SAINT JOHN COUNTY

The County Outside the City of Saint John

Prince of Wales American Regiment
Highway #1, Village of Prince of Wales

Loyalist Lieutenant Colonel Gabiel DeVeber settled with his large family outside Saint John and named the community after his Loyalist regiment. The Prince of Wales American Regiment was raised in 1776 in New York. It saw participated in the Danbury Raid, the defence of Rhode Island and in the Southern Campaign, suffering heavy losses at the Battle of Hanging Rock. It was disbanded in New Brunswick after the war in 1783.

The Duke of Kent's Visual Telegraph
Southwestern New Brunswick

In 1794 Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III, was the Commander of Halifax. An innovative officer, he recognized the value of rapid communication for an effective defence and developed an improved signalling system between the various defensive works around the harbour. In 1799, when he was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of British North America, he set about extending his communication system throughout Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. His system required the building of signal stations on high ground, every seven to eight miles, manned by six signallers. In New Brunswick the system was focussed on Saint John. Stations were located at Point Lepreau and Wolf to report on movement up the Bay of Fundy and nine stations were built to connect with Fredericton. It is believed that stations were built at the Eagle's Nest near Evandale, on Bald Mountain in Queen's County and at Telegraph Hill on the Kingston Peninsula between Milkish Creek and the St John River . The up-keep of this system was expensive, and with the departure of the Duke of Kent and the end of the Napoleonic Wars, it was abandoned.

Grave of An Unknown Soldier

Belding Cemetery, located in Thompson Marsh Preserve, Little Dipper Harbour

Black Refugees from the War of 1812
Willow Grove, east of Loch Lomond on Highway #111

During the British occupation of the Chesapeake Bay area in the War of 1812, the British military offered freedom to any slave who fled his American master. Over 300 Black refugees who took up this offer and fled slavery in Virginia and Maryland, arrived on board HMS Regulus in Saint John Harbour on 25 May 25 1815. After considerable delay and hardship, these refugees were eventually given land at Willow Grove.

Camp Torryburn
Kennebecasis Park, Highway #100, east of Saint John

There was a military camp used by the British cavalry in the area of the race track in Kennebecasis Park at Torryburn. Later it was used by the local militia. In July 1866 the Governor of New Brunswick, Arthur Gordon visited Camp Torryburn to review the troop at a Camp of Instruction.

German Espionage Activity in World War Two
St Martins

On May 12^th, 1942 the German submarine U-213 entered the Bay of Fundy with a "Leutnant Langbein" on board. Langbein was a trained spy, who was equipped with a guise of a German naval officer, false Canadian identity, a portable transmitter-receiver, civilian cloths and a substantial amount of money. During the night of 13/14 May, Langbein was landed on Melvin's Beach, east of St Martins. He buried his naval uniform and the radio, then began the 2 ½ hour walk to St Martins. Although Langbein eventually made his way to Saint John, Moncton, Montreal and Ottawa, he was never detected; however, nor did he undertake any espionage. When his money ran out in November 1944, he surrendered to Canadian authorities.

World War Two American Landing Ships

Musquash, off Highway #1

Two abandoned hulks beached in the Musquash Estuary west of the City of Saint John, and a third submerged in the middle of the estuary, have been identified by Darren McCabe, an amateur New Brunswick historian, as American naval craft from World War Two. One of the beached craft is Landing Ship Medium (LSM) #56, which was involved in the assault and occupation of the Island of Okinawa in 1945. These landing craft were originally 62 meters in length. They were sold after the war and by 1947 were purchased by Charles N. Wilson, who owned a tugboat company and dry dock in Saint John. They were used to transport logs between New Brunswick and Maine. It is not known when they were abandoned at Musquash.