One of the more interesting and all encompassing locations in Halifax is the waterfront boardwalk, known locally as The Harbourwalk. It stretches for about 1½ kilometres along the Halifax waterfront. On the harbourwalk one will find active warships, the
ONLY - Ship to serve the Royal Canadian Navy in Both World Wars, the
ONLY - Remaining Royal Canadian Navy Corvette, ferry rides across the bay, sculpture, monuments and memorials to historic persons and war veterans, the
OLDEST and LARGEST Maritime Museum in Canada, the
OLDEST - Working Clock in Canada, a
Segway Rental Business, seafood restaurants, historic sites and buildings and, of course historic markers. The historical markers tell the story of the city of Halifax and its people.
This marker recalls the Newfoundlanders, such as Andrew Bulger, who fought for Canada in the War of 1812.
One of Atlantic Canada's most significant contributions to the War of 1812 was human resources. Newfoundlanders like Andrew Bulger of the Newfoundland Regiment of Fencibie Infantry fought in some of the war's major battles. This painting depicts Bulger (near right, without hat) at the captured American Fort McKay in Wisconsin.
Image: Peter Rindisbacher (artist), Amon Carter Museum of American Art
From the marker
BULGER, ANDREW H
Soldier, office holder, and colonial administrator; b. 30 Nov. 1789 in Newfoundland, son of John Bulger and Catherine Foran; d. 2 March 1858 in Montreal.
Andrew H. Bulger was appointed ensign in the recently established Newfoundland Regiment of Fencible Infantry on 26 Oct. 1804, and within two years he received his commission as lieutenant. He served with his unit, which became the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in 1806, in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Lower Canada until the outbreak of war with the United States in 1812 when he was sent to the Niagara frontier in Upper Canada to serve under Major-General Isaac Brock*. He was present at the capture of Detroit in August 1812, and that fall he was attached to the naval force which harassed the enemy along the upper St Lawrence. He also participated in the battles of Fort George (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.) and Stoney Creek [see John Vincent*] in May and June 1813 and in the battle of Crysler’s Farm in November. As adjutant to Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall*, Bulger was with the reinforcements sent to Fort Michilimackinac (Mackinac Island, Mich.) in 1814. The force of 10 officers and some 200 men left Kingston in early February, and after a difficult winter trek by way of Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay they proceeded by boat, arriving at the fort on 18 May. The repulse of an American attack on 4 August, coupled with the daring capture of the American schooners Tigress and Scorpion in early September, ensured British supremacy on the upper Great Lakes for the duration of the war. Bulger was prominent in both of these engagements and was slightly wounded during the boarding of the Tigress.
In October Bulger, with the local rank of captain, was appointed commandant of Fort McKay, at Prairie du Chien (Wis.) on the upper Mississippi River, an American fort captured in July by William McKay*, commander of the Michigan Fencibles, a provincial corps. The situation at Fort McKay was both dangerous and delicate, but through determined leadership Bulger preserved the security of the 200 French Canadian inhabitants of the area and maintained the Indians’ allegiance to the British flag. In early January 1815 he suppressed a near mutiny among the Michigan Fencibles, stationed at the fort, by convening a general court martial and having the three worst offenders summarily flogged.
From the Biographi Canada