Black Refugees (War of 1812)

The Black Refugees were Africans who escaped American slavery in the War of 1812 and who settled in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Trinidad, though the term is generally used only for those settled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They were the largest part of migration of African Americans who sought freedom in the War of 1812. Those from the Gulf Coast settled in Trinidad in 1815, and those who bore arms for the British in the second Corps of Colonial Marines settled in Trinidad in 1816 where they became the Merikins. The Black Refugees were the second group of African Americans, after the Black Loyalists, to flee American enslavement in wartime and settle in Canada and they form the most significant immigration source for today's African Nova Scotian communities.

During 1813, Vice Admiral Warren was ordered to receive aboard his ships any blacks who might petition him for assistance. These he was to receive as free men, not as slaves, and send them to any of several of His Majesty's colonies. Captain Robert Barrie of HMS Dragon reported to Admiral Warren 'there is no doubt but the blacks of Virginia and Maryland would cheerfully take up arms and join us against the Americans.' By the time that the Admiralty received the report, they had already decided to order Warren's successor, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, to encourage emigration.

As with the precedents of with Lord Dunmore's Proclamation of November 7, 1775 and the Philipsburg Proclamation, Cochrane issued a Proclamation in partial implementation of instructions from his superiors in which he made no mention of slaves although he presumed it would be read as encouraging them to join the British:

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