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.
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.
I'll work on the US next.
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.
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.
Governor Murray
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sir Frederick Haldimand, 2nd Governor of Quebec
I'll work on the US next.
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