At the outbreak of the First World War, black Canadians were turned away from recruiting stations across the country. Black people in a number of provinces viewed military service in wartime not only as a right, but also as a responsibility. They were not prepared to accept a policy that excluded them on racial grounds. Under persistent pressure, the Canadian military finally authorized the recruitment of an all-black non-combatant labour unit.
Recruitment took place across Canada, but the majority of recruits came from the Maritimes, mostly from Nova Scotia. Eventually, 605 men were accepted into the battalion, including 19 officers. On March 28, 1917, the battalion boarded the SS Southland bound for Liverpool, England. They eventually reached France, where they joined the Canadian Forestry Corps. Their commander was Lt. Col. D.H. Sutherland of River John, Nova Scotia and Hon. Capt. William A. White served as their chaplain. White was the only black commissioned officer in the British forces during the First World War.
The unit served honourably in France, providing lumber necessary to maintain trenches on the front lines. Some of the members went on to serve in combat units. There were unknown and forgotten heros like James Grant, who came from St. Catharines, Ontario, and received the Military Cross in 1918. Roy Fells of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia was awarded the Military Medal while serving with the famed 25th Battalion from Nova Scotia. A black soldier, Curly Christian had the distinction of being the lone quadrilateral amputee to survive the war. He was present at the unveiling of the Vimy Ridge Memorial in 1936. And Jeremiah Jones of Truro, Nova Scotia, who crossed the bloody battlefield at Vimy Ridge and took an enemy machine-gun nest.
The battalion was disbanded in 1920 and seemed destined to fade into the mists of time, overlooked by history books. However, the veterans of the unit and their families never forgot. In 1932, Calvin W. Ruck, a social worker and civil servant from Sydney, helped to organize a reunion of the surviving veterans of the unit. Fours years later, Ruck published a book called Canada's Black Battalion, a history of the unit.
In 1987, Ruck approached the mayor of Pictou and suggested the Market Wharf receive recognition for its role in Canadian history. Four years later, Pictou town council declared the site a municipal historic property. From there, the Pictou council and the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia mounted a joint effort to gain national recognition for the site and the battalion. The effort achieved success, when in 1993, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board announced its decision to commemorate the Market Wharf for its role as headquarters for the No. 2 Construction Battalion.
