The State of Nova Scotia

This idea has been in my head for several months now, and probably before that even, and I've finally managed to sit down and start really thinking about it. This timeline explores the possibilities of what may have happened had Nova Scotia sent delegates to the Continental Congresses, and later became a state.
As a fore note, excuse the writing style, I'm not much of a story teller, so it will likely read like a textbook. Sorry!
Anyway, comments, suggestions, nitpicks, or whatever you have to offer, are all welcome.

Origins of the American Revolution
1760-1776

The true beginning of the revolution can be said to have begun as the French-Indian War ended. With the French military threat gone, Britain adopted the view that colonies should pay a substantial sum to remain a part of the British Empire. As a series of taxes and other laws were imposed, many Colonial Englishmen felt that the taxes violated their rights as Englishmen, because they had no representation in London.
Beginning with so-called Committees of Correspondence, many colonies developed unofficial Provincial Congresses, as a means of relaying and discussing news and ideas. This development would eventually lead to a further Continental Congress in a few years' time.
Combined with the classical ideas of republicanism, grievances against the British government in London culminated with the Declaration of American Independence in 1776, written at the Second Continental Congress. However, fighting had already begun, notably with the protests in Boston, Massachusetts. This marks the beginning of the War of American Independence, or the Revolutionary War.

The Revolution
1776-1783

In March of 1776, forces led by George Washington expelled the British from the colonies, who declared their independence that July. The new nation was free, but the war was not near over. The newly formed Continental Army, on paper a regular military force, would prove to be a constant work-in-progress for General Washington, who was chosen to lead the Patriot cause as Commander-in-Chief.
In August, the British and the Continental Armies faced off at the Battle of Long Island. New York City, and nearly Washington's life, was seized by the British, who easily defeated the poorly trained and armed patriot army. Washington and his Continental Army were chased through New Jersey, until reaching Pennsylvania in December.
Washington then took the offensive, crossing the Delaware river and surprising the British at the Battle of Trenton on Christmas day. Another success at Princeton, on January 7th, provided new hope for the Patriot cause. The Continental Army at this point had dwindled to a mere 1,400 men, although these victories would convince more men to join the fight.
A failed British Attempt to take Charleston, South Carolina, further exemplified the Patriot cause. After the Battle of Saratoga, a decisive victory for the Americans in New York, the war appeared to be turning in favor of the Americans.
For much of 1777, the British under General Howe, focused on capturing the seat of the Revolutionary government in Philadelphia. Despite maneuvering by Washington, the Continental Congress abandoned the city ahead of the British Army, who took the city on September 11th.
Philadelphia captured, Washington encamped his Army at Valley Forge for the next 6 months. In the spring of 1778, the Continental Army emerged in good condition. Under supervision of Baron von Steuben, the Army was introduced to modern Prussian tactics and organization. By now, the French had learned of the victory at Saratoga, and were prepared to enter the war. The chief target for the French becomes the British naval station in Rhode Island and later the French-speaking Quebec, whom the Americans were eager to convince to join the Revolution. It appeared that Canada would be the next point of contention in the war. While the naval superiority of the British prevents Newport from being taken, French forces were reorganized as the Canadian campaign opened. With the French moving into Quebec from the East, and the Americans from the South, the British were caught fighting against two fronts, in addition, growing local support for the Revolution made things rough for the British in every aspect.
What remained of the British Army in America was focused in New York. On December 29th, a British expeditionary force captured Savannah, Georgia. In early June, 1779, Quebec City was captured by American forces, effectively ending British rule in Canada. An attempt to recapture Savannah failed the next October, and British forces moved on to besiege Charleston, South Carolina, capturing it May 12, 1780. Over the course of the year, American military activity in the South collapsed as North Carolina was forfeited and Virginia became a contest.

By now, the Americans had garnered support from other European powers. Britain was fighting simultaneously, America, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. King George III was frustrated at the situation. New England and Pennsylvania seemed unconquerable, and colonial assets in Florida, the Caribbean and India were being contested by European powers. The availability of British forces in America was becoming more and more an issue.
On August 2nd, the British naval station in Newport, Rhode Island was surrendered. On February 3, 1782, the British position at New York was surrendered to Franco-American forces. By June, support for the war in Britain was non-existent and preliminary peace terms were prepared in Paris. The Treaty of Paris, which formally ended all conflict was signed on August 14, 1783. The last British troops left New Jersey in November. According to the terms of the treaty, Britain surrendered claims to the colonies of Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Georgia, ceded territory West of the Appalachian Mountains, and Canada to the United States, and ceded East and West Florida to Spain.

AUSA_1776N.PNG
 
Here's the timeline thus far:

1775
April 19 – First armed conflict of the Revolutionary War takes place as colonial militiamen defeat British forces at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.
May 10 -American forces led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold capture Fort Ticonderoga in New York, securing military supplies and cannons.
June 17 – The siege of Boston becomes a standoff after the British capture the Charlestown Peninsula at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
July 3 – Washington arrives outside Boston to command the siege there.
July 5 – The Continental Congress drafts the Olive Branch Petition, expressing hopes for reconciliation.
August – King George III refuses reconciliation and issues a Proclamation of Rebellion.
November 28 – The Continental Congress approves the construction of a navy.
1776
January 9 – Thomas Paine publishes “Common Sense”.
March 17 - British forces flee Boston as heavy cannons are used by the Americans to end the siege. The Continental Army begins it's move to fortify New York..
June 28 – British forces fail to take the port city of Charleston, South Carolina.
July 4 – The Continental Congress adopts Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.
August 27 – General Howe deploys British forces to New York City. The Battle of Long Island, the largest of the war, ensues.
September 11 – John Adams and Benjamin Franklin meet with General Howe in a failed peace conference.
September 15 – New York City is taken by British forces under General Howe.
December 11- Philadelphia is abandoned due to fears of a British attack.
December 26 – General Washington captures 1,000 Hessians at the Battle of Trenton.
1777
January 7 – General Washington defeats British forces led by General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton, who retreat to New York City.
June 14 - The flag of the United States is mandated by the Continental Congress.
July 27 – The Marquis de Lafayette arrives in Philadelphia.
September 26 – The British, under General Howe, occupy Philadelphia.
October 7 – The first decisive American victory occurs at the Battle of Saratoga as Generals Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold defeat General Burgoyne.
November 17 – The Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation as the government of the newly united States of America.
1778
February 6 – The Treaty of Alliance confirms France's support for America.
February 28 – Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge to help organize the Continental Army.
March 16 – The Continental Congress rejects a peace offer sans-independence offered by the British.
June 18 – Fearing a blockade by French naval forces, General Clinton returns his troops to New York. Philadelphia is reoccupied by American forces.
July 10 – France declares war on Britain
August 8 – Franco-American forces are repelled at the Battle of New York, an eager attempt to undermine British naval superiority.
August 21 – French forces take Louisborg, the chief British naval base in Canada.
September 14 – Benjamin Franklin is appointed to be the ambassador to the French.
December 29 – British forces begin the South Campaign with the capture of Savannah, Georgia.
1779
June 16 – Spain declares war on Britain, but does not provide support for America directly.
June 20 – American forces led by General Benedict Arnold capture Quebec City. The British begin their retreat from Canada.
September 27 – John Adams is appointed by congress to negotiate peace with Britain.
1780
May 12 – General Clinton's forces capture Charleston, South Carolina, America's chief port in the South.
May 25 – An attempted mutiny against General George Washington is put down by Pennsylvania militiamen.
October 11 – General Cornwallis begins his march into North Carolina. Benedict Arnold replaces Horatio Gates as Commander in the South, and begins his campaign against Cornwallis.
December 1 – General Arnold's forces are defeated at the Battle of Cowan's Ford.
1781
January 7 – Several regiments of the Continental Army threaten to mutiny and demand payment from General Washington, in what becomes known as the New Jersey Mutiny. About half of the Army leaves after not receiving pay.
January 18 – American resistance in the South is eliminated in the Battle of Fayetteville, as General Cornwallis defeats General Arnold, who is captured.
March 5 – Marquis de Lafayette and Baron von Steuben are placed in charge of the defense of Virginia against General Cornwallis's force.
May 21 – Washington convinces the French to aid in an assault against New York.
August 14 – Washington changes plans abruptly and organizes an attack on Yorktown, where Cornwallis has made base.
September 28 – Washington, Lafayette, Arnold, and von Steuben begin the siege on Yorktown, while the French bombard the city from sea.
October 24 – A victory at Yorktown for the Americans ends Cornwallis' campaign in the South.
October 30 – British forces retake Philadelphia with reinforcements originally intended for Cornwallis in Virginia.
1782
April 12 – General Nathaniel Greene routes British forces from Philadelphia.
June 11- General Washington arrives in Philadelphia and begins redrawing plans for a siege against New York
June 20 – British forces in the South are driven back to Charleston, South Carolina by General Arnold and Baron von Steuben.
August 27 – A combined land-sea siege of New York begins, led by General Washington.
December 15 – Washington grants British forces besieged in New York a chance to evacuate, which is not taken.
1783
February 3 – New York is surrendered by General Clinton.
March 10 – John Adams appeals to the British to end the war. A reluctant agreement yields Britain ordering an end to hostilities.
June 1 – British forces evacuate Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia.
June 3 – The Continental Congress officially declares the end of the war.
August 14 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the Revolutionary War and granting the United States independence.
 
So, does the U.S. have 14 Stripes on the flag now?
Well, it actually has 15 stripes, since there's Quebec in as well. Of course, as in OTL, it will probably revert to 14 at some point.

(Especially if Quebec causes problems... that's not a spoiler at all)
 
Well, I don't know that much about the American Revolution, so most of it looks fine. Just:

GAAAAAH! Halifax was the big British naval base! Louisburg was a burned-out field-salted shell of a wreck of a ruin! Halifax! Everybody say it with me! Halifax!

...We now return to our regularly scheduled timeline. :eek:
 
Yeah, I agree, in this TL, the British are'nt able to use Halifax, a major disadvantage. In the original draft of this TL, Nova Scotia remained in British hands throughout the entirity of the war, only becoming 'liberated' upon recognition of the independence of the USA. If I were to do that though, the whole Quebec expedition would be lost.
 
Yeah, I agree, in this TL, the British are'nt able to use Halifax, a major disadvantage. In the original draft of this TL, Nova Scotia remained in British hands throughout the entirity of the war, only becoming 'liberated' upon recognition of the independence of the USA. If I were to do that though, the whole Quebec expedition would be lost.

Sorry... I'm still confused... neither the article nor the TL uses the word Halifax anywhere. What happened to it?
 
Sorry... I'm still confused... neither the article nor the TL uses the word Halifax anywhere. What happened to it?

Your right actually, this may be an area I'll need to amend or even completely change.
As it is now, Halifax plays no role. I can see two distinct possibilities though, 1) The British attempt to take Halifax, but are repelled by Patriots (not terribly likely, and even then, the British would give it another go) and 2) The British take Halifax early on and there use it throughout the war.
For now, New York and Louisborg supplement what Halifax would have been.

EDIT: also, I just remembered this, the French are not too happy at the Americans right now. The Treaty of Paris, between Britain and the US was signed without consulting the French. As in OTL, the only thing that kept the French from becoming pushy about this was Ben Franklin's soothing words. However, once they learn that Quebec is going to America and not France, we may see a little hostile action later on.
 
Your right actually, this may be an area I'll need to amend or even completely change.
As it is now, Halifax plays no role. I can see two distinct possibilities though, 1) The British attempt to take Halifax, but are repelled by Patriots (not terribly likely, and even then, the British would give it another go) and 2) The British take Halifax early on and there use it throughout the war.
For now, New York and Louisborg supplement what Halifax would have been.

EDIT: also, I just remembered this, the French are not too happy at the Americans right now. The Treaty of Paris, between Britain and the US was signed without consulting the French. As in OTL, the only thing that kept the French from becoming pushy about this was Ben Franklin's soothing words. However, once they learn that Quebec is going to America and not France, we may see a little hostile action later on.


Oh, OK, that makes sense now. The POD is that Nova Scotia rose up like the other colonies?

...Although, Halifax was Britain's naval base in a way that Boston or New York or Norfolk wasn't. It had the biggest, best fortress between Havana and Lisbon. Assuming the British lost the Citadael (which, in itself, is unlikely: they would hang onto it like mad bastards, the colonials have no artillery, and the garrison would try to retake the rest of the city the moment they got reinforced) their subsequent efforts in the north would all go into retaking Halifax, not trying to build a naval base essentially from scratch at Louisburg.

Still, looks pretty good. We don't have enough 14-colony TLs. (Probably because of angry Canadaian Britophiles like me. :rolleyes:)
 
What happened to all the United Empire Loyalists?

In OTL they mostly fled to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Upper Canada. And there were quite a few of them.
 
M'kay, I want this TL to be as realistic as possible whilst still making things fun as well as get people to say "wow, I wonder what else could have happened..."

So, what if Britain either retains Halifax and it's important naval base or retakes it early in the war? Could the Americans still have held the rest of Nova Scotia (either the island and mainland or just mainland)? Basically, I want America to get Quebec with the aid of the French, other than that, just about anything else goes.
 
M'kay, I want this TL to be as realistic as possible whilst still making things fun as well as get people to say "wow, I wonder what else could have happened..."

So, what if Britain either retains Halifax and it's important naval base or retakes it early in the war? Could the Americans still have held the rest of Nova Scotia (either the island and mainland or just mainland)? Basically, I want America to get Quebec with the aid of the French, other than that, just about anything else goes.

Well, if you have NS go all pro-independence sentiment, you could probably have Halifax citadel held by the brits and the rest of the colony doing the usual Loyalist/Patriot civil war. The Brits would probably recapture Halifax, somewhat like New York or Boston, say, but even so they'd only be as well off as in OTL (and probably worse, given the fact that this has to draw troops away from the other theaters).

The best time to capture Quebec, IMO, is actually 1775, with Arnold's attack. IOTL he was forced into a ridiculously foolish New Year's Eve assault in a snowstorm, because all his troop's enlistments wore off in the new year. But Montgomery (IIRC) had already captured Montreal at that point, and, given that 1775 is going to be the high point of any Halifax uprising, the ability of the Brits to retake the St Lawrence is going to be severely restricted.

So, my best case would be, NS is pro-American and (secondary POD) Arnold sets off for Canada a couple of weeks earlier, with better supply. I'm not sure about the peace treaty, though; Britain would lose Quebec and probably modern-day NB, but if the brits have done even remotely well in Halifax they'll probably try to hold on to modern-day NS. If they do, you might see a huge loyalist poulation boom.
 
At the time, we were pro-revolution, but it all rumbles back to Halifax, as that was the only real reason you'd want to take Halifax. Mind as much as we were for revolting, there was no centre to get us to organize a revolutionary regiment, as the only centre was Halifax... with the citadel.

You're right about the loyalty boom, as if the Continentals lose a land battle then they're stranded in a land not too happy to have the looser there. In order for the US to take NS they'd have to win outside Halifax. That's the fat cap.

It's a good time line and I wonder about it too. We'd end up like Mass. and Halifax would be as big as Boston, as it's closer to Europe. We'd have an NHL team by then I bet.
 
You make a very quick jump from 1763 to 1775, and I'm not sure what's different in Nova Scotia & St. John (later called P.E.I.) from OTL to incite them to join the revolution. Your story is interesting (as I'm working from the same POD currently shameless plug for my thread; comments/suggestions invited:D) and I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it. I like your map. It's clean and very easy to read. One nit though, Pennsylvania's border wasn't squared off like you have it so early in OTL.

Here's an alternate Nova Scotia flag I've created. Feel free to use it if you'd like:

Nova Scotia.gif
 
Well, if you have NS go all pro-independence sentiment, you could probably have Halifax citadel held by the brits and the rest of the colony doing the usual Loyalist/Patriot civil war. The Brits would probably recapture Halifax, somewhat like New York or Boston, say, but even so they'd only be as well off as in OTL (and probably worse, given the fact that this has to draw troops away from the other theaters).

The best time to capture Quebec, IMO, is actually 1775, with Arnold's attack. IOTL he was forced into a ridiculously foolish New Year's Eve assault in a snowstorm, because all his troop's enlistments wore off in the new year. But Montgomery (IIRC) had already captured Montreal at that point, and, given that 1775 is going to be the high point of any Halifax uprising, the ability of the Brits to retake the St Lawrence is going to be severely restricted.

At the time, we were pro-revolution, but it all rumbles back to Halifax, as that was the only real reason you'd want to take Halifax. Mind as much as we were for revolting, there was no centre to get us to organize a revolutionary regiment, as the only centre was Halifax... with the citadel.

You're right about the loyalty boom, as if the Continentals lose a land battle then they're stranded in a land not too happy to have the looser there. In order for the US to take NS they'd have to win outside Halifax. That's the fat cap.

Okay, so we're looking at a population that is fairly pro-revolution, but with no sense of organized rebellion against the British. Halifax would be, from the beginning, easily in British hands. Thus, Nova Scotia itself will likely remain British throughout the war. A victory or two for the patriots in the area though should keep revolutionary spirits alive, but Halifax itself is untouchable.
And... Quebec is better off taken early as attempted in OTL. I was thinking that, with Nova Scotian support, trying to convince the Quebecois would be running a little smoother, thus negating the need to take Canada by force. Thoughts?
All things considered, I've got some amendatory writing to do.

Your story is interesting (as I'm working from the same POD currently shameless plug for my thread; comments/suggestions invited:D) and I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it.
Wow, believe it or not, I was not aware that there was another TL with a similar POD. It did'nt take me long to find it, being on the front page and all. It seems very interesting, I hope to see what becomes of both our TLs.
 
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