7. The Citadel
1 sound
IMPORTANT: During the COVID19 pandemic, please adhere to all public regulations regarding social distancing, and stay out of closed areas, including public parks and national sites such as the Halifax Citadel. Users are responsible for remaining up to date on the latest closures and restrictions. Please stay safe.
Lieutenant Harrison’s personal narrative can be found in the Archibald MacMechan fonds, #133 MG1 vol 2124, Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and can also be read about in Archibald MacMechan’s official history, Archibald MacMechan, The Halifax Explosion, December 6th, 1917. (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1978).
“Soldiers of various regiments were distributed among these points [forts on the islands and along the coastline manning long-range guns], and had to be recalled, transported to the city, equipped and set to work. This was done by means of three duty boats, small steamers which ply up and down the harbour.” (See: Archibald MacMechan, The Halifax Explosion, December 6th, 1917. (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1978), p.33.)
Today there are approximately 2000 native Canadian Gaelic speakers in Nova Scotia, mostly in Cape Breton. Soldiers in the 25th Battalion who came from Sydney and Glace Bay were said to speak Gaelic.
The song Isaac sings, Chi mi na morbheanna, was written in 1856 by John Cameron. It is known in English as “The Mist-Covered Mountains of Home.” The lyrics translate to:
O, see, see I the great mountains. O, see, see I the great mountains. Oh, see, see I the corries, I see them all shrouded in mist.”
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While the events depicted in this walk are true, and we have endeavoured to represent them as factually as possible, it is important to note that the characters are fictional. As such, small details about their personal lives may not be accurate. These characters have been created from the remembrances of real people, and drawn from the communities present in Halifax in December of 1917.
