Deadman's Island Memorial - Halifax, NS
N 44° 38.094 W 063° 36.667
20T E 451529 N 4942575
Originally Target Hill, this spot was used to bury American POWs during the War of 1812 and during the 19th century it became known as Deadman's Island. The memorial was created in 2005.
Waymark Code: WMGC79
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Date Posted: 02/13/2013
Views: 5
The memorial lists all of the men known to be buried here with the legend:
"These men died in captivity while serving the United States of America on land and sea during the War of 1812. They lie in unmarked graves here on Deadman's Island."
From the informational sign "The Story of Target Hill":
"Target Hill: 1803-1816
At the time of the establishment of Melville Island Prison, the small hill to its south, called Target Hill, had been used by naval ships for gunnery practice. The first references to Target Hill being used for burials of those who died while confined to Melville Island Prison comes from privateer Benjamin Palmer's Journal:
26 May 1814
"Captain Latham obtained a parole today, being unwell he has been in the hospital ever since he has been here. Two persons have been taken to Target Hill this week."
4 June 1814
"Three of the principal officers of the Diamede came in this day-4 Prisoners caried [sic] to Target Hill this morning a place where they bury the Dead-I'm fearful a number of us will visit that place this Summer, if not shortly released."
Although not by Palmer, his Journal has some bitter doggerel, eight lines of which read:
Go view the graves which prisoners fill
Go count them on the rising hill
No monumental marble shows
Whose silent dust does there repose-
Save that the papal cross is plac'd
Next to the graves where papest [papists] rest
All sleep unknown; their bodies not
By all, save distant friends forgot
Palmer's reference to what must have been wooden crosses placed on Roman Catholic graves is contemporary evidence of French prisoners of war being buried on Deadman's Island...
The first American death was recorded on 10 August 1812 and the last on 30 March 1815. Of 8148 Americans imprisoned on Melville Island, 188 died while there and would have been buried on Target Hill..."
From the informational sign "The Story of Deadman's Island":
"Target Hill Becomes Deadman's Island
When Thomas Chandler Haliburton described Melville Island in his "Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia in 1829, he wrote that:
on a small hill to the southward is the burying ground belonging to the establishment. It is now no longer to be distinguished from the surrounding woods, but by the mounds of earth which have been placed over the dead; the whole being covered with a thick shrubbery of forest trees.
Haliburton did not name the island, but at some point in the 19th century, Deadman's Island began to be used to describe what had formerly been known as Target Hill...
Acommemorative Memorial For Deadman's Island
Much of the credit for action on protecting the site rests with the Norwest Arm Heritage Association and the Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Ohio. In the United States, the discovery of the unmarked graves of Americans who had died while prisoners of war on Melville Island became a matter of interest. The Society of the War of 1812 proposed that a memorial be erected on Deadman's Island. The Ohio Sons of the American Revolution, the Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, and the American Legion supported this effort.
In Canada, the Royal Canadian Legion took up the cause. A Committee of the Halifax Regional Municipal Council was struck to advise on means to support the American interest to erect a memorial. The United States Department of Veteran Affairs, through its Memorial Programs Service, agreed to supply a Group Memorial monument. At a service on 30 May 2005, Memorial Day in the United States, a Commemorative Ceremony was held on Deadman's Island for the unveiling of the Memorial inscribed with the names of 195 Americans who died while prisoners of war in Halifax, of whom 188 were buried on Deadman's Island."
Date Erected/Dedicated: 30 May 2005
Who put it there? Private/Government?: joint effort of US and Canadian governments and veterans organizations
Location/Address:
24 Pinehaven Drive
Halifax, NS Canada
B3P 2B3
County/Province: Halifax
Website (related) if available: [Web Link]
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Photos Will Be Uploaded: yes
Hours or Restrictions if Appropiate: Not listed
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