The Black Brigade Leader Who Founded a Town in Canada
Stephen Blucke (circa 1752 – circa 1795) took over the Black Brigade after Colonel Tye’s death in 1780, and successfully led it through the end of the war. Born in Barbados to a white father and a black mother sometime around 1752, he eventually arrived in Britain’s American Colonies. There, he married a woman named Margaret, and the couple adopted a daughter, Isabel. When the Revolutionary War erupted, Blucke was swayed by British promises to free all negroes who voluntarily joined them. He joined the Black Brigade in the late 1770s, and distinguished himself in its ranks. In 1782, he led the unit after the death of its leader, Colonel Tye. On March 24th, 1782, Blucke and his men completed Tye’s final (and failed) mission, and took part in the capture of Joshua Huddy.
The Loyalists finally avenged themselves on Huddy by hanging him in the Navesink Highlands in Monmouth County, NJ, on April 12th, 1782. After the war, Blucke joined the exodus of Loyalists, and ended up in Nova Scotia. There, in 1784, the governor commissioned him a lieutenant colonel in the province’s black militia. Blucke was also directed to scout for land in which to settle fellow Black Loyalists, and decided on Birchtown. There, he built himself a comfortable and spacious home, and took up a career as a schoolmaster. Then, one night, he simply disappeared. It was speculated at the time that he must have been killed by wild animals, as torn clothes resembling his were found in the town’s outskirts.