Empires of Liberty

JJohnson

Banned
This is a timeline which I hope to finally carry into 2012 and beyond. I was partially inspired by a few timelines, such as the Dominion of Southern America, a few What-Ifs, and some of my past ideas. The hope is to keep as realistic as possible, and constructive feedback and helpful suggestions are welcome.

I'm going to try posting this in a mixed format of a timeline along with 'historical articles' as if from a textbook, see if that works well.

History of Cuba, Kingsport Publishing House, 1982.

In retrospect, it can be seen as a fait accompli that Admiral Vernon would capture the island of Cuba; his brilliant strategy misdirected the Spanish into thinking he would attack Cartagena de Indias, when in reality, he was busy coordinating his attack on Havana, (now Kingsport, Cuba) with the governor of Jamaica.

In October 1739, Vernon sent First Lieutenant Percival to deliver a letter to Blas de Lezo and Don Pedro Hidalgo, governor of Cartagena. It was thought that Percival could use the opportunity to make a detailed study of the Spanish defenses. This effort was thwarted when Percival was denied entry to the port. On March 7, 1740, in a more direct approach, Vernon undertook a reconnaissance-in-force of the Spanish city. Percival left letters from the Admiral indicating his intent to attack on the 13th of March, which were 'left' for the Spanish to find. In reality, Vernon and a force of 24 ships turned and attacked Cuba on the 12th of March, 1740. For eight days, the British besieged the city and the Morro Castle, cutting off supplies to the fortress and the city, until the garrison there finally surrendered on 21st March.

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Picture of Havana, 1740, from "Geschichte von dem britischen Insel von Cuba," 1975, Prussian Printing Group (based in East Prussia)

This would not be the final battle in Cuba, with the island requiring additional landings at Santiago de Cuba (now Portsmouth) and Guantanamo Bay (Cumberland Bay) to secure the island. The Battle of Santiago (21 July 1741) marked the end of the island's major resistance to British occupation, with 5,000 troops, not including 1,200 Jamaican blacks. The final cession occurred in the Treaty of Madrid, 1750, when Spain ceded the island to the British in perpetuity.

Admiral Vernon did attempt two attacks on Cartagena de Indias, in 1741, but his failure to capture Cartagena de Indias was a blow to the British efforts in Europe, leading the wider War of Austrian Succession.

Study Questions:
1. How would Cuba look today had the British not succeeded in capturing the island?
2. Do you think Admiral Vernon should have focused on Cartagena instead of Havana? Why or Why not?

Excerpt from Governors of British Cuba, 1971.

After the Raid on Lorient, Commodore Richard Lestock, who had a brief stomach ailment in December 1746, sailed for Cuba, serving as the first British Governor until 1752. Amongst his achievements include the construction of the First King's Highway from Portsmouth to Kingsport, which aided the second governor in building up the island's population base and defenses.

The Second Governor of Cuba, Patrick Murray, implemented several policies on the island in his office (from 1752 - 1760), and established the Royal Library of Kingsport, which stands to this day (despite the Fire of 1871, and of 1913), regularized the streets into north/south and east/west lines, encouraged settlement from the British Isles, and established local town councils and recommended the creation of the Parliament of Cuba, with royal assent of King George II, to govern the island more effectively. Many plantations sprung up during his governorship, but the Parliament would not be seen for several decades.

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Governor Murray


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Governor Guy Carleton

The Third Governor, Guy Carleton, arrived in 1760 after having suffered a head injury in battle, and served for two years before being recalled for George Keppel, who served until 1770, until Guy Carleton replaced him again as governor until 1778. Guy Carleton served as governor of Puerto Rico for a little over a year until the Treaty of Paris restored the island to Spain. Keppel succeeded in creating three colonization companies with offices in Great Britain, bringing in over 12,000 new colonists to Cuba, hoping to get some land and grow rich on the sugar trade. Several towns chartered (though founded much earlier) at the time include Brighton (on the ruin of Baracoa), Clearwater (OTL Aguas Claras), Bridgetown (OTL Matanzas), Sheffield (OTL Cienfuegos), and Preston (OTL Manzanillo).

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Governor George Keppel

Study Questions:
1. Look at the medal of Admiral Vernon, struck after his success in capturing Kingsport (then known as Havana). How has this influenced the Cuban Pound's coinage?
2. Which policies of the early governors of Cuba were most influential in the success of Cuba as a British colony?
3. How much of the early Spanish period do you still see today in Kingsport?

Timeline:
1740: Admiral Vernon turns his ships towards Havana, instead of Cartagena de India; having coordinated with the governor of Jamaica, they send 30 ships to the Spanish city;
1750: Treaty of Madrid: Spain cedes Cuba to the British permanently.
1752: Patrick Murray becomes governor of Cuba.
1760: Guy Carleton becomes third governor of Cuba.
1762: Guy Carleton is transferred to governor of Puerto Rico
1763: Guy Carleton serves as governor of Cuba until 1778.
1763: James Murray serves as governor of the Province of Quebec, holding the post till 1774.

United Empire Loyalists, excerpted from Wikipedia, 2008

The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in the British Caribbean, British Newfoundland, and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British failure in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris. Reasons for their movement north range from loyalty to Britain, to a rejection of the republican ideals of the American Revolution, to an offer of free land in the British Caribbean. Many were prominent Americans whose ancestors had originally settled in the early 17th century, while a portion were recent settlers in the Thirteen Colonies with few economic or social ties. Many had their property confiscated by the revolutionaries.

These Loyalists settled in what was initially Quebec (east of the Lac St. Jean and Saquenay River), now modern-day Newfoundland, where they received land grants of 200 acres (81 ha) per person, and in Cuba. Their arrival marked the beginning of a predominantly English-speaking population in the future Newfoundland east of the Quebec border. Many Loyalists from the American South brought their slaves with them as slavery was also legal in Cuba. An imperial law in 1790 assured prospective immigrants to Cuba that their slaves would remain their property. Most black Loyalists were free, however, having been given their freedom from slavery by fighting for the British or joining British lines during the Revolution. The government helped them resettle in Cuba as well, transporting nearly 3500 free blacks to New Brunswick (the name for the Loyalist Province of Cuba as of 1784 on the southern half of the island).

The Treaty of Paris (1783) signed separately by Quebec, ceded all the territorial claims of the watershed of the Hudson Bay to Rupert's Land, all land east of the Saquenay River and Lac St. Jean north of the St. Lawrence to Newfoundland, and all territory west of Lake Nipigon to the British, leaving an outlet into the Great Lakes for Rupert's Land. The United States, having captured the Bahamas and Bermuda, left only Cuba and British Honduras for the Loyalists to retreat.

==Origins==
During the American Revolution, a significant proportion of the population of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, East Florida, West Florida, and other colonies remained loyal to the Crown. They were compelled to flee to the protection of their King, and the British Empire. The reasons were varied, but primarily were either loyalty to the King, or the belief in peaceful and evolutionary independence, as did eventually occur in Cuba. As Daniel Bliss of Concord, Massachusetts (who later became a Chief Justice of New Brunswick) stated: "Better to live under one tyrant a thousand miles away, than a thousand tyrants one mile away." Many Loyalist refugees made the difficult overland and overseas trek into Newfoundland after losing their homes, property, and security during the Revolution. The Loyalists, many of whom helped found America from the early 17th century, left a well-armed population hostile to the King and his loyalist subjects to build the new nations of Newfoundland and Cuba. The motto of Labrador, created out of Newfoundland for loyalist settlement, is "Spem reduxit" (Hope was restored).

Loyalist refugees, mainly of British descent, later called United Empire Loyalists, began leaving at the end of the war whenever transport was available, with considerable loss of property and transfer of wealth. An estimated 78,000 left the thirteen newly independent states, representing about 3.3% of the total American population, of which 20-30% had supported the Crown during the American War for Independence. Out of Quebec, 3,600 left for Labrador. Approximately 68,000 were White (who also had 17,000 black slaves) and 8,000 Black; 40,000 went to Newfoundland and Labrador, 7,000 to Britain, and 17,000 to Cuba. Beginning in the mid-1780s and lasting until the end of the century, some returned to the United States from the Caribbean and Newfoundland.

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The Coming of the Loyalists, painting by Henry Sandham showing a romanticised view of the Loyalists' arrival in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Following the end of the Revolution and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Loyalist soldiers and civilians were evacuated from New York and resettled in other colonies of the British Empire, most notably in Newfoundland and Cuba. The two colonies of Newfoundland (including modern-day Labrador), received about 20,000 Loyalist refugees; Newfoundland Island 8,000; and Cuba (including the Eastern Townships and modern-day Ontario) received some 17,000 refugees. An unknown but substantial number of refugees were unable to establish themselves in British North America and eventually returned to the United States. Many in Canada continued to maintain close ties with relatives in the United States, and as well conducted commerce across the border without much regard to British trade laws.

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A version of the Union Flag as used from 1707 to 1801, which can still be seen as a common Loyalist symbol in certain parts of Cuba.

Governors of Colonial Quebec, 1972.

After the British capture of Quebec during the French and Indian War, the British appointed James Murray as the first civil governor of the colony, designated such in 1764. He spoke with his brother, Patrick, on his experiences governing the Colony of Cuba, and managing two different groups of colonists. With his inspiration, Murray agreed that British settlers would use British civil law in all contracts, and French civil law with French-speaking Quebeckers until 1768, when all civil law would be British. He established a colonial council in 1764, which turned into the Assembly of Quebec, consisting of all property-holding freemen, both French and English, and a Senate of Quebec, representing each subdivision of Quebec, similar to what Patrick had suggested, and based in part on the Virginia legislature model.

Murray's tenure eased tensions between the Quebeckers and the new English settlers when he opened English settlement west of the Ottawa river, preserving the French-speaking side of Quebec for the most part during its colonial tenure, and gave the English and French sides a taste of some self-government. Given the differences in worship, the colony had no religious test for office, and no state church, and permitted French usage in business dealings and government to appease the French.

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James Murray, 1st Governor of Quebec

The second governor, Frederick Haldimand, was not so well loved. An incident in 1773 with a tavern fire in Quebec City, the capital, led to accusations of a papist conspiracy under the lax and lenient tenure of James Murray, leading to Haldimand's posting as the second governor. He used the new Quebec Act as a basis for his harsher actions, refusing the use of French, refusal to accept old contracts under French civil law, and establishing a religious test preventing Catholic Quebeckers from serving in the legislature, or settling in the new western regions of Quebec in the Ohio Valley. Historians routinely credit Haldimand as the reason Quebec sent representatives to the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence, including Denis Viger, Jean Baillairgé, and John Cushing Aylwin.


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Sir Frederick Haldimand, 2nd Governor of Quebec





I'll work on the US next.
 
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This is a timeline which I hope to finally carry into 2012 and beyond. I was partially inspired by a few timelines, such as the Dominion of Southern America, a few What-Ifs, and some of my past ideas. The hope is to keep as realistic as possible, and constructive feedback and helpful suggestions are welcome.

I'm going to try posting this in a mixed format of a timeline along with 'historical articles' as if from a textbook, see if that works well.





Timeline:
1740: Admiral Vernon turns his ships towards Havana, instead of Cartagena de India; having coordinated with the governor of Jamaica, they send 30 ships to the Spanish city;
1750: Treaty of Madrid: Spain cedes Cuba to the British permanently.
1752: Patrick Murray becomes governor of Cuba.
1760: Guy Carleton becomes third governor of Cuba.
1762: Guy Carleton is transferred to governor of Puerto Rico
1763: Guy Carleton serves as governor of Cuba until 1778.



I'll work on the US next.

Sounds promising. Here's a tip for you, btw: if you really want to make your TL as plausible as can be(or a Type I on the TV Tropes plausibility scale), here's a hint regarding the U.S. for starters: Look at TLs like Eurofed's "U.S. of the Americas and Oceania" and DoD for examples of things NOT to do; or example, don't give the U.S. most or all of both continents by 1900 (as in the former), and don't let slavery expand too far beyond the traditional areas, or survive too far beyond, say, the middle third of the 19th Century or so, without a really, really, good explanation(this kinda happened in the latter TL), etc. And if you're going to cover corporations at any great length, you may wish to avoid the Sobelian route(that is, no superpowered corporate nation-states like FWoAN's Kramer Associates.) Just a couple of helpful examples for you. ;)
 

JJohnson

Banned
I will definitely not copy Eurofed's timeline; the United States in my opinion can't expand much past North America state-wise with its revolution staying roughly the same. At absolute best, it could absorb OTL Canada, the northern parts of Mexico, maybe a few more Caribbean and Pacific Islands, but I'd highly doubt anything on South America or Australia/New Zealand. Cultural similarities help, but the communications distance precludes it for the 19th to early 20th century, and by then, the South American / Australian cultures have already developed their own identities and they wouldn't want to join the USA. Slavery I abhor and I can't put it much past the first half of the 19th century anywhere.
 

JJohnson

Banned
How did Nova Scotia fall?, 1881

Francis Legge, emboldened by what he saw as the successes of Governor Haldimand in suppression of growing discontent in the colonies, led to several policies against Yankee sympathizers in his colony during his term as governor.

Legge's actions, particularly an attempt to audit the province's accounts, earned him a growing number of opponents among the local merchant oligarchy and turned both the legislative council and legislative assembly against him and open rebellion broke out against Legge in the south of the province.

This was exploited by Jonathan Eddy and Richard John Uniacke to rouse rebellion in the colony amongst the populace. While they roused the countryside, they also brought in Native American tribes with them with the promise of full legal representation in the new state once independence was acheived.

After the start of the American Revolution, despite General Washington informing Colonel Jonathan Eddy not to expect much military support from his already stretched troops, the inventive colonel turned to other sources of help. With assistance from Maine and Quebec, Acadian, Mi'kmaq, and Maliseet Indians, Eddy led a force of 800 men to capture Fort Cumberland in 1776. The Battle of Fort Cumberland resulted in an American victory led by Col. Eddy, who forced the surrender of Joseph Goreham by December 23rd after being repulsed the first time, later gaining victory in the final battle.

What turned the tide amongst the general population was the Seige of St. John in 1777, where the American forces, by this time 2100 strong under Colonel John Allan, were initially repulsed by the British under Brigade Major Studholme and Colonel Francklin before gathering their forces and defeating Studholme.

Maliseet Indians, who were instrumental in the fight, were granted land which later bears their name, Maliseet County. Contrary to treatment post-war by a number of other states, the Maliseet Indians flourished in Nova Scotia, honoring the agreement of their leader to abide by Nova Scotian law and speak English, but otherwise govern themselves, an enlightened policy by Governor Uniacke.

Despite their successes, the Americans never fully captured Halifax for the duration of the war, though the surrounding communities were in patriot hands, leaving it an island alone in Nova Scotia until the British retreated in 1783.




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Richard John Uniacke, 1st Governor of the State of Nova Scotia


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Jonathan Eddy, Senator from the State of Nova Scotia to the 1st Continental Congress, later 2nd Governor of the State of Nova Scotia.

1774: Nova Scotian patriot activity rises
1776: Nova Scotia declares independence, its patriot-emboldened legislature moving to Moncton then Fredericton to escape the British during the war.
1777: Seige of St John turns the popular tide for most of Nova Scotia to the patriot side for the duration of the war.
1783: British troops withdraw from Halifax; Nova Scotia votes on a new State Constitution
1784: Walter Patterson becomes the Speaker of the Nova Scotia Assembly, from St. John's Island, with Uniacke as Governor.
1788: Nova Scotia ratifies the Constitution on January 9th, with 3/4 in favor.
1796: the District of Maine and the state of Nova Scotia bring their border dispute to the Supreme Court; the states of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia are instructed to settle their differences in the definitions of St. Johns River, leading to a compromise, with Thomas Jefferson drawing the border at Steubenville (OTL St George), up the Magaguadavic River, to Lake Magaguadavic, then due north to the St John River, following that to its source.

Maine-Quebec War, 1825

Due to the ambiguity of the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783), the borders between Quebec, which settled the war separately from the United States with Britain, and the District of Maine, later the State of Maine, were not clearly defined in the peace terms. While Quebec did join the United States in 1799 after the French-American War, it began issuing land grants in the region for logging and settlement.

Tensions rose, to the point of small skirmishes that were inflated into a so-called "war" by newspapers of the time. Quebec claimed the highlands were farther south, while Maine claimed the northernmost highlands.

The two states requested an arbitration, and several maps were drawn up; in the end, the earlier arbitration between the District of Maine and Nova Scotia swayed the arbitrators to the northernmost boundary, but they also acknowledged Quebec's existing claims and geography, and split the difference between the two, resulting in the northeastern diagonal that forms part of the current Maine border today.

To this day, Maine and Nova Scotia have a number of families in the north who came from Quebec in the early 1800s looking for better land.
 

JJohnson

Banned
French-American War, excerpted from Wikipedia

==Background==
The Kingdom of France had been a critical ally of the United States in the American Revolutionary War from the spring of 1776, and had signed in 1778 a Treaty of Alliance with the United States of America. But in 1794, after the French Revolution toppled that country's monarchy, the American government came to an agreement with the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Jay Treaty, that resolved several points of contention between the United States, Quebec, and Great Britain that had lingered since the end of the American Revolutionary War. It also contained economic clauses.

The fact that the United States had already declared neutrality in the conflict between Great Britain and (now revolutionary) France, and that American legislation was being passed for a trade deal with their British enemy, led to French outrage. The French government was also furious over the U.S. refusal to continue repaying its debt to France on the grounds that the debt had been owed to the French Crown, not to Republican France, as well as defection by French citizens seeking to escape the revolution in the eastern Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec.

The French navy began seizing American ships trading with Britain and refused to receive the new United States minister Charles Cotesworth Pinckney when he arrived in Paris in December 1796. French Naval forces boarded ships flying the flag of Quebec, looking for "deserters." In his annual message to Congress at the close of 1797, President John Adams reported on France’s refusal to negotiate and spoke of the need "to place our country in a suitable posture of defense." In April 1798, President Adams informed Congress of the "XYZ Affair", in which French agents had demanded a large bribe for the restoration of diplomatic relations with the United States, as well as French kidnapping of Quebecker citizens, violating the freedom of their neighbors to the north.

The French navy inflicted substantial losses on American shipping. Secretary of State Timothy Pickering reported to Congress on June 21, 1797, that the French had seized 316 American merchant ships in the previous eleven months. The hostilities caused insurance rates on American shipping to increase at least 500 percent, since French marauders cruised the length of the U.S. Atlantic seaboard virtually unopposed. The administration had no warships to combat them; the last had been sold in 1785. The United States possessed only a flotilla of small revenue cutters and some neglected coastal forts.

Increased depredations by privateers from Revolutionary France required the rebirth of the United States Navy to protect the expanding American merchant shipping. Congress authorized the president to acquire, arm, and man not more than 12 vessels, of up to 22 guns each. Several vessels were immediately purchased and converted into ships of war, and construction of the frigate Congress resumed.

With the firing of French cannon on the USS Nova Scotia, Adams sought a declaration of war, which he got on July 7, 1798. On that date, Congress rescinded treaties with France, is considered the beginning of the French-American War. This was followed two days later with the passage of the Congressional authorization to attack French warships.

==Naval Engagements==
The U.S. Navy operated with a battle fleet of about 25 vessels, and Quebec 14. These patrolled the southern coast of the United States and throughout the Caribbean, seeking French privateers. Captain Thomas Truxtun's insistence on the highest standards of crew training paid dividends as the frigate USS Constellation captured L'Insurgente and severely damaged La Vengeance. French privateers usually resisted, as did La Croyable, which was captured on July 7, 1798, by the USS Delaware outside of Egg Harbor, New Jersey. The USS Enterprise captured eight privateers and freed 11 American merchant ships from captivity. The USS Experiment captured the French privateers Deux Amis and Diane. Numerous American merchantmen were recaptured by the Experiment. The USS Boston forced Le Berceau into submission. Silas Talbot engineered an expedition to Puerto Plata harbor in the Colony of Santo Domingo, a possession of France's ally Spain, on May 11, 1800; sailors and marines from the USS Constitution under Lieutenant Isaac Hull captured the French privateer Sandwich in the harbor and spiked the guns in the Spanish fort.

Quebec's naval forces were moderate at best, mostly privateers, but several served with distinction, including Captain Jacques Guyon's ship, the Liberté, which sunk HMS Redoutable off the coast of Gaspé. France's navy captured four of Quebec's ships, later using them during the Napoleonic wars, and crippled three, leaving Quebec for all intents and purposes defenseless.

Only one U.S Navy vessel was captured by — and later recaptured from — French forces, the USS Retaliation. She was the captured privateer La Croyable, recently purchased by the U.S. Navy. Retaliation departed Norfolk on October 28, 1798, with Montezuma and Norfolk, and cruised in the West Indies protecting American commerce. On November 20, 1798, the French frigates L’Insurgente and Volontaire overtook Retaliation while her consorts were away and forced commanding officer Lieutenant William Bainbridge to surrender the out-gunned schooner. Montezuma and Norfolk escaped after Bainbridge convinced the senior French commander that those American warships were too powerful for his frigates and persuaded him to abandon the chase. Renamed Magicienne by the French, the schooner again came into American hands on June 28, when a broadside from USS Merrimack forced her to haul down her colors.

Revenue cutters in the service of the Revenue-Marine, the predecessor to the Coast Guard, also took part in the conflict. The cutter USRC Pickering, commanded by Edward Preble, made two cruises to the West Indies and captured several prizes. Preble turned command of the Pickering over to Benjamin Hillar, and she captured the much larger and more heavily armed French privateer l’Egypte Conquise after a nine-hour battle. In September 1800, Hillar, the Pickering, and her entire crew were lost at sea in a storm. Preble commanded the frigate Essex, which he sailed around Cape Horn into the Pacific to protect American merchantmen in the East Indies; he recaptured several ships that had been seized by French privateers.

American naval losses during the war were light, with only one armed U.S. Navy vessel lost to enemy action, while Quebec lost several ships and several hundred men on her vessels. However, the French seized many American merchant ships by war's end in 1800—over two thousand, one source contends.

Although they were fighting the same enemy, the Royal Navy and the United States Navy did not cooperate operationally, nor did they share operational plans or come to mutual understandings about deployment of their forces. The British did sell the American and Quebec governments naval stores and munitions. In addition, the two navies shared a system of signals by which each could recognize the other’s warships at sea, and allowed merchantmen of their respective nations to join each other's convoys.

Conclusion of Hostilities

By the autumn of 1800, the United States Navy and the Royal Navy, combined with a more conciliatory diplomatic stance by the government of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, had reduced the activity of the French privateers and warships. The Convention of 1800, signed on September 30, ended the Franco-American War and the Franco-Quebec War. Unfortunately for President Adams, the news did not arrive in time to help him secure a second term in the 1800 presidential election.

Consequences of the War

With the conclusion of the war in 1800 between France and Quebec, the government of Quebec petitioned the US Congress for admission into the United States. Faced with financial difficulties due to loss of trade, loss of ships, and little to show for their wartime performance, quite a few Quebecois newspapers and citizens were openly clamoring for annexation into the United States, the nation with which they had the most in common and a high deal of trade with in the first place.

The Baillairgé-Pinckney Treaty was signed by President Adams shortly after the election to annex Quebec into the US. In exchange for releasing all land west of the Ottawa River as part of the Northwestern Territory, the US Congress would assume the debt of Quebec, becoming the 18th state.

List of US states in 1800:
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virgina, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Quebec.
 

JJohnson

Banned
The Capture of the Bahamas

After the Battle of Nassau on 3rd March, 1776, the American forces captured the city of Nassau and held it for two weeks, taking with them munitions and gunpowers sorely needed for the war effort. It wasn't until the entry of Spain on the side of the Americans, harrying the British in the Carribean, driving British forces away from the Bahamas, and towards Cuba, which the Spaniards hoped to reclaim, that allowed the Americans to finally capture the Bahamas.

The Spanish held the islands in 1782, with the capture of the Bahamas, until the British recaptured it with a small force leaving Clearwater, Cuba. This force was then defeated at Nassau at the second Battle of Nassau in 1782, where Captain Jean-Gabriel Cerre, leading a five-ship fleet of Colonial navy and marines from New York, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Pennsylvania captured the Bahamas again, raising the flag of the United States over the town.

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The "Grand Union" flag, hoisted on September 19th, 1782 in Nassau.

Colonel James Claypoole, Jr. became the military governor of the Bahamas from 1782-1783, when it was recognized by the United Kingdom as part of the United States. He was then appointed by Congress as the first territorial governor.
The Capture of Bermuda

Bermuda, being positioned 696 miles off the coast of South Carolina, had suffered long periods of time without basic supplies during the revolution, with the only shipment of supplies from British ships being in October of 1777, the Bermudans began trading with southern colonies, leading to an influx of patriots and their literature, including Common Sense by Thomas Paine, and other materials from the mainland.

On December 1st, 1779, the HMS Delaware, which was ferrying 100 American volunteers, was sent to defend the island from Patriots, but she was unfortunately captured by the 4 Patriot cruisers which had been chasing her. Those cruisers then returned to port, and shared supplies with the Bermudans, to the consternation of George Bruere, who died of stress at age 59 in 1780.

Between 1780 and 1783, the American Navy sent a garrison of 1200 from the mainland, and had 12 ships anchored in Bermuda, including the USS Bermuda, USS Savannah, and the USS Charlotte. Despite British efforts, with the aid of the French and Spanish navies, Bermuda thenceforth remained in American control until the Treaty of Paris was signed.

With a smaller population than Rhode Island, the colony nonetheless enjoyed separate status from the other colonies on the mainland. Most trade was conducted from Virginia and the Carolinas, with Virginia claiming the island as territory due to its population. The island remained, however, separate and kept its own government, when Daniel Tucker was elected the first governor of the state of Bermuda until 1794. He is credited with bringing Methodism to the island, which remains the majority denomination to this day. Thomas Middleton took over in 1794 until 1802, followed by Jeremiah Tucker for another 8 years.

One dispute inherited by the two island colonies was the status of the Turks and Caicos Islands, which both the Bahamas and Bermuda claimed territorial jurisdiction over. In 1795, the Supreme Court arbitrated in the matter, with the fact that the Bermudans had been sending ships and people there for years, while Bahama had tried and failed to assert territorial control several times. The island of Bermuda now had an area of 210.6 mi2 to its name.
By 1783, the United States had earned its freedom from the British Empire through much sacrifice, its patriots pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to one another.

This United States, however, would be a different place, larger in some respects; the resultant United Kingdom would also be a different place. Having lost her colonies, and faced with the need to place her Loyalist subjects elsewhere, Britain's colonial aims turned towards settler colonies and profitable trade with them and her former colonies in America.

The United Kingdom's remaining colonies: Cuba, British Honduras, British Guiana, Cayman Islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, Anguilla, Jamaica, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Mosquito Coast, Falkland Islands, Rupert's Land, Newfoundland and Labrador, Australia, New Zealand; Manila, Bengal, Saint Helena.

Per the Treaty of Paris, the United Kingdom regained Providencia Island, San Andrés, and Santa Catalina from Spain as a result of two successful raids, led from Kingsport, Cuba, in 1782. These islands would become part of British Honduras, along with the Bay Islands, which were not transferred to Honduras with the Mosquito Coast.
 
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JJohnson

Banned
The Effects of the Napoleonic Wars on the French and British Empires, 1962

With the ending of the Napoleonic Wars, France had lost a number of island territories which had once been a source of wealth for it: Guadaloupe, Martinique, Mauritius, Seychelles, French Guiana, and Île Bourbon.

These territories were divided up amongst the victors of the Napoleonic Wars:

Sweden was granted Guadaloupe and Saint Barthélemy, on provision of settlement and development, and exclusive trade with the British and Swedish colonies.

Saint Martin was granted in its entirety to the Netherlands, which previously held only a portion of the island.

Île Bourbon and Mauritius were governed by the United Kingdom from 1814 to 1816, when they were transferred to the Kingdom of Hanover, on the provision of settlement and development, and exclusive trade within the Kingdom of Hanover and the British Empire. Île Bourbon was renamed Neu Lüneburg by King George IV, who made a grant for 5000 Hanoverians to settle there by 1820, and another 5000 to Mauritius.

Martinique was granted to Austria, and French Guiana to Prussia. With this, the British kept the islands out of French and Spanish hands, secured lucrative trade deals with the islands, and kept potential rivals on its side with the spoils of war. Most of these islands are today part of their respective grantees to this day. Per their agreements, each country sent out settlers and cargo ships, intent upon building the colonies into lucrative enterprises.

Emerging from the Napoleonic Wars, France would once again became a colonial power, turning its eye now to Pacific and African colonies for itself.
A brief jump to the Napoleonic Conflict before getting to the USA in earnest.
 
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JJohnson

Banned
The Seven Years' War, as it was known in Europe had some minor effects within the Caribbean, mostly with privateers, but with the Royal Navy holding port at Kingsport, Cuba, the Spanish Empire would be unable to hold on to other islands within the Caribbean.

The Seven Year's War: History and Effects in the Caribbean, 1962

One of the lasting effects brought about by the capture of Cuba was the Royal Navy anchored at Kingsport and Cumberland Bay. With the HMS Cumberland, HMS Kingsport, and a dozen other vessels, Captain Jeffrey Morgan sailed along the Bay Islands, sinking two Spanish vessels, before sailing along the coast to visit the Providence Islands, the larger of which, now known as St. Andrew's Island, was declared part of Cuba, and the several hundred Raizal living on the island were forcibly removed to the mainland. Morgan let sailors and settlers from Cuba move onto the islands, claiming them as sovereign British territory. The Bay Islands today form part of British Honduras, while the Providence Islands remain a British Overseas Territory.

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Location of the Bay Islands, part of British Honduras.

One interesting feature of the Bay Islands is the large Irish Gaelic immigrant community, a number of which left Ireland in the 1840s during the Potato Famine. The isolation offered by the islands meant that the population was able to preserve and utilize the Gaelic language to this day on the main island, Galway Island (Gaillimh Oleán).

British Settler Colonies in the New World, (c) 1982, Royal Kingsport Press, Cuba

By 1763, the British Empire had a large number of territories in the New World as a result of the end of the Seven Years' War:

Caribbean and Atlantic:
-Cuba
-Jamaica
-Bay Islands
-British Honduras
-Providence Islands
-Turks and Caicos
-The Bahamas
-Bermuda
-St. Vincent and the Grenadines
-Windward Islands (Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Barbados, Tobago)
-Leeward Islands (Antigua, Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, Dominica)
-The Cayman Islands

North America:
-Province of Quebec (New France)
-Newfoundland
-Rupert's Land
-North Carolina
-South Carolina
-Georgia
-Virginia
-Maryland
-Delaware
-Pennsylvania
-New York
-New Jersey
-Connecticut
-Rhode Island
-New Hampshire
-Massachusetts and the District of Maine
-Nova Scotia
-St. John's Island

Elsewhere:
-St. Helena
-Minorca
-Mosquito Coast
-factories in India

While not all these colonies would remain in British hands, the Empire that had begun here would continue and flourish for another two centuries.
 
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JJohnson

Banned
Independence

The American Colonies declare independence from Great Britain in 1776 due to a number of "Intolerable Acts."

Among these acts:
*Boston Port Act - closed the Port of Boston until the British East India company was repaid
*Massachusetts Government Act - most positions were to be appointed by the King.
*Administration of Justice Act - allowed trials of royal officials to be moved to another colony or to Great Britain
*Property Act - governors could confiscate private property without notice to public benefit; this was used in several colonies to give private homes to a favored company for increased tax revenue and kickbacks.
*Quartering Act - allowed a governor to house soldiers in other buildings if suitable quarters were not provided, including private homes
*Quebec Act - partly undid Governor James Murray's successful reforms; it made the upper legislative chamber appointed by the governor instead of elected as Murray had set it up, forbade French in government (the use of language could be set by the governor), eliminating French civil law and contracts written under it, setting a religious test on Catholics holding government posts, and extending Quebec into the Ohio Valley for settlement by Indians, not Quebeckers or Anglo-Americans. Frederick Haldimand utilized these powers, starting in 1773, spurring much Patriot sympathy in the once peaceful colony.


The sentiment for redress of grievances was strong, while the whispers of independence had not yet gained rapid movement. Even Thomas Jefferson, a later President said:

Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America.
—Thomas Jefferson, November 29, 1775

A sentiment growing in the colonies since the French and Indian Wars, which had nearly bankrupted the British Government, was the view that Parliament's authority was not supreme. Since the colonies were not represented directly in Parliament, they had no authority to tax them. The orthodox British view since at least the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was that the Parliament was the supreme authority throughout the British Empire, and thus its acts were by definition constitutional. The colonists, however, had developed the idea that the British constitution recognized certain fundamental rights that no government, including the Parliament, could violate. The Intolerable Acts inflamed the growing sentiments against the king and Parliament, their calculated risk of trying to bring the colonies under their control backfiring miserably.

Revolution Begins
In April 1775 Gage learned that weapons were being gathered in Concord, and he sent British troops to seize and destroy them. Local militia confronted the troops and exchanged fire, marking the battles of Lexington and Concord. On April 19, 1775, Patriot militia and the King's troops engaged at Concord.

About 700 British Army regulars, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, were given secret orders to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Through effective intelligence gathering, Patriot colonials had received word weeks before the expedition that their supplies might be at risk and had moved most of them to other locations. They also received details about British plans on the night before the battle and were able to rapidly notify the area militias of the enemy movement.

The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. The militia were outnumbered and fell back, and the regulars proceeded on to Concord, where they searched for the supplies. At the North Bridge in Concord, approximately 500 militiamen fought and defeated three companies of the King's troops. The outnumbered regulars fell back from the minutemen after a pitched battle in open territory.

More militia arrives soon after and inflicted heavy damage on the regulars as they marched back to Boston. Brigadier General Hugh Percy's reinforcements rescued Smith's beleaguered expedition, bolstering their forces to around 1700 men. Even with that, they faced heavy fire on their way back to the safety of Charlestown. The accumulated militias blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown and Boston, starting the Siege of Boston.

After repeated pleas to the British monarchy for intervention with Parliament, any chance of a compromise ended when the Congress were declared traitors by royal decree, and they responded by declaring the independence of a new sovereign nation, the United States of America, on July 4, 1776. Colonial Loyalists rejected the Declaration, and sided with their king; they were excluded from power everywhere possible in the colonies. American attempts to expand the rebellion into the Floridas were unsuccessful, but the rebellion did reach Quebec, Nova Scotia, and eventually St. John's Island.

In this Declaration, a number of signatories were found, including Denis Viger, Jean Baillairgé, and John Cushing Aylwin of Quebec. Language of the Declaration included such grievances as:

"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance, and exempted these Officers from the same laws duly passed by the elected legislatures."
"He has refused to allow citizens the right to speak the language of their birth and custom when conducting the most needful affairs of government and commerce."
"He has altered our methods of government with the appointment of persons alien to our land and custom to our legislatures to prevent us from passing needful laws."
"He has allowed his Officers to take the lawful Land and Property of Citizens to be given to his favored Persons for their enrichment and the enrichment of the Royal Treasury."

War would be the only way to resolve the differences between cousins across the Atlantic.
 
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I am liking the information and research you have provided me with reading.

Is this going to be a giant Ameri-wank? As in, the US occupies the entire northern continent, or are you going to toe the line.
 

JJohnson

Banned
The US isn't getting everything it might want. Not to spoil the surprise, but Quebec won't be joining the US party right off the bat.
 

JJohnson

Banned
The American Revolution

The fall of British North America.

"At a time, when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke, and maintain the liberty, which we have derived from our ancestors." - George Washington, 1769
The Northern United States, (c) 1981

St. John's Island before and during the Revolution

Soon after he took the oath of office in September 1770, Governor Walter Patterson of St. John's Island had already formed an Executive Council, now called the Cabinet of the State of St. John's Island.

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Governor Walter Patterson, an engraving

Following the first Assembly elections in 1773, Governor Patterson acquired over 100,000 acres (400 km2) of land from proprietors who failed to pay their quit-rent. Given that failure, their land was to be sold off. Led by Jean Lefebvre, a native from Quebec who settled on the island instead of returning to France, petitioned the British government to return their land; when this failed, they asked Patterson be removed from office.

When this also failed due to pre-occupation with the growing discontent in the other colonies, Jonathan Eddy and several Nova Scotians sent envoys to Lefebvre to persuade him to the patriot cause.

Lefebvre read Common Sense, amongst other Patriot literature, and along with Colonel Samuel Hart, he led the capture of Walter Patterson and his Executive Council in 1778 in the Battle of Charlottetown, but would later die at the Battle of Moncton in 1781.

Of the roughly 1400 people living on the island during the Revolution, around 780 were Patriots, while the rest were either Loyalist or ambivalent. In 1783, faced with animosity at home, 450 settlers left for Newfoundland, just east of Quebec's Lac St. Jean, founding the village of Georgetown (OTL Port-Cartier) in honor of King George III. This would later become the capital of the Dominion of British Northeast America, consisting of Newfoundland and Canada. In their place, hundreds of people from Nova Scotia, Hessian prisoners-of-war who opted to remain in the United States, and even Quebeckers came to St. John's Island.
An Overview of the Revolution, (c) 1993

This book will provide a general outline of the course of the American Revolution, and in subsequent chapters go into detailed analysis of how the colonies from Georgia to Quebec rebelled against the tyrannical King George III to form the Republic we call the United States of America.

1775

Fleury Mesplet reprints the "Letter to the Inhabitants of Quebec" with help from du Calvet, promising the Quebecois that their representative government will be freer under an American system, where they could practice Catholicism freely and return to French law, and trade freely with all their brethren to the south. Pierre Eugene du Simitiere translated this letter, and drafted several additional letters spread amongst Quebec citizens. Governor Haldimand's attempts to clamp down on this treason unfortunately led to the inflaming of the patriot cause in the north. In Nova Scotia, Governor Francis Legge's efforts at reforming Nova Scotia and keep her loyal to the United Kingdom alienate the south of Nova Scotia in larger numbers, so much so that Jonathan Eddy of Cumberland and Philip Knaut of Lunenburg travel to Philadelphia to join the Continental Congress.

In March, Richard Uniacke sends
a pamphlet to several landowners who lost their land to the Quit-Rent on St. John's Island, urging them to join the other colonies in Philadelphia. While the colony does not, the stirrings of Patriot sympathy have begun on the island.
On April 18, General Thomas Gage sent his troops to Concord to capture munitions there. Riders, including Paul Revere, alert the countryside to the presence of British regulars, and the militia meet them in the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

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Engraving of the Battle of Lexington

The Patriot militia and the British regulars engaged around 5 AM at the Old North Bridge, with the "shot heard 'round the world."

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This minor skirmish resulted in a surprising victory for the rebels. The slow pace of the regulars' march back to Boston gave the rebels time to send militia along the road to engage the regulars, harrying them the whole way.

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By morning, Boston was surrounded by a force of 15,000-strong militia. Even at this point, Gage did not impose martial law, asking only that the rebels give up their private guns.

Gage's official report was too vague on particulars to influence anyone's opinion. George Germain, no friend of the colonists, wrote, "the Bostonians are in the right to make the King's troops the aggressors and claim a victory." Politicians in London tended to blame Gage for the conflict instead of their own policies and instructions. The British troops in Boston variously blamed General Gage and Colonel Smith for the failures at Lexington and Concord.

When George Washington received the news at Mount Vernon, he wrote to a friend, "the once-happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched in blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?"

In May, Pierre du Calvet and Denis Viger arrive on the tenth to represent Quebec amongst the colonies. Despite the language issue, the Congress convenes in English, setting precedent for the future. Fort Ticonderoga is captured by the Americans, when the Green Mountain Boys and other state militia under General Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen capture it in a surprise attack. The cannon will be transported to Boston, used to force the British to abandon that city in 1776.

Guy Johnson, a British Loyalist, goes to Fort Ontario on June 17 to enlist Indian aid against the rebels, raising 1500 Mohawk Indians to his cause. He had left his estate in New York with 200 Loyalist and Indian supporters.

On the same day, the Battle of Bunker Hill is fought, led by British Viscount Howe with his force of 3,000 against an American force of around 2,500. His first two assaults were firmly repulsed by the colonials, but his third managed to gain the objective. The victory cost the British 1,203 men, which Howe described as "success ... too dearly bought."

In July of 1775, George Washington is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, and begins amassing his resources for this task.


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General Washington


On the 6th, Congress passes a Declaration of Causes for their taking up arms against the United Kingdom. Sam Kirkland, a missionary who was very influential with the Oneidas, delivers a statement from Congress:

"we desire you to remain at home, and not join either side, but to keep the hatchet buried deep"

Despite this statement, many Oneidas and Tuscaroras hold sympathies with the rebels.

By August 21, General Schuyler and Montgomery secure Quebec City from the British regulars there, then prepare for the Siege of Fort St. Jean.

September is politically a mixed bag for the Patriots in Quebec, with Hector Theophilus de Cramahé, Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, turning to the Loyalist cause, on promise of the governorship of Quebec on British victory. He acts as a spy for the British for most of 1775. Patriot sympathies in the legislature constitute a majority of the representatives, however, drawing Quebec into the Patriot camp as well.

September begins well for the Patriots, with the first approach on the 7th to Fort St. Jean going well for the Americans, receiving another 800 men from the Connecticut militia. The next day, Schuyler sent Ethan Allen (acting as a volunteer since he had been deposed as head of the Green Mountain Boys by Seth Warner) and John Brown to circulate a proclamation announcing the Americans' arrival, and their desire to "free the Canadians from the bondage of British rule." Allen and Brown traveled through the parishes between St. Jean and Montreal, where they were well-received, and even provided with local guards. James Livingston, a local grain merchant (and a relative of Montgomery's wife), began raising a local militia near Chambly, eventually gathering nearly 500 men, commanding the 1st Canadian Regiment as Lt. Colonel.

In September and October, Montgomery sieges Isle aux Noix on Lake Champlain, and takes St. Johns and Chambly soon after, advancing on Montreal. The Siege of Fort St. Jean takes from the September 10th till October 28th, taking advantage of the small number of defenders, lack of supplies, and locals' knowledge of the surroundings. While some colonials were distrustful of the Quebeckers in their midst, the locals made their loyalties to their fellow Patriots well known. The attack is buoyed by
Pierre-Stanislas Bédard's regiment of 400 men from Quebec (later, the 3rd Canadian regiment).

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Plan of Fort St. Jean

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Fort Chambly
By November 12, Montreal is captured by the Americans, forcing a British retreat. Citizens celebrate Montgomery's arrival with a feast in honor of the Revolution, which later becomes Montreal's Liberation Day holiday. General Benedict Arnold, another Patriot general, arrives with a troop of 1100 into the Province of Canada, but arrives too late to do anything other than securing the city and countryside due to disease of his troops.

Sir Charles Douglas, a Royal Navy Admiral, attacks Quebec City later on in the winter of this year, with his forces soon met by Montgomery and Schuyler and General Johann Mühlenberg from Montreal. General Benedict Arnold had left two days before receiving notice of Sir Douglas' ramming of the Gulf of St Lawrence ice, and was unable to return in time to assist the battle. He instead lead his troops through the countryside securing arms for the war effort in Quebec. For the winter, a standoff develops, with the British holding securely Newfoundland, while Nova Scotia becomes a lost cause.

The final battle of the year is the Battle of Quebec City, on New Year's Eve, when the British attempt to retake the capital city, but are repulsed by the defenses. Governor Haldimand, taking a commission as a General, attempts to attack the city, ordering all able-bodied to take up arms or be treated as a rebel and spy. General Montgomery arrives on the 1st with reinforcements (350 from New York, 220 from the Canadian 1st Regiment, and 180 from surrounding villages) for the coming battle. On the 12th, British get artillery assistance, with 12 cannons, which they place 700 yards away from the city walls which they could not entrench due to the frozen ground, leaving them to use blocks of ice.

General Montgomery sends word to Lieutenant-Colonel Maclean to surrender via envoy on the 6th, but his message was burnt unread. Again, a message is sent, this time, pamphlets spread under cover of darkness via three French-speaking spies around the pubs and houses. MacLean ignored it again. While General Montgomery was planning his defense of the city, Christophe Pélissier, a supporter of the American cause, came to see him. He ran the St. Maurice Ironworks. He and Montgomery discussed the idea of holding a state-wide convention to elect representatives to Congress. Pélissier recommended against this until after Quebec City had been taken, as the inhabitants would not feel free to act in that way until their security was better assured. Their loyalty to the cause was great, but they needed more American forces to help their security. The two agreed that Pélissier's ironworks would provide munitions (ammunition, cannonballs, and the like) for the siege. On the 27th, MacLean prepared to attack while a snowstorm arrived, hiding their advance, unfortunately, the snowstorm broke, and MacLean called the attack off. MacLean eventually attacked the West Gate, where Montgomery refused to give up the defenses, with the freezing temperatures, outbreak of smallpox, and lack of provisions leading to the attack being called off. During the attack, General Arnold is shot in the leg, giving command to Daniel morgan, who successfully defends Palace Gate from the British. Colonel James Livingston, whose 1st Canadian Regiment served along the eastern front, is placed in command of the city until elections can be held. Several hundred Loyalists are taken prisoner, and moved to Trois Rivieres.


1776

The year begins with the publication of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, which spreads across the colonies, including in a French translation by Fleury Mesplet, titled Le Sens commun. It was a revolutionary idea to bring the realm of politics to the common man, which European and colonial elites agreed that common people had no place in government or political debates. In Quebec, it set of a series of pamphlets, several of which Mesplet was responsible for printing.

In February, the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in North Carolina is fought when Loyalists charge across a bridge to fight what they believe to be a group of rebels, instead killing several Loyalist leaders, effectively ending British authority in the town. Americans fortify and capture the Dorchester Heights in March, securing the port of Boston, forcing the British out by the end of the month.

The Halifax Resolves are drafted in North Carolina, on April 12, explicitly giving permission for the delegates of the Province of North Carolina to vote for independence, paving the way for the Declaration of Independence. Popular opinion may be split amongst many of the colonials, but the opinion in the south was moving towards independence. In the north, General Schuyler marched towards Newark, Quebec, and captured the city on April 17.

On May 4, Rhode Island renounces its allegiance to King George III, continuing the trend amongst other colonies. May 5th is Quebec's official "Independence Day" when they declared independence from King George, led by Pierre du Calvet, a forceful speaker, soon after. June is an active month, with Richard Henry Lee proposing a Declaration of Independence, to be drafted by Thomas Jefferson, on the 7th, and the Battle of Trois-Rivières on the 8th in the north, where Generals Arnold, Sullivan, and Ignace Caron lead the fight against the British under General Simon Fraser.

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British General Simon Fraser

It would be the efforts of all three generals who tried to push back the British to force an American victory, but not without a number of casualties, including Colonel Charles-François Tarieu de La Naudière, who shoved General Caron out of the way of cannon fire while on horseback, but was thrown from his horse and later died of his injuries. Tarieu Square in Montreal is named in his honor.

Despite their efforts, the generals lost to the British, and in their retreat, Caron and Sullivan split forces, with Sullivan and Arnold heading to Montreal, and Caron heading back to Quebec to secure the lines. Once in Montreal, General Arnold is left in charge by Sullivan, who leaves for York, fighting a minor battle there once arriving. General Fraser presses on to Montreal intent on capturing the Americans who escaped, but General Arnold flees the city, while attempting to burn it, instead suffering many casualties and some degree of embarrassment.


On the 2nd of July the final copy of the Declaration is written and signed on the 4th, which will go down in history as Independence Day. The colonies declared independence with delegates from Quebec, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Some flags during this time period carried 13, some carried 14 stars and stripes, depending on the colonies, as Quebec was a bit of an outlier colony to some in the south, but more integral with the north.

August brought the Battle of New York on Staaten Island, where General Washington is routed by General William Howe to Brooklyn Heights. In attempting to defend the city, Washington spread about 20,000 soldiers along the shores of New York's harbor, concentrated on Manhattan and Long Island. While the British were assembling their recently hired Hessian troops across the harbor, the Declaration of Independence was read to his men and the citizens of the city. On the 27th, the British drove the Americans back to Brooklyn Heights with 22,000 men, securing a decisive British victory in the largest battle of the entire Revolution. Howe then laid siege to the fortifications there. In what would later be called one of the most impressive actions of his time as Commander-in-Chief, Washington directed the withdrawal of his entire remaining army in one night, with all their supplies across the East River without being discovered by the British or any significant loss of men or materiel.

The British land at Kipp's Bay on 15th September, with a force of 32,000 on 400 ships. General Washington’s secretary, Joseph Reed is awestruck.

“When I look down, and see the prodigious fleet they have collected, I cannot help but be astonished that a people should come 3000 miles at such risk trouble and expense to rob, plunder and destroy another people because they will not lay their lives and fortune at their feet.”

The Battle of Haarlem Heights in September between Americans and British results in an American victory. The British, under Major General Alexander Leslie, made a tactical error in having their light infantry buglers sound the fox hunting call "gone away" while in pursuit of the retreating Americans. This was intended to insult Washington, himself a very keen fox hunter, having learned the sport from Lord Fairfax during the French and Indian War. "Gone Away" signals the fox is in full flight from the hounds on its trail. The Continentals, who were in an orderly retreat at the time, were infuriated by this and were galvanized to hold their ground. After flanking the British attackers, the Americans slowly pushed the British back. After the British withdrawal, Washington had his troops end the pursuit. The battle went a long way to restoring the confidence of the Continental Army after suffering several defeats, and was Washington's first battlefield victory of the war. A fire breaks out on the 21st, burning a quarter of the city.

Among the dead on the battlefield was Yves Le Ny, a colonist from Montreal who had heard about General Washington from revolutionary pamphlets. Nathan Hale is executed by the British for espionage before month's end.

October brings with it a defeat for the Americans, when General Arnold's fleet on Lake Champlain is destroyed by British under Thomas Pringle, James Dacre, Edward Pellow, and John Shank at the Battle of Valcour Island. The Battle of White Plains results in a tactical loss for British General Howe, when he faces General Washington on Manhatten Island. Though he had a chance to capture him, he allows him to escape.

In November, Hessian soldiers hired by the British capture Fort Washington from the Americans, while in Nova Scotia, Major General Jonathan Eddy leads a force of 500 men on a three week siege of Fort Cumberland, ultimately gaining victory and recruiting another 300 men from the local Patriots.

The Marquis de Lafayette (Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier) attempts to join the American army, along with Johann de Kalb and Wilhelm von Preußen in December of 1776. On 7 December 1776, Lafayette arranged through Silas Deane, an American agent in Paris, to enter the American service as a major general. He will land on North Island, North Carolina on June 17, 1777. Lafayette visited his uncle Marquis de Noailles, the Ambassador to Britain. During a ball at Lord George Germain's, he met Lord Rawdon, met Sir Henry Clinton at the Opera, and met Lord Shelburne at breakfast. Lafayette refused to toast King George, and left after three weeks. In 1777, the French government granted the American military one million livres in supplies after Minister Charles Gravier pressed for French involvement. De Broglie intrigued with his old subordinate, German Johann de Kalb, (who had previously done a reconnaissance of America), to send French officers to fight alongside the Americans, (and perhaps set up a French generalissimo). De Broglie approached Gravier, suggesting assistance to the American revolutionaries. De Broglie then presented Lafayette, who had been placed on the reserve list, to de Kalb.

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Marquis de Lafayette Johann de Kalb, and Wilhelm von Steuben, all made Majors General in the Continental Army


December finds North Carolina reorganizing itself as a State, no longer a province of the British Empire, while General Washington surprises the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton, defeating them early in the morning.

With assistance from Maine and Quebec, Acadian, Mi'kmaq, and Maliseet Indians, Jonathan Eddy, a Colonel in the Continental Army, led a force of 800 men to capture Fort Cumberland. Though General Washington had said for him not to expect much support militarily from his troops, already stretched, other Quebecois aided Eddy, as well as Uniacke. Uniacke becomes a congressional delegate to the Continental Congress after this year to replace another Nova Scotian who fell ill. British defenders, led by Joseph Goreham surrendered by December 3rd when reinforcements from Windsor failed to arrive. This victory is the turning point in Nova Scotia, with momentum building by Eddy.

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Fort Cumberland, today
 
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JJohnson

Banned
British North America might fall, but that does not mean the end of the British Empire. What she loses, she will more than make up for!

The Foundations of New Caledonia, (c) 2001, New Caledonia Royal Press


Captain James cook sighted the islands of New Caledonia in 1774 on the 4th of September. It would be five years later, however, when he left what would become Hawaii after a month's stay, for New Caledonia again, hoping to claim the land for the British.

After several weeks at sea, he landed at New Aberdeen (OTL Pouébo) and constructed several shelters for his troops and sailors, on March 12, the traditional date for the founding of the city. They mapped out the coastline, spending two months there in total, laying claim to the entire area of what is now called New Caledonia (around 18,576 km2).

Captain Cook travelled south to New Zealand, then Australia before returning home, with the Colonial War in North America taking turns for the worse, he offered New Caledonia, New Zealand, Australia, and even Cuba as possible places for the Loyalists to resettle, when in 1782, peace negotiations began in earnest.

By 1784, eight ships carrying 480 Loyalists and sailors landed at New Aberdeen, two hundred wishing to settle at another site, which became known as Cook's Bay (OTL Katavili Bay), founding the village of Falkirk (OTL Koné). New Aberdeen would serve as the administrative center for the next five years, even with the founding of New South Ayrshire (OTL Nouméa) in the county of the same name, which rapidly outgrew New Aberdeen by 1812.

By 1800, the English population of the island grew to 2,800, rapidly increasing to around 32,000 by 1820, with settlements on each of the Loyalty Islands (named St John's, Prince Edward Island, and New Shetland Island).

Loyalists fled to Cuba after facing an especially unprepared Newfoundland winter, then demanded better settlement areas, leading the British Government to begin heavier colonization voyages to each of the possessions under her control: New Caledonia, Cuba, British Honduras, New Zealand, Australia, British Guyana, and many other islands, leading to massive influxes of English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish settlers from the former British North America, as well as from the United Kingdom itself.

The Fall of British North America, (c) 2002

1777The year begins with General Washington's victory at the Battle of Princeton, thereafter wintering in Morristown, NJ.
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Painting of General Washington from the Battle of Princeton

Phillip Knaut of Nova Scotia corresponds with dozens of fellow Nova Scotians on supporting the Patriot cause, citing the victory at Fort Cumberland as evidence of the righteousness of what they're fighting for, against an inept favor-driven military, finding sympathy in the rural areas, and surprisingly, amongst the Mi'kmaq Indians as well. Without actual congressional approval, he asks what the Indians would want in return for their support of Nova Scotian independence from Britain. Knaut writes to John Allan, whom Washington appointed "Superintendent of the Indians of Eastern Maine", asking to bring the Indians' request to Washington for treaty. On the 14th, Otto William Schwartz, a Nova Scotian assemblyman, with whom Knaut has been corresponding for several months in German, and speaking in taverns and in each other's homes on independence and freedom, begins working on his fellow assemblymen in private, urging them to declare formal independence from Great Britain. The very next day, Vermont declares itself independent of New York, but this is not recognized by the Continental Congress.

Colonel Pierre-Stanislas Bédard and his troops are forced out of Quebec City in February by MacLean and his British forces, numbering 8100 men. Bédard and his troops retreat to Montreal.
After General Washington's successes in New Jersey, Congress returns to Philadelphia from Baltimore in March. Washington and Bédard begin corresponding to coordinate northern operations to retake Quebec City from the British. In April, troops led by General Benedict Arnold defeat the British at Ridgefield, Connecticut. He is not made aware of the correspondence between Washington and Bédard, which angers the General when it is discovered, believing him to be the one who should recapture the northern city.
The Flag Resolution of 1777 is passed, mandating 14 stars (OTL 13 plus Quebec, since Nova Scotia hadn't declared independence yet), and 13 stripes (the 12 Atlantic colonies and Quebec made 13 in the resolution). This would replace the earlier Grand Union Flag, used by some patriots earlier in the war:

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Grand Union Flag, with the Union Jack in the upper left


British forces under Gen. Burgoyne, 7700 strong, plan to link up with General Howe, coming north from New York City, cutting off New England from the rest of the colonies. On the 13th, Charles and Francis Morgan of South Carolina attacked with their two armed brigs the HMS Ana, preventing the retaking of Bermuda by the British. They captured the harbor fort of Bermuda, captured the sloop Ana, and used it as a defense and piracy ship for the island. The British would focus more on the mainland during the conflict, rather than a backwater island, which they had not even bothered to resupply, making the Patriots honored guests when they arrive with fresh supplies for the islanders.

On the 17th, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-yr-old French aristocrat, arrives in South Carolina, staying with Major General Benjamin Huger for two weeks before leaving for Philadelphia, receiving his commission after volunteering to serve without pay. He is appointed Maj. Gen. by the Congress on the 31st of July, and met Washington on the 10th of August at Moland House in Bucks County, PA. He will come to be one of Gen. Washington's most trusted aides.

On the 22nd, Colonel Eddy captures Fredericton from the British in the Battle of Sainte Anne's Point, capturing 250 British soldiers. Two days after, 800 Mi'kmaq join forces with 200 Acadiens under Colonel John Allison Marker to meet with Bédard to retake Quebec City.

In July, General Burgoyne's 7700-man army invades from Canada, leaving only a small garrison in Quebec City, given the lack of Patriot military in the area for months on end. His troops capture Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. The supplies are greatly needed by Washington, and its capture is a huge blow to American morale. British General Howe, with 15,000 men, sails from New York for Chesapeake Bay to capture Philadelphia, instead of sailing north to meet up with Gen. Burgoyne.

Shortly after leaving, Colonel Bédard retakes Quebec City in the Battle of Quebec City, using information from his spies in Quebec, arresting and detaining the remaining British soldiers. He takes the troops to the St. Lawrence, places them on ships and sends them back to England after swearing not to serve again in the war against America. While his troops favored shooting the officers and arresting the soldiers, Bédard and Washington had an understanding about treatment of the British. Bédard was not a military man before the war, rather, he volunteered and quickly aided the American cause, leading to his field commission of colonel, and following the recapture of Quebec, as general. Luckily for the Americans, his knowledge of the terrain and people proved invaluable during the course of the northern war efforts. François Baby aided the American cause by supplying troops with much needed clothing and food while in Quebec. The Battle of Quebec's victory was brought about by the instrumental aid and tactics of the Mi'kmaq Indians, a fact which was not lost on Allison or Bédard.

In the month of August, Americans under militia general Nicholas Herkimer defeat the British under St. Leger at Fort Stanwix, in the Mohawk Valley in Oriskany, NY. His horse was shot out from under him, and he was thrown clear, coming out with mild injuries. He continued giving orders propped against a tree to avoid retreat by his troops. Brigade surgeon William Petrie later dressed his wounds while he lit his pipe. Death missed the General by an inch, and the Congress would later ask him to entreat Prussia to join their cause, unsuccessfully.

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British General Burgoyne

General Burgoyne reaches the Hudson after spending a tough month crossing 23 miles of wilderness separating the tip of Lake Champlain from the northern tip of the Hudson. Making the month even worse, at the Battle of Bennington, Vermont militiamen, aided by Massachusetts troops and led by Gen. Stark, wipe out an 800-strong detachment of Hessians sent by Burgoyne to seize horses. British General Howe disembarks from Chesapekae Bay with his troops this month.

The Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania is won by the British, driving back General Washington and his 10,500-man army towards Philadelphia. Congress resettles at Lancaster, PA. Both sides suffer heavy losses. Philadelphia is occupied by the British under General Howe, leading Congress to relocate to York, Pennsylvania. Not all battles of this war would be won by one side or another, as the Battle of the Clouds near Malvern, PA was rained out.

On the 12th of September, Colonel Eddy and a force of 2,000 militia defeat the British in the Battle of Parrtown (OTL Saint John), Nova Scotia, suffering a loss of 43. Major Gilfred Studholme arrived and was ambushed in the woods near town by the Patriot forces, with only 320 available (120 from the ships under Captain Hawker, and 200 Loyalists from the surrounding lands) to command. Two days later, the Nova Scotian General Assembly votes a levy for independence by a five-vote-margin, making Nova Scotia the fifteenth colony to declare independence from Great Britain. Governor Legge declared the vote illegal and refused to sign the declaration. Otto Schwartz, along with Thomas Cochran and John Morrison, two others who swayed to the patriot cause, used this to inflame the countryside to their cause, that Britain would never allow free elections in Nova Scotia, or hear the will of the people. The assembly vote broke into a shouting match that almost turned violent when Speaker Nesbitt refused to send the vote to the Governor. Unfortunately for him, this caused three more defections from the Loyalist cause on grounds that it violated the rule of law, and the rights of Englishmen to have their votes counted.

NSAssembly.jpg

Interior of the Nova Scotian General Assembly near when the vote took place. The assembly would be burned by the British in the War of 1812, after which time it took on the more modern semi-circle common to other legislatures in American States.

Colonel Jonathan Eddy's ranks swelled with another 500 men, rural Nova Scotians and Indians. Among the supporters included Zebulan Rowe, and William Howe (no relation to the British general). On the 22nd, another vote in Nova Scotia's General Assembly occurs, this time passing by 20 to 9, with 2 empty seats and three absentees not voting. Nesbit refuses again to notarize the vote, when Isaac Deschamp got up to speak:

"Lord Nesbitt, much to the surprise of a number of those assembled here today, the Assembly has actually entertained such a motion on the question of independence. I, like you, find shock in the overwhelming support that it has attained. While I, who has not a preference for such a thing, have deferred my vote, I see that it would be an injustice to the great people of Nova Scotia if you were to not approve this vote on the grounds of disagreement with its outcome. By the rights of Englishmen to elect representatives to express their will, and to have those representatives duly vote upon that sentiment which springs forth of their desire to be free, you should honor the vote taken here today. Should you decide not to honor those and impose your own unjust will upon this vote by refusing to deliver this vote to our Governor, then you reduce us to nothing more than chattel without voice, subject to the whims of their master. By our rights as Englishmen and free men, you must sign your name to that document and transmit it to the Governor, and thus let this proposition be resolved!"

The measure is sent to the Governor, who sends British troops from Halifax to arrest the assemblymen. Action after action brings more of the countryside into the Patriot fold. The Mi'kmaq help the patriots escape to Lunenburg.

On September 19th, British and American forces meet in the Battle of Saratoga, at Freeman's Farm, with the fighting continuing on and off throughout the day. Once night falls, the Americans slip away, leaving the British on the field. General Burgoyne's encounter results in a pyrrhic victory. On the 21st, the "Paoli Massacre" is reported to have occurred in Philadelphia between Brigadier General Anthony Wayne of the Colonials and Major General Charles Grey, when it's reported the British took no prisoners and took no quarter. Patriot propaganda increases the actual report of British actions, spreading across the colonies currently in revolt. As of September, the British still occupy Philadelphia.

October does not begin well for the Americans, being driven off at the Battle of Germantown.
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British General Burgoyne loses the second Battle of Saratoga at Freeman's Farm, on October 7th, losing a thousand men between the two battles, leaving him outnumbered three to one. British losses amounted to 600 this battle, compared to 150 for the Americans.

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Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga

With this defeat, General Burgoyne and his 5700 man army surrender to Americans led by Gen. Gates. The British are placed on ships and sent back to England after swearing not to serve again in the war against America. News of the American victory at Saratoga soon reaches Europe, boosting support of the American cause. Prussian support is not forthcoming, as they have chosen to ally with King George. Nicholas Herkimer's efforts do bring token support from Austria, which does send supplies and 150 men to Maine. In Paris, the American victory is treated and celebrated as if it were a French victory. Ben Franklin is received by the French Royal Court. France then recognizes the independence of America. Building on their victory, a Hessian attack at Fort Mercer, NJ is repulsed by the Ameircans.

On the 23rd of the same month, Nova Scotian Assemblymen meet in Lunenburg and draft a constitution, basing it largely on that of Massachusetts. It is drafted and signed by the 27th of October. John Morrison is chosen as the Governor of the Nova Scotia colonial assembly, which soon flees to New Germany in advance of British troops, coming from Halifax. On the 30th, Austria recognizes independence of the United States, mostly as a counter to Prussia. It doesn't amount to much material support, but it mounts additional pressure on the building trend.

In November, John Morrison signs the Mi'kmaq Treaty with the Mi'kmaq Indians on the first of the month. The Indians had bolstered the Patriot forces in the north, speak with Morrison about their future aid to the Patriots. Alphonse Bâtard, the leader of the Mi'kmaq, felt he had a good bargaining position since his aid was essential in recapturing Quebec and would be again in the upcoming Battle of Moncton by Eddy. His demand was simple: recognition of all Mi'kmaq land rights as they existed before the war within Nova Scotia, equal protection of the law, and in return, the Mi'kmaq with agree to be placed under American command and give up their independent nation. It was a huge bet, but Morrison, with Schwartz, Eddy, and Morrison's urging, signed a treaty guaranteeing their rights under NS law, in exchange for their aid in the war effort.

November 15th marks the adoption of the Articles of Confederation as the government of the new United States of America by Congress, pending ratification by the fourteen states individually (fifteen with Nova Scotia). Under the Articles, the Congress is the sole authority of the new federal (not national) government.

Even with their victories, there are still British successes in the war, capturing Fort Mifflin, PA. On the 17th, the Battle of Moncton is fought with Colonel Eddy and General Bédard, along with New York, Connecticut, and Massacusetts militiamen, and the detachment of Austrian troops; the force had been preparing for some time, and struck, capturing the city of Moncton from the British, with the aid of two Patriot spies in the town who relayed troop positions and supply locations to them, enabling the attacking force to cut off the British much more quickly than otherwise possible. Eddy and Bédard winter at Moncton.

December comes with another American victory, pushing back the British at Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania. General Washington sets up winter quarters at Valley Forge, PA.

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Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge

Washington's troops faced malnourishment, disease, and low morale there. A group called the "Regimental Camp Followers" also helped to increase morale of the soldiers, providing the necessary support to the men, consisting of families, wives, children, mothers, and sisters of the soldiers. There were an estimated 500 women at Valley Forge.

On the 17th, Nova Scotia signed the Articles of Confederation, with Moses Delesdernier, Richard John Uniacke, and Thomas Henry Barclay as their Congressional delegation.


1778
January comes with a surprising victory by the Americans on the USS Providence on the 27th. Under John Paul Jones, Americans capture Fort Nassau, releases 30 American prisoners, spiked the guns of the fort at Nassau, and took military stores including 1,600 pounds of powder. Five ships and a 16-gun British ship were captured, remanned, and used to further aid the rebel cause. British loyalists were jailed or taken prisoner on the other ships as they sailed to the mainland. Slaves who fought for the Americans were promised their freedom.
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USS Providence, sailing from Fort Nassau

In February, American and French representatives sign two treaties in Paris - a Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance. With these treaties, France recognizes the US officially and will soon become one of two major suppliers of military supplies to Washington's Army. Both countries pledge to continue to fight until American independence is won, with neither country concluding a truce with Britain without the consent of the other, and guarantee each other's possessions in America against all other powers. The US guarantees French language rights of Quebecois in their treaty with the French. These treaties bring the American struggle for independence into a world war, with France declaring war on Britain after British ships fire on them, and Spain entering in 1779 as an ally of France. By 1779, Britain will declare war on the Dutch as well, who have been engaging in profitable trade with the French and Americans. In all, the British will have to fight in the Americas, Mediterranean, Africa, India, and the West Indies, all the while facing dangers on the high sees and possible invasion of England itself by the French.

On February 23rd, Baron von Steuben of Prussia arrives at Valley Forge to join the Continentals. He begins much needed training and drilling of Washington's troops, now suffering poor morale due to the cold, hunger, disease, scarce supplies, and desertions over the harsh winter at Valley Forge. He is joined by his Italian greyhound, his young aide de camp Louis de Pontiere, his military secretary Pierre Etienne Duponceau, and four other companions.

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Baron Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben

Baron von Steuben found the soldiers' training to have been inconsistent, coming from a number of manuals. He introduced a system of progressive training to the colonials, which began with the school of the soldier, with and without arms, then going through the school of the regiment. This corrected the previous policy of simply assigning personnel to regiments. Each company commander was made responsible for the training of new men, but actual instruction was done by selected sergeants, the best obtainable. This skilled Prussian drill master tirelessly drilled the soldiers.

In March, a Peace Commission is created by the British Parliament to negotiate with the Americans. The commission then travels to Philadelphia, where it offers granting all the Americans' demands, except independence. Congress rejects this offer; the Rubicon has been crossed, and there's no turning back.

Fleury Mesplet and his best friend, Joseph Barsalou, have been corresponding for over a year since Mesplet joined Congress, and the two founded the Montreal Gazette, the first French language newspaper in Quebec. It is influential in bringing more sentiment towards the Patriot cause, frustrating British efforts to hold the colony.

On the first of March, Quebec signs the Articles of Confederation, represented by James Livingston and Pierre du Calvet.

In April, American General Schuyler moves east after having settled Upper Canada to hold off British ships landing up the St. Lawrence, attempting to cut part of Quebec. The following month, General Howe is replaced by the British General Henry Clinton.

On the 20th of May, Americans led by Lafayette fight in the Battle of Barren Hill, against Generals Howe and Clinton, who attempt to encircle the Americans. They engage, but Lafayette maneuvers out of the trap, slipping away via a route unknown to the British.

Along with standard military operations, the British incite Indians along the frontier, with 300 Iroquois burning Cobleskill, NY.

British General Clinton withdraws his troops from Philadelphia to New York city, marching across New Jersey. General Washington sends troops to intercept Gen. Clinton from Valley Forge. On the 28th, the Battle of Monmouth is forced by General Washington's troops in New Jersey, attacking the marching British.

American General Charles Lee failed to deliver proper orders to his troops, and after hours of fighting the British ordered a tactical retreat, which soon developed into a rout. Upon hearing that General Lee had ordered a retreat, Gen. Washington becomes furious, relieves him of command, and rallies Lee's troops against the British. The battle is a draw, with General Clinton continuing towards New York, but it will be the last major battle in the north of the war.

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Washington rallying the troops at Monmouth.

In July, Congress returns to Philadelphia, while British Loyalists and Indians massacre American settlers in the Wyoming Valley in northern Pennsylvania. General Washington will set up headquarters at West Point, NY. News arrives of the French declaration of war on Britain.

Far from the main theaters of the war, American Major George Rogers Clark captures Kaskaskia, a French village south of St. Louis.

Newport, Rhode Island is besieged by French and American forces in August, though bad weather and delays of land troops cause the siege to fail. The French fleet sails back to Boston for repairs of the weather damage.

Benjamin Franklin is appointed American diplomatic representative in France in September.

In Cherry Valley, NY, Loyalists and Indians massacre more than 40 American settlers in November. In Upper Canada, two more massacres occur. By December 29th, the British occupy Savannah, GA, and capture Augusta a month later.

Sir Frederick Haldimand's base camp of Tadoussac of the past year is abandoned as Quebec was recaptured by the Americans. He falls south to try to recapture Nova Scotia.
 

JJohnson

Banned
The American Revolution continues.

The Fall of British North America, (c) 2003

1779

The year 1779 began with Spain declaring war on England, though the country did not make any alliances with American revolutionary forces. The war is becoming a truly world war. Meanwhile, in North America, the American loyalist Claudius Smith was hung for supposed acts of terrorism against the surrounding communities in New York.

On February 14th, a militia led by James Boyd and others, defeated Tories led by Andrew Pickens and others at Kettle Creek, Georgia. This victory virtually ended the Loyalist movement in Georgia. What few loyalists that would remain would leave for Cuba and British Honduras at war's end. Building on this victory, George Rogers Clark, an American Patriot, captured Vincennes in Illinois Country, on the Wabash River.

A much needed victory for the British occurred in March during the Battle of Providencia, where British forces under Admiral Jack Byron captured Providencia from the Spanish. The islands had been captured about a century ago from the British, and today form the Providence Islands Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. March 3rd is celebrated to this day as Providence's "Independence Day" from the Spanish.

Indians formed part of the British strategy, turning them on the colonists in an attempt to build alliances on the frontier. Retailiating for Indian raids, however, American troops from Virginia and North Carolina attacked the Chickamauga Indian villages in what would become the state of Tennessee.

In what would become a pivotal moment for General Benedict Arnold's future, he discovered that Bédard and Washington have been coordinating troop movements without him. This angered the American general, and became one of several factors that drew him to the British side, along with mounting debts and having been passed on promotion several times in the colonial army. He would meet with British Major André to correspond with Gen. Clinton to eventually surrender West Point to the British in 1780.

In the first of several steps in his treason, Benedict Arnold met with Joseph Stansbury, a mediary between Arnold and the British in May. On June 1st, he is court-martialed for malfeasance with government property, though the trial will be delayed till December, and he was eventually cleared on January 26th of the following year.

The British burn Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia in May, while British General Clinton takes 6,000 men in June up the Hudson towards West Point. In July, the British continue burning towns with Fairfield and Norwalk, this time with help of loyalists in those towns. Even with small victories like this, the British still face setbacks, including the capture of St. Vincent by the French, in a three day battle (June 16th to the 18th).

In Quebec, the British burned Rimouski on the 10th, which later became the town's memorial day at the end of the war. Naval ships from Massachusetts were destroyed by the British while attempting to take the Loyalist strongholds of Castine, Maine, and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

July would have a number of advances by the British through burning several towns, but General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne, the American General, captured Stony Point in New York with 1,350 men, against a British garrison of only 544 men on the 14th, in an attack that lasted only thirty minutes. This attack provided a boost in morale for the Americans when needed the most, while the French forces captured Grenada from the British forces garrisoned there.

August would continue the American advance, with Harry "Light Horse" Lee defeating the British, led by William Sutherland, in an attack at Paulus Hook, New Jersey.

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Major Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee III

The Continental Congress approved a peace plan stipulating independence in August, complete British evacuation of America, and free navigation on the Mississippi river. Unfortunately for both sides, the war would continue on with the British not approving such a plan, believing victory still possible at this point.

Building their victories, the American forces defeat a combined British-Indian and Loyalist force at Elmira, New York. After their victory, American troops headed northwest and destroy nearly 40 Cayuga and Seneca Indian villages in retaliation for the campaign of terror against American settlers. A militia led by Jacques Langlois participated with his fellow Americans in this action. This was one of many cooperations between Quebeckers, New Englanders, and New Yorkers, which built up relationships and connections between the French and English-speaking colonists, which led to the eventual statehood of Quebec and the rest of the United States north of the Great Lakes.

September would provide the Americans with a huge blow, however, with a major loss at Savannah, Georgia, when over 900 American casualties are recorded, including Casimir Pulaski from Poland, and Wilhelm Ziegler, from Breslau. The British lost only 155 troops in the failed American attempt to retake Savannah. Pulaski and Ziegler would become honored Georgian heroes, with Ziegler's two sons becoming future politicians in Georgia and the Bahamas.

American Captain John Paul Jones engaged in a desparate battle with the HMS Serapis aboard his ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, at the Battle of Flamborough Head on the 23rd.

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Richard Paton's engraving of the Battle between the Serapis and Bonhomme Richard, 1780.

When the British demanded his surrender, he responded, "I have not yet begun to fight!" On board the Bonhomme Richard, he captured the British Serapis near the English coast after battling them for two hours. He took the ship to the United Provinces for repair. The outcome of the battle convinced the French crown of the wisdom of backing the colonies in their fight to separate from British authority.

British Major-General Charles Grey lead an attack, later known as the Tappan Massacre, against American George Baylor, in an attempt to provoke an attack by George Washington. The massacre resulted in 15 dead and 54 wounded or capture, including Baylor himself.

John Adams is appointed by Congress to negotiate peace with England in September.

General Washington sets up winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, which would turn out to be another harsh winter without desperately needed supplies, resulting in low morale, desertions, and attempts at mutiny. On November 11th, Loyalists and Indians massacre over 40 American settlers at Cherry Valley, New York. By December, British General Clinton sailed from New York to Charleston, South Carolina with 8,000 men.
 

JJohnson

Banned
From the World Factbook, NSA (c) 2010:

New Caledonia
Population: 3.9 million
Independence: 1947, October 10
Flag:
320px-Flag_of_New_Caledonia_%28Empires_of_Freedom_and_Liberty%29.png

Location:
Oceania, islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Australia

Geographic coordinates:
21 30 S, 165 30 E

Map references:
Oceania

Area:
total: 18,575 sq km
country comparison to the world: 156
land: 18,275 sq km
water: 300 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than New Jersey

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
2,254 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical; modified by southeast trade winds; hot, humid

Terrain:
coastal plains with interior mountains

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mont Panie 1,628 m

Natural resources:
nickel, chrome, iron, cobalt, manganese, silver, gold, lead, copper

Geography - note:
consists of the main island of New Caledonia (one of the largest in the Pacific Ocean), the archipelago of the Loyalty Islands, and numerous small, sparsely populated islands and atolls

Nationality:
noun: New Caledonian(s)
adjective: New Caledonian

Ethnic groups:
Melanesian 2.6%, European 94.6%, Wallisian & Futunian 1%, Tahitian 0.6%, Indonesian 0.5%, Vietnamese 0.4%, Ni-Vanuatu 0.1%, other 0.2% (1996 census)

Languages:
English (official), German, Polish, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects

Religions:
Roman Catholic 8%, Protestant 90%, other 2%

Population:
3,973,612 (July 2012 est.)

Statue of James Cook, discoverer of New Caledonia, built 1948, celebrating the signing of the Statute of Westminster:
113px-James_Cook%2C_Waimea_Kauai.JPG
 
Last edited:

JJohnson

Banned
The last years of the American Revolution signal the end of the war in the American's favor, but the British Empire will soon turn elsewhere for settler colonies.

Excerpt from The Revolution: The Final Years, (c) 2001, slightly popular book with a good summary of the end of the war.

1780

On the 16th of January, the British defeated a Spanish fleet off the coast of Portugal in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, sometimes called the Moonlight Battle. Following this success, the British attack Charleston, SC, as warships sail past the cannons of Fort Moultrie in April, and enter the harbor. General Washington sends reinforcements. On May 6, the British capture the fort, and go on to capture Charleston on the 12th, capturing its entire 5,400-man garrison, the entire southern American army, along with four ships and a military arsenal, while only losing 225 men.

Despite this victory, the British suffer a setback with the Battle of Halifax, where French and American troops siege Halifax under General du Calvet, Eddy, Schuyler, and du Calvet's 1200 French troops. After drilling with the French, Colonel Eddy's ragtag bunch, along with du Calvet and Schuyler's regulars exhausted the British regulars, leading them in chase after chase around the Nova Scotian peninsula, till they finally hold up in Halifax, leading to a week-long siege and two-day fight for the city. The Americans attack with 5100 troops, against the British forces of 3400. The fight is a tough one for both sides, but the Americans managed to eke out a victory, with 820 losses to the 1103 British loses, making it a costly, but ultimately Patriot victory. The British would go on to sieges the harbor with the navy during the remainder of the war, and the city would change hands again.

Following this defeat, the Spanish defeat the British forces off St. Louis on the 25th, followed by a crushing defeat of the Americans at Waxhaw Creek, South Carolina, in a fight against Abraham Buford's forces. Loyalist forces under Colonel Banastre Tarleton killed the surrendering American soldiers, leading this to be labeled the "Waxhaw Massacre." This back and force mean the war is roughly stalemated at this point, but the feeling is that the Patriots could win the war at this point, but there is still the danger of defeat. General Washington feels the danger, as after a second severe winter, there is a serious threat of a mutiny at Morristown. [FONT=&quot]Two Continental regiments conducted an armed march through the camp demanding immediate payment of their 5-month-overdue salary, and full rations. Pennsylvanian troops put down the rebellion, however, and two leaders of the protest are then hanged.[/FONT] Unfortunately for the Americans, this would not be the only rebellion early in their history.

In a bright spot for equal rights, Massachusetts passed a constitution in June of this year declaring 'all men are born free and equal,' including black slaves. (see sidebar on next page for the history of abolition)

General Horatio Gates is commissioned by Congress to command the Southern Army, while Cornwallis is put in charge of British forces in the southern United States. Cornwallis would soon have a great victory soon after assuming command, at the Battle of Camden in August.

Six thousand French troops arrive in Newport, Rhode Island in July to aid the American cause on the 11th. Led by Count de Rochambeau, they remain there nearly a year due to the British blockade.

The Patriots have some more good news in June, when they route the Tories at Ramseur's Mill in North Carolina, and a surprise sea storm wrecks several British ships attempting to return to Halifax to retake the port, followed by a victory in the Battle of Springfield, New Jersey.

The good news would not last long, as Benedict Arnold is appointed commander of West Point, having been secretly collaborating with General Clinton since May of the last year, supplying information on General Washington's tactics. When asked why he would betray the General, one of his reasons was [FONT=&quot]he the discovery that he was to be court-martialed by Congress.[/FONT] Though the Patriots defeat the Tories at Hanging Rock, South Carolina, soon they faced a crushing defeat at Camden, where 900 were killed, and 1000 were captured by the British. This day is also followed by the re-capture of Halifax by British regulars and Loyalists, who eject the Americans defending the city on the 18th.

Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis defeated American Major General Gates in a huge victory. Gates had ordered his [FONT=&quot]troops through areas with strong loyalist tendencies, drying up chances of supplies, and miscalculated the strategic abilities of his opponent, suffering 2000 casualties, including Johann von Robais, Baron de Kalb, a Bavarian serving as a Major General in the Continental Army, whose horse was shot out from underneath him and was bayoneted by the British soldiers.

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Battle of Camden

Another turn of luck for the Americans comes, however, when Benedict Arnold's planned treason is discovered, when Major André is captured with a letter from Arnold[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]indicating he intended to turn traitor and surrender West Point. Two days later, Arnold heard of the spy's capture and fled from West Point to the British ship Vulture on the Hudson. Later, he was named brigadier general in the British Army and would fight against the Americans that he had led into battle against the British.

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Major André, General Clinton's spy, who was captured and hanged for his part in the plot.

'German'-American forces siege Halifax with Colonel Eddy and Colonel Gustavus Heinrich de Rosenthal, under his 'American' name of "John Rose." Their October attack on Halifax uses French, American and some Austrian artillery the French brought, which was paid for by American money. The two week attack on Halifax drained the city of its food supplies, and with the arrival of several French naval reinforcements, the city lacked any way to resupply, and surrendered to the Americans on October 21st. Loyalists remaining in the city begin leaving with the British troops.

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Naval Battle of Halifax, 1780

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Fort Halifax today.

The turn of luck for the Americans continued when the Americans won the Battle of King's Mountain, South Carolina, lasting all of 65 minutes. American Isaac Shelby and John Sevier defeated Major Patrick Ferguson, who led 1/3 of General Cornwallis' army on the 7th.

General Washington began a new strategy, in naming Nathanael Greene commander of the Southern Army, in place of Gates. Greene then began a strategy of rallying [/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]popular support for the Patriot cause, and wearing down the British by leading Gen. Cornwallis on a six-month chase through South Carolina's backwoods, into North Carolina, then Virginia, then back into North Carolina. The British, low on supplies, were then forced to steal from any Americans they encounter, thus enraging them against the British, destroying any Loyalist sentiment possible.
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]
In what would be one of many such cities, Washington, Georgia is founded, the first city named after George Washington.

November found a small Battle of Montreal, led by 800 Loyalists coming from across the river to capture the city for the British. They are led out on a chase to Quebec City by the defending Patriot forces, where the continual harrying by Patriots and citizens on the countryside wore them down to the point of exhausted surrender by the time they got to Quebec City, in the so-called "Battle of Quebec," which amounted to nothing more than the surrender, by Lieutenant Papineau, a local from Quebec City, to the mayor, Francois-Joseph de Lorimier (elected 1778).
[/FONT]

"The Rise of the British Empire" details the beginnings of the Pax Britannica.

Despite the lost of the American colonies in the American Revolution, the British crown soon began to look elsewhere for its Loyalist subjects to settle. Having kept Rupert's Land out of American hands, since they were in no position to hold such a vast territory, or even begin to conquer it through force, the British first settled some of their Loyalists on Newfoundland Island, and the southern Loyalists in Cuba, Jamaica, the Providence Islands, and British Honduras.

Captain James Cook returned from a month-long stay in Hawaii in 1779, returning to New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, naming a number of places on the islands. In 1782, a number of settlers on Newfoundland purchased passage to the islands, founding New Aberdeen over the fort that Captain Cook had left.

By 1784, eight ships carrying 480 Loyalists and sailors landed at New Aberdeen, two hundred wishing to settle at another site, which became known as Cook's Bay (OTL Katavili Bay), founding the village of Falkirk (OTL Koné). New Aberdeen would serve as the administrative center for the next five years, even with the founding of New South Ayrshire (OTL Nouméa) in the county of the same name, which rapidly outgrew New Aberdeen by 1812. Fishing became one of the biggest sources of income for colonists until the discovery of nickel and other minerals inland.

In 1788, Australia received its first permanent settlers of European origin, in January, the British colony of New South Wales was established with the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 vessels under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. It consisted of over a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts (192 women and 586 men).

Romantic descriptions of the islands of New Caledonia and Australia led to additional settlement there from Newfoundland, and from Cuba, by former American settlers looking for milder climates. Several more settlements come from Loyalists, along with other Americans and some Quebecois who were dissatisfied with "freedom" under the Articles of Confederation and later Quebec independence, which was rife with economic turmoil and a failed military in the French-American war.

By 1802, 1400 Quebecois arrived in Australia, 120 in New Caledonia, and another 800 in British Guyana.

After the end of the war, the Loyalist refugees, mainly of British descent, began leaving whenever transport was available. An estimated 82,000 left the newly independent states, representing a little over 3% of the population, of which 20-30% had supported the Crown during the American War for Independence. Approximately 73,000 were White (who also had 19,000 black slaves), and 9,000 black; 4,000 went to Britain, 12,000 went to British Honduras, 12,000 to Newfoundland Island, 20,000 to Cuba, 17,000 to the other Caribbean islands, and the rest to Australia, New Caledonia, and South Africa. The number of freed blacks brought about the beginnings of the free colony of Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa, where the white settlers brought freed blacks back in an attempt at 'repatriation' to their home continent, something none of them had ever seen before.

Loyalist soldiers were evacuated from New York and resettled in other colonies of the British Empire, most notably Cuba. Some unsatisfied settlers left Newfoundland and settled west of the Ottawa river in Quebec, which would later be detached in 1801 from Quebec when it was annexed by the Americans.

The pressure on British Honduras led to the expansion of the colony into New Spain, conquering Petén in 1803-4, followed by the pressure in Parliament for a new settler colony and stop-off point for trade west to Australia, leading to the invasion of Rio de la Plata in 1806, beginning a two year war, that led to the Treaty of Buenos Aires, recognizing British sovereignty south of the Salado River, followed by a second war from 1808-10, ending in the Treaty of Uruguay, ceding Montevideo and all land surrounded by the Uruguay river, Parana, and Bermejo Rivers.

Domestic politics led to the granting of Catholic Empancipation in Ireland, leading to a surge in eager Irish settlers for the British, creating the colonies of New Belfast (OTL Viedma) on the Black River in South America, and New Galway (OTL Castro) on the west coast, south of the Hessian settlement of Neupforte (Newport, OTL Puerto Montt). Cape Town added another 10,000 Irish settlers, many of whom left after two years to found several coastal cities along the coast.

After the Napoleonic Wars, the Netherlands ended up with the region around Dunkirk, and were granted settlement in eastern Cape Colony in exchange for keeping order and loyalty to the British Crown. The Kingdom of Hanover brought settlers for the British, mostly to South Africa, and partly to British Guyana, with approximately 28,000 settlers in the first ten years of the 19th century. Dutch settlers came in a steady stream to South Africa, contributing to the current northeastern prominence of Dutch in the country of South Africa, with a slight dialect difference due to the Hanoverian settlers melding and bringing in German words and phrases to the Dutch areas; most notably the assimilation of the German pronoun du, dein, and dich (as du, dijn, dig in Dutch) into the language for family and friends.
 
You mentioned that Glen's DSA TL served as an influence on your style of timeline, and it shows (that's not a bad thing at all :)), and you seem to have done quite a bit of research and thought into this. Consider me subscribed
 
You mentioned that Glen's DSA TL served as an influence on your style of timeline, and it shows (that's not a bad thing at all :)), and you seem to have done quite a bit of research and thought into this. Consider me subscribed

That's neat, because DSA helped inspire one of my own TLs.....:)
 

JJohnson

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You mentioned that Glen's DSA TL served as an influence on your style of timeline, and it shows (that's not a bad thing at all :)), and you seem to have done quite a bit of research and thought into this. Consider me subscribed

Thank you! His style conveniently allows different perspectives on history from multiple points in time from multiple angles of the same event.
 
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