Land of the Loyalists: Their Struggle to Shape the Maritimes

Laurie C.C. Stanley-Blackwell is an associate professor of history at
St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia and the co-author of
Canadian Studies: A Guide to the Sources (which can be found at
http://www.iccs-ciec.ca/blackwell.html).

The influx of Loyalists into Canada in the 1780s is regarded as a
pivotal event in Canadian history. Approximately 30,000 to 35,000
war-torn refugees descended on the Maritime colonies, seeking land and
political sanctuary. According to Ronald Rees, many of these Loyalists
were far from typical immigrants. They came with a “blueprint of the
world they wanted to inhabit,” sharing a common determination to
“replace a world they had lost, not experiment with a new one.”

Rees introduces the reader to a remarkable cast of Loyalist leaders,
many of whom dotted the Saint John, Kennebecasis, and Annapolis valleys
with such showplaces as “The Barony,” “Taymouth Farm,”
“Alwington Manor,” “Kingswood,” “Rosemount,” and
“Clermont.” There was John Saunders, the landowner who aspired to a
wilderness fiefdom; Timothy Ruggles, the avid horticulturist who dreamed
of model farms; and Edward Winslow, the political strategist driven to
transform New Brunswick into “the most Gentlemanlike” colony.

The Loyalist elite were not only land-seeking, but office- and
status-seeking as well. They craved harmony, civility, and refinement
and brought to the Maritime colonies patrician notions of hierarchy,
obedience, and privilege. Although the rough country and the long
winters proved formidable adversaries, this clique refused to be
defeated by the American Revolution or denied the graces and amenities
of civilized life. Consequently, everywhere the Loyalist elite settled,
they played a leading role in founding academies and reading and
agricultural societies.

Many of the details outlined in Land of the Loyalists will be familiar
to readers, especially those conversant with the writings of such
established Loyalist scholars as Neil MacKinnon and Ann Condon. However,
Rees does provide valuable insights into the mindset and sensibilities
of the Loyalist elite, who were simultaneously Americanized and
Anglicized. He demonstrates clearly how their predilection for order and
good taste found tangible expression in their gridded townsites and
well-proportioned, symmetrical houses and public buildings. In the
geometry of British classicism, they affirmed their English identity and
secured a reassuring sense of control and continuity.

Rees focuses almost exclusively on the social, political, and
artifactual legacy of those men firmly positioned on the top rung of
Loyalist society. Little is revealed about the visions and aspirations
of the rank-and-file loyalists. Similarly, the mental and material
worlds of women loyalists and black Loyalists are given fleeting
attention.

Academic readers will be somewhat disappointed by this partial glimpse
into the diversity of Nova Scotia’s and New Brunswick’s early
Loyalists and will lament the absence of footnotes. However, this
compact book will appeal to a general audience. The prose is stylish and
engaging, and the ample illustrations are pleasing.