{{Short description|Black Loyalist commander of the American Revolutionary War}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Stephen Blucke | honorific_suffix = | image = | caption = Stephen Blucke, a Black Loyalist, in the service of the British Army | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{circa|1752}} | birth_place = Barbados, British Empire | death_date = after 1796 | death_place = British Canada, British Empire | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | monuments = | years_active = 1777–1792 | occupation = soldier and teacher | known_for = | title = Colonel | term = | other_names = | children = Isabel Gibbons | parents = | relatives = | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | allegiance = {{Flag|Kingdom of Great Britain}} | branch = {{army|United Kingdom}} | service_years = 1775–1783 | rank = Colonel (honorary rank) | battles = American Revolutionary War *Raids in Monmouth County, Province of New Jersey (1779-1780) | commands = Black Company of Pioneers (1777-1780) and Black Brigade (1780-1783) }} | spouse = Margaret Coventry | partner = | signature = Stephen Blucke Signature, Nova Scotia.png }}

'''Stephen Blucke''' or '''Stephen Bluck''' (born {{circa|1752}}–after 1796) was a Black Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War and one the commanding officers of the British Loyalist provincial unit, the Black Company of Pioneers.<ref name="Brown">{{cite book |title=The good Americans: the loyalists in the American Revolution |url=https://archive.org/details/goodamericansl00brow_0 |url-access=registration |last=Brown |first=Wallace |page=[https://archive.org/details/goodamericansl00brow_0/page/203 203] |year=1969 |publisher=William Morrow and Company }}</ref> He was one of 3,000 people who left New York for Nova Scotia on British ships. He settled in a town designed for African-Americans, Birchtown, Nova Scotia. He was a leader in the town, called a magistrate and commissioned as lieutenant colonel of the Black Militia of the greater Shelburne district by Governor John Parr. He worked with a surveyor to identify the area that would become Birchtown and was involved in coordinating labour for roads and other public works. He lived the life of a middle-class person while his neighbors lived a life of poverty. He had a substantial well-built house, while most people lived in simple housing. He was a go-between for employment of some of the townspeople in labor or similar jobs.

When Blucke arrived in Birchtown, he was a married man with an adopted daughter and a man servant. Within a few years, he developed a relationship with the adopted daughter and his wife moved back to New York. He later had a daughter with his adopted daughter, Isabel, who took his surname. Birchtown's population decreased significantly when many of the townspeople left for Sierra Leone in 1792. Once a schoolteacher, he closed the school after several years because there were so few students. He left Birchtown quietly about 1796 or 1797.

==Early and personal life==

Stephen Blucke, born about 1752,<ref name="BON" /> was a literate mulatto, the son of a black mother and a white father from Barbados.<ref name="BL - Blucke" /> After he came to the colonies he made his way to New Jersey, where he became acquainted with Stephen Skinner, later a prominent citizen of Port Roseway. Blucke fought with the British against the rebelling colonists.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|15}}

He married Margaret, born about 1743, a black woman who had been born free in the household of Mrs. Coventry in New York.<ref name="BON" /><ref name="BL - Blucke" /> She also purchased her own freedom when she was 14 years of age. Most of her family were free and financially comfortable.<ref name="NSM">{{Cite web |url=https://novascotia.ca/museum/blackloyalists/17751800/people1775/blucke.htm |title=Margaret and Stephen Blucke |website=Nova Scotia Museum |access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref> Margaret purchased Isabel Gibbons from Mrs. Coventry's daughter to free her and she became Stephen and Margaret's adopted daughter. Isabel was born about 1763.<ref name="BON">{{Cite web |url=http://blackloyalist.com/cdc/documents/official/black_loyalist_directory2.htm |title=Book of Negroes - Book One Part Two |website=Black Loyalist, Canada's Digital Collection |access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref><ref name="BL - Blucke">{{Cite web |url=http://blackloyalist.com/cdc/people/secular/blucke.htm |title=Stephen Blucke |website=Black Loyalist, Canada's Digital Collections |access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref> Living in the Birchtown, Nova Scotia household in 1784 were Stephen, Margaret, Isabel, Richard Wilkinson, and William Monday. There were nine other households in Blucke's Company.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blackloyalist.com/cdc/documents/official/colonel_bluckes_company.htm |title=Blucke's Company |website=Black Loyalist, Canada's Digital Collection |access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref> Richard Wilkinson what Blucke's servant who may have traveled with them from New York.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|16}} Blucke's mother came to live with him in Birchtown by 1789.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|16}}

While in Birchtown, Nova Scotia, Blucke became involved with Isabel. Margaret left her husband around 1788 and moved to New York.<ref name="BL - Blucke" /> Margaret wrote to Rev. Mr. John Marrant, a free black minister who was often in Birchtown,<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|19}}<ref name="Letter to Marrant" /> from New York asking for information about Isabel, who she called a "poor unhappy girl" and asked whether Isabel could be removed from Blucke's household, optimally to Boston. She had previously written to Blucke to let her leave him, without a favorable response.<ref name="Letter to Marrant" />{{efn|Margaret lived at 40 Smith's Street in New York, perhaps near her sister, who was Peter Gray's mother. Peter seemed to live in the Birchtown area.<ref name="Letter to Marrant">{{Cite web |url=http://blackloyalist.com/cdc/documents/letters/mrs_blucke_to_marrant.htm |title=Letter: Margaret Blucke Leaves Stephen |website=Black Loyalist, Canada's Digital Collection |access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref>}} In 1788, Blucke had also become unpopular because it was believed that he misappropriated funds.<ref name="Ito" /> Stephen and Isabel had a daughter, Frances<ref name="NSM" /> by April 21, 1796, when Frances was baptized at the Anglican Church and Isabel took Blucke's surname.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|16}}

==American Revolutionary war== During the American Revolution, Black Loyalist and guerrilla leader Colonel Tye died in 1780 and Stephen Blucke was given the honorary rank of "Colonel" and took command, of another Black Loyalist unit, a group of military associators, known as the infamous Black Brigade, until the end of the war.<ref name="war">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=arI0HSFXwLkC&pg=PA420 |first=Jonathan D. |last=Sutherland |title=African Americans at War |publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2003 |pages= 420&ndash;421 |isbn=9781576077467 }}</ref>{{efn|There are no regimental records for the Black Brigade or Black Pioneers, though, that mention Blucke. But, he was known as a leader of the blacks who came to Nova Scotia.<ref name="BL - Blucke" />}} The Black Brigade was an elite group of guerillas within the Black Pioneers,<ref name="Ito">{{Cite web |url=https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/blucke-colonel-stephen-1792/ |title=Stephen Blucke ( –1792) |last=Ito |first=Gail Arlene |date=November 16, 2008 |language=en-US |access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref> who were a Black Loyalist company of soldiers who worked labor detail for the British Army.<ref name="Cahill" /> At first the Black Brigade fought independently, but later fought with the Queen's Rangers, an all white group of the British Army.<ref name="Ito" /> The Black Brigade operated in Long Island, New York and in Monmouth County, New Jersey. They targeted specific people who they would kill or kidnap.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|16}} Before he left for Nova Scotia, Blucke received his certificate of freedom from General Samuel Birch.<ref name="BON" />

==Black and White Loyalists== thumb|Port Rosey, now Shelburne, today During the Revolutionary War, the British realized that they were outnumbered and promised freedom to any slaves of rebel colonists if they would serve behind their lines. Many slaves heard of the offer and about 30,000 slaves ran away from their owners to become cooks, pilots, laborers, musicians, and soldiers for the British Army.<ref name="CDC BL">{{Cite web |url=http://blackloyalist.com/cdc/index.htm |title=CDC: Black Loyalists |website=Black Loyalist, Canada's Digital Collection |access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref>

A group of white Loyalists decided to flee the United States and settle at Port Roseway (now Shelburne, Nova Scotia). They formed the Port Roseway Associates. There were 3037 people, 415 of whom were servants, when they arrived at Port Roseway in May 1783. Of those, some of the servants were slaves.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|15}}

==Nova Scotia settlement== {{main|Black Nova Scotians}} [[File:A black wood cutter at Shelburne, Nova Scotia.jpg|thumb|1788 illustration of a Black woodcutter in Shelburne, Nova Scotia]]

One of about 3,000 free or emancipated Black Loyalists eligible to go to Nova Scotia, he came to The Maritimes in British Canada<ref name="Brown" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Clarkson's mission to America 1791&ndash;1792 |last=Clarkson |first=John |page=191 |year=1971 |publisher=Public Archives of Nova Scotia }}</ref> in August 1783 aboard the ''L'Abondance.''<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|15}}<ref name="NSM" /> He first settled with several hundred Black Pioneers in Port Roseway (now Shelburne, Nova Scotia).<ref name="Brown" /> With Benjamin Marston, the chief surveyor, he identified the parcel of land to be used for the blacks. It was near a swamp and the land and the bay had sharp granite rocks. It is suggested that he may have accepted that land to avoid getting into a conflict with wealthy whites and to expedite getting settled.<ref name="BL - Blucke" /> Six companies of African Americans were formed. Each company had a captain, and they were all under the leadership of Stephen Blucke. On September 3, 1783, they began to establish themselves in what became Birchtown, Nova Scotia, named after Samuel Birch who signed the certificates for the Black Loyalists.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|15}}

Birchtown was established specifically for people of African descent<ref name="Brown" /> and its residents, including Blucke, were recorded in 1784 on the Birchtown Muster roll.<ref name="Birchtown Muster">{{Cite web |url=http://blackloyalist.com/cdc/documents/official/muster_book_free_blacks.htm |title=Muster Book of Free Blacks at Birchtown |website=Black Loyalist, Canada's Digital Collection |access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref>{{efn|His name was Colonel Bluke on the Birchtown Muster roll of 1874.<ref name="Birchtown Muster" />}} They built rough shelters that were not suitable for people from southern climates.<ref name="Ito" /> Blucke constructed the only well-built house in Birchtown. There was a four-year delay in actually getting their land, residents received up to 40 acres, while Blucke had a 200-acre lot, likely because of his role coordinating activities with white and black communities. He may have also had some savings from the Revolutionary war.<ref name="BL - Blucke" /> Although the soil in and around Birchtown was of poor quality for large-scale farming, Blucke had a substantial garden at his house.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|19}}

Blucke built a boat so that he could fish. He developed a friendship with Stephen Skinner, a local merchant, who went through Blucke to hire blacks,<ref name="BL - Blucke" /> most of whom did not receive their promised land and had to work as laborers or domestics. Some became sharecroppers.<ref name="Ito" /> Skinner may have acted as Blucke's patron.<ref name="BL - Blucke" /> There was an Anglican church in town, but to attend the church, members had to rent a pew. Blucke was the only resident who could afford to pay for the rental.<ref name="BL - Blucke" />

{{blockquote|text=Birchtown held together for eight years, despite the famine, a violent race riot, widespread poverty, and the realisation that, despite being free, African-Nova Scotians were in a desperate fight for material and political equality.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|19}}}}

Sometimes referred to as the "Birch Magistrate", he helped people petition the authorities, witnessed the sale of property, and enforced a level of justice.<ref name="BL - Blucke" /> Governor John Parr of Nova Scotia commissioned him as lieutenant-colonel of the Black Militia in the Shelburne District in September 1784.<ref name="NSM" /> Under his leadership, he ran the Black Militia, which performed public works, like building a road to Annapolis.<ref name="BL - Blucke" /> He has been referred to as "the true founder of the Afro-Nova Scotian community".<ref name="Cahill">{{cite book|first=Barry |last=Cahill |chapter=Stephen Blucke: The Perils of Being a "White Negro"|title= Loyalist Nova Scotia|publisher=Nova Scotia Historical Review |year=1999 |number=1 |page=129 }}</ref>

He became a teacher and taught at one of the Bray Schools,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jIfXqgr-3RIC&pg=PA219 Loyalists and Layabouts, p. 219, note 68]</ref> for which he received a favorable review by the inspector of schools.<ref name="BL - Blucke" /> After many of the blacks left Nova Scotia for Sierra Leone in early 1792,<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|21}} there were few students left and the schoolhouse closed in 1796.<ref name="BL - Blucke" /><ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|21}} The remaining blacks, about one fifth of the original residents, left Birchtown for other areas, as there were few jobs or prospects by staying in Birchtown.<ref name="Ito" /><ref name="CDC BL" /> In 1796 or 1797, Blucke quietly left Birchtown.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|21}}<ref name="Ito" />

==Archaeological study== From the evidence found at the site of Blucke's house, he had a comfortable and substantial house, living the life of a middle-classed person while those around him in Birchtown were living a life of poverty.<ref name="Arch study">{{cite web|title=Was This the Home of Stephen Blucke? The Excavation of AkDi-23, Birchtown, Shelburne County |first= laird |last=Niven |url=https://ojs.library.dal.ca/NSM/article/view/3901/3569 |publisher=History Section, Nova Scotia Museum, Province of Nova Scotia |accessdate=March 20, 2020}}</ref>{{rp|14}} More than 13,000 artifacts were found during the archaeological excavation in 1998. The largest group of artifacts represented kitchen items used to prepare, store, or consume food and drinks. The next biggest portion of artifacts were architectural items used in the construction of the house. There were also tobacco pipe, clothing, arms, personal goods, and items for activities from the Blucke household. There were also some pre-contact artifacts of First Nations people.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|28}} The articles are unique to other sites in Birchtown in that they are of particularly good quality, such as the quality of the kitchen ware, and the quantity of artifacts.<ref name="Arch study" />{{rp|36}}

==See also== * Deborah Squash, another Black Loyalist who lived in Birchtown, Nova Scotia

==Notes== {{Notelist}}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Black Loyalists}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blucke, Stephen}} Category:1750s births Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:Year of death unknown Category:Date of death unknown Category:Black Loyalists in the American Revolution Category:Free people of color Category:Canadian activists Category:Loyalists who settled Nova Scotia Category:18th-century Barbadian people