History - Kings Orange Rangers

37
Major Bayard’s Company was to be found at Fort Hughes 103 in Cornwallis at what is in 2000,
known as the Planters Barracks and which serves as a bed and breakfast. It may have been men
from this company which spent some time in the Annapolis Valley, who subsequently took up
grants in Aylesford and Parrsborough, neither of which is far from the site of Fort Hughes. The
former is near the headwaters of the Cornwallis River and the latter just across Minas Basin.
Major Bayard would later establish his residence in the Annapolis Valley as well.
The various companies and detachments of the King’s Orange Rangers were ordered into
Halifax during the summer of 1783. In late August the regiment’s nine companies took over in
Halifax from the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment. Two companies were ordered to the Eastern
Battery, five to George’s Island, one to Point Pleasant and the Grenadier Company in Halifax
town. 104 On October 12 th it was ordered that “the Arms of the Noncommissioned Officers and
private men of the 60 th Regiment Royal Garrison Battalion and the Orange Rangers who are
discharged in this Province, but who do not avail themselves of the Lands allotted them by His
Excellency the Governor will be delivered to the Ordinance Store-Keeper.” 105 On the 16 th it was
ordered that “the Officers and men of the King’s Orange Rangers that have given in their Names
to embark for the Lands allotted them are to embark tomorrow morning on the Transport
provided for them - which will be at the wharf at Governor’s Island.” 106 The regiment was
disbanded October 29 th . 107
Those determined to find their future in British North America were dispersed throughout the
Maritimes. Lieutenant Cameron went to Sydney. Lieutenant McLeod, Serjeant Frederick
“Fadey” Phillips, his brother Serjeant Jesse Phillips and a few other others remained in the
Liverpool area. Major Samuel Vetch Bayard went to Annapolis County where he established a
large estate at Wilmot. Captain John Howard went to Saint John and then to Quaco where the
Crown had set aside land for the King’s Orange Rangers. He eventually ended in Hampton, New
Brunswick where he is buried in the Anglican Churchyard. A few went to Prince Edward Island
where three are listed as receiving provisions in 1784 108 and another few went to
Passamaquoddy Bay in New Brunswick. Some sought a new start in what today is the Bay of
Quinte Region, Ontario. Among these were:
1. Matthew Benson, enlisted 20 Nov. 1777, mustered at Paulus Hook 28 Aug.
1777,Captain Lawrence VanBuskirk's Company
2. Sgt. James (Jacobus) Demorest enlisted 11 Dec. 1776 mustered at Paulus Hook
28Aug.1777 Captain Andrew Barclay's Company
3. Sgt. Peter Frederick, enlisted?, mustered Oct. 1777 Captain Andrew Barclay's Company
4. James Johnson, enlisted?, mustered? Oct.1777 Captain Lawrence VanBuskirk's Company
103
The Loyal Americans, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa
104
Headquarters, Halifax Orderly Book, 20 April-26 September 1783, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester,
Massachusetts.
105
British Army HQ MG 12 HQ 1-2 Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia P. 91
106
Ibid. P.99
107
Ibid.
108
Op. Cit. The Loyal Americans
King’s Orange Rangers