The grand event of this year for Halifax was the fitting out of the expedition for the invasion of the State of Maine. This expedition consisted of the 29th, 60th, 62nd and 98th British Regiments, with artillery and some militia. The two brigades were commanded by Major Goslin and Colonel Douglas; the whole being under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir John Cope Sherbrooke. Rear Admiral Griffiths commanded the squadron, which was composed of 3 seventy-four gun ships, the Bulwark, Dragon and the Spencer, with two brigs, a schooner and ten transports. Castine was taken on 1st September, and the town of Michias by Lieut.-Col. Pilkington, on the 11th. Thus all the State or District of Maine fell into the hands of the British as far west as the old bounds of Acadia. This territory was originally part of Nova Scotia, and at the peace of 1783 had been conceded to the Americans through the ignorance and imbecility of Lord Gambier, who had been intrusted by the British Ministry with the settlement of our lines. The British Government was erroneously induced to relinquish this conquest at the close of the war, a policy which has deprived this Dominion of the fairest timber lands of New Brunswick, and caused the loss of the most direct line of communication between the Canadian provinces through British territory, a loss which the whole expense incurred by the British Government during the war could not now repay. Sir John, having left a garrison to take care of his conquest, soon returned with his little army to Halifax. Several Halifax merchants availed themselves of the opening afforded to make money, sent agents with supplies of goods to establish shops at Castine, etc. The British authorities collected the Revenue of Maine while in occupation, which amounted to a considerable sum of money. This fund was placed by the colonial minister in the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, who appropriated it in various ways as he thought most for the benefit of the country. It was from this fund that Dalhousie College was afterwards built and endowed by the Earl of Dalhousie, who succeeded Sir John Cope Sherbrooke in the government, the Legislature of the Province having been induced to vote the sum of £5,000 currency towards the same object.
In the autumn the small pox made its appearance in Dartmouth and Preston and was very fatal among the Chesapeake negroes.
The old Rockingham Club, which in the days of Prince Edward and Sir John Wentworth dined periodically at the Rockingham Hotel on the Basin, had ceased to exist, but it appears to have revived about this time under the name of the Wellington Club. A dinner at the Rockingham by the Wellington Club was announced in the papers of 26th August to take place on the 30th instant at half past four o'clock. Five o'clock was the fashionable dinner hour. The Governor's dinner cards of this date were all for that hour.
The old Rockingham was destroyed by fire nearly half a century ago. It stood on the shore of the Basin, a short distance north of the Rotunda. After the departure of the Prince it became a house of entertainment, kept successively by Graves, Paine and others. It was a favorite resort being a convenient distance from town. The approach from the post road was by a carriage drive next to the Rotunda, between two beech trees, from which hung suspended a sign with the Wentworth Arms. When destroyed it was the property of the estate of David Muirhead.
In September the body of General Ross, who had been killed before Baltimore, was brought to Halifax for interment. He was buried in the old English burial ground with all military honors. No monument to his memory appears in St. Paul's Church.
On the 24th November, the Man-of-War Brig Fantome, 18 guns, went on shore at Prospect. She soon went to pieces, as also a schooner which accompanied her. No lives were lost.
The merchants presented several petitions to the Governor this year relative to the trade of the port. The following names appear appended to these petitions, among which we will find those of many of our principal citizens whose faces were once familiar to many now living:
James Forman,[74] Belcher & Wright,[75] John Clarke, William Rudolf, John Stayner, Rufus G. Taylor, William Strachan, William Young, Jr., Austin & Stairs,[76] Jessie Woodward, Richard Kidston, Lawrence Doyle, John Carrol, Henry Yeomans, Francis Stevens, Benjamin Etter, John Merrick, W. C. Wilkie, Charles Boggs, And. Smith, William Duffus, James Kerby, Charles Tropolet. Again, Thomas Wallace, Bowie & DeBlois,[77] Hosterman & Etter, John & David Howe,[78] W. A. & S. Black,[79] James Baine, Martin Gay Black, Duncan McColl, Thomas Cleary, Robert Phelon, Levi Moses & Co., and John A. Barry.[80]
The Province Building and the Admiralty House were both slowly progressing during the summer and autumn.
Halifax did a brisk trade during the period of the American War. The following list of exports for the year 1813 is given by Murdoch in one of his notes: Vessels, 412; Tons, 54,457; men, 2,868; Boards and Plank, 1,881,722 feet; Staves, 232,562; Dry Fish, 82,059 quintals; Pickled Fish in tierces, 408; Barrels, 29,829; Smoked Herring in barrels, 142; Boxes, 6,425; Fish Oil, 49,668 gallons.