King’s Orange Rangers
Liverpool, Nova Scotia has a colorful re-enactment group called The King’s Orange Rangers Society. This was established in 1996 to re-create era from from December 1778 to August 1783 of Captain John Howard’s Company and encourage awareness of an interesting and largely forgotten aspect of community history. This they do by participating in local and regional events and getting together with other Nova Scotia re-enactors of the same period.
The original uniform consisted of the green coat of the Royal Provincials with orange facings which reflect the name of the corps and its roots in the old Dutch communities of New Jersey and New York. Currently, they wear the red coats later issued to most British regiments with orange facings and silver/white lace.
Originally, the regiment was raised in December 1776 by Colonel William Bayard of New York and New Jersey. He received approval from General Howe to establish the King’s Orange Rangers and drew many of early recruits from tenants on his estates in New Jersey.
The regiment saw service at King’s Bridge, Paulus Hook and raids in the vicinity of Passaic. It participated in the successful assault on Fort Washington and the capture of Fort Montgomery in 1777. However, because of insubordination, Bayard and his Regiment were sent to Nova Scotia in November 1778 to help fill the void created when the battalion of marines was returned to duties in the fleet.
The regiment remained in Nova Scotia for the duration providing garrison duty in Halifax and various companies and detachments providing a level of protection to remote settlements such as Liverpool and Lunenburg. The regiment was disbanded at the end of the war and granted lands at Quaco (now St. Martins), New Brunswick.
To learn more about the King’s Orange Rangers visit their website at: http://www.angelfire.com/ns/KingsOrangeRangers/. Additional information can be found on-line at the Loyalist Institute in the King’s Orange Rangers’ Regimental History section of this site.
[...] and his wife, Nancy, are very tied to the history of the area and participate in the King’s Orange Rangers, a re-enactment group which keeps alive the traditions of the King George era of the area. The [...]
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