1812 ladies

War of 1812

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“In the War of 1812, several United States naval officers were taken prisoners and sent to Halifax for safe keeping. They were generally quartered on the eastern side of the harbor, and those of them who were on parole were lodged in the farmhouses in or near Preston and Dartmouth.
They were allowed perfect liberty of action, except in the matter of crossing the ferry to Halifax, the town being the only point from which they could hope to escape.
They were all quiet, gentlemanlike men, and were cordially entertained and much liked by the farmers and their families, and they were not slow in making love to the girls, in some cases engaging to marry them.
Naturally, however, they chafed at their internment, and when peace was declared were glad to leave. The Preston farmers’ daughters waited in vain for them to return to marry them; the faithless foreigners never fulfilled the promises they had made “in the rosy twilight or under the glow of the inconstant moon.”

Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton. “Chapters in the history of Halifax, Nova Scotia” [n.p. 1919 https://archive.org/details/1913t19chaptersinhistor00eatouoft/mode/2up

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