Black refugee (War of 1812)

The Black Refugees (War of 1812) were Black American slaves who escaped slavery in the United States during the War of 1812 and settled in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Trinidad and Tobago. The Black Refugees were chiefly from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia. Most of them were evacuated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, as well as Trinidad & Tobago on British ships from the East Coast of the United States. These individuals were formerly enslaved African Americans who had escaped the slave plantations during the War of 1812 and joined the British forces. Over 2000 Black Refugees reached Nova Scotia, they were chiefly settled in depopulated sterile lands in The Prestons, Hammonds Plains, Beechville, and by 1848 became the Founders of Africville. The Black Refugees are the progenitors of the majority of the black community in present day Nova Scotia. They were the most numerous of the African Americans who sought freedom during the War of 1812. In The Nova Scotia Archives many of the arrivals are recorded as "Blacks From The Chesapeake".

Many among the refugees were recruited into the British military as part of the Second Corps of Colonial Marines. In 1816, approximately 700 were settled in southern Trinidad, where they and their descendants came to be known as the Merikins (also spelled Merikens). Black Refugees is the term used in Canada for those who settled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They were the most numerous of the American Blacks who sought freedom during the War of 1812. The Black Refugees were the 2nd group of American Blacks after the Black Loyalists, to flee American enslavement in wartime and settle in Canada. The 2nd group, "Black Refugees" from the War of 1812, make up the most significant single immigration source for today's African Nova Scotian communities. During the antebellum period, however, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 Black refugees reached freedom in Canada, often traveling alone or in small family groups.