HISTORIC NEW BRUNSWICK REGIMENTAL COLORS

BEING RESTORED

By STEPHEN LLEWELLYN

     llewellyn.stephen@dailygleaner.com
     01 Jun 2012 02:05PM
   
   The regimental colours of New Brunswick’s famous 104th    Regiment of Foot are being restored.

Gary Hughes, curator of history and technology at the New Brunswick Museum — which owns the 200-year-old flag — said the delicate work is being made possible by an anonymous donor.

“We’re very pleased that this is going on, that we will once again have a regimental colour that we can display,” he said in an interview Thursday.

“It’s very timely.”

The two-metre by two-metre flag is made of silk with a Union Jack in the top left corner.

In the centre is the badge of the regiment showing its number, encircled by a wreath. The main body of the flag is buff coloured, the same colour as the collar and the cuffs of the soldiers’ uniform.

Hughes said the flag is being restored in Halifax by an expert conservator.

The original strips of silk are being carefully glued to a new backing layer of silk that is a slightly different colour, he said.

“You will be able to tell what is original and what is not original,” he said.

“There’s going to a case built that is for both storage and display.”

“It never has to come out.”

The restoration work started last summer.

He said he did not know exactly how much the restoration work is costing but it would be in the thousands of dollars.

Hughes said an announcement will be made soon on when the colours will go on public display.

“It won’t be long now,” he said.

This year is the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

The 104th Regiment of Foot was raised in New Brunswick and marched 1,100 kilometres in 52 days to Kingston, Ontario to fight the invading Americans during the War of 1812.

Only one man was lost in the march and it is viewed as one of Canada’s great military efforts of organization and discipline.

Hughes said the regiment of 600 men made the gruelling march in the dead of winter in 1813 and were carrying the colours at the time.

But the flag almost didn’t survive the march even though it was carried in a protective leather case.

“In some cases where there was no shelter along the St. John River and Madawaska River they built shelters where they would dig out a circle of snow with a fairly large perimeter and then build a framework of wood and cover it with boughs of greenery with a hole in the centre for the fire smoke to come out,” said Hughes.

“In one case the colours were almost consumed by the fire.”“They rescued them at the last moment.”

Hughes said the regimental colours of a unit was very important during 19th century warfare, a lot more than a simple decoration.

“The regimental colours is really the symbol of the unit,” he said.

“It was unfurled and it was in the centre of the line.”

“At that time if you’re involved in a battle there was a lot of smoke and if you could see the colours above the smoke you know the regiment is still fighting.”

It was a rallying point for the soldiers and it made them fight hard because to lose the colours was a great disgrace, said Hughes.

The colours were carried by a junior officer and defended by a colours sergeant who was armed with a halberd, a sort of axe on a long pole, he said.

In addition to being famous for the march, the 104th Regiment of Foot was also the only regiment raised here that was also on the official British army list. That meant it could fight anywhere in the British Empire.

“It was the only one raised in Canada that had that distinction,” said Hughes.

Most British units raised in North America were called fencibles and could only serve here.

In fact, the 104th Regiment of Foot almost went to Europe to fight Napoleon, he said.

“When the Americans attacked there were second thoughts,” said Hughes.

“There weren’t many British forces here and it was desperately requested.”

The regiment fought in several famous battles including Sackets Harbour, Lundy’s Lane and Fort Erie. Most battles during the conflict involved only a few thousand men on each side so the regiment was an important military force.

After the regiment was disbanded in 1817, the colours went back to Coldstream, Scotland with Colonel Martin Hunter, who came here 1803 and raised the unit.

“They hung there until 1939 when a descendant decided to donate them to the New Brunswick Museum,” said Hughes.

The colours were on display at the museum until the 1960s when they were packed away because they were deteriorating badly, he said.