HON. G. H. MURRAY,
Premier of Nova Scotia during the Great War.
Nova Scotia’s Part in the Great War
CHAPTER I
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DISTRICT No. 6.
Upon the opening of the World War the following were the principal Staff Officers at Halifax, the headquarters of Military District No. 6:—
Col. R. W. Rutherford, G.O.C.; Col. W. W. Humphrey, A.O.C.; Major R. J. Hayter, G.S.O.; Major A. H. W. Powell, D.A.A. & Q.M.G.; Major W. Gibsone, D.A.A. & Q.M.G. Fortress.
Military District No. 6 then embraced the Maritime Provinces, but later in the war, when Compulsory Service came into force, New Brunswick was made into a separate District, No. 7.
The aforementioned Staff bore the brunt of this sudden change from peace to war, and met and overcame the resultant many new problems with great credit to themselves.
The sudden deluge of work included the calling out and recruiting up to strength of the Halifax City Regiments, viz.: 1st Regiment Canadian Artillery, 63rd Regiment Halifax Rifles, and 66th Regiment Princess Louise Fusiliers, as part of the War Garrison of Halifax; supplementing this Garrison later by a Regiment styled the Composite Regiment, called up by Companies from other Militia Regiments in Nova Scotia and from the 82nd in P. E. Island; calling out the 94th Argyll Highlanders to guard the cable and wireless stations at North Sydney, Marconi, Louisburg, and Canso, and detachments of Artillery from the P.E.I. Heavy Brigade to protect the Harbors of North Sydney and Canso; the provision of guards for the wireless station at Newcastle, N.B., for the International Bridge at St. Leonard’s and Vanceboro, and the calling out of the 3rd Regiment Canadian Artillery and the 62nd Regiment Infantry for the defence of St. John, N.B.
This meant that the immediate necessities of war called upon the Maritime Provinces to furnish, equip and train and keep supplied some 3,000 officers and men, of whom almost 2,600 were supplied by the Province of Nova Scotia; and of these more than 1,500 men from the City of Halifax.
This accounts for the fact that in the mobilization of troops for the first contingent at Valcartier there were not so many men reported there for duty from the City of Halifax or from rural Cape Breton as might have been expected. The officers and men, though keen to enter this larger sphere, were compelled to do this guard and garrison work, and were only relieved and permitted to join Overseas Battalions as new men could be found willing to take their places.