nearly quadrupled the population overnight. They were offered land and an honourific (U.E.) as partial compensation for all they had been forced to leave behind. The honourific was free, but the land technically belonged to the Mi'kmaq. It would be many years before that injury was settled, if in fact it has been, but in the meantime, Nova Scotia was full to bursting with skilled labour, hungry mouths and any money that survived the journey north. And Nova Scotia was mostly surrounded by the sea. And in the latter part of the 18th century it was heavily wooded. So large shipbuilding centers were established in St. John, St. Martin's, Miramachi, Yarmouth, in the Pictou counties and along the shores of the Bay of Fundy. Registered tonnage in Nova Scotia saw a six fold increase from 176,000 tons to over a million. Her fortunes were very much tied to the sea.

And mostly, when you think of Nova Scotia today, you do think of the sea. It is Canada's Ocean Playground. The province was the home of Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail around the world solo in 1895. It was home to the Bluenose Schooner, which we'll talk about tomorrow. Samuel Cunard, founder of the Cunard line, was born here. And in 1917, 2,000 people died when a ship blew up in Halifax Harbour.

So that's the highly abbreviated history of Nova Scotia. Will you ever heave a sigh or a wish for me?

• Lunenburg
• Springhill

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