Major Edmond Hewlett from the series is loosely based on the real life Loyalist officers Colonel Richard Hewlett who served in DeLancey’s Brigade. Far from the bumbling British aristocratic type, Hewlett was an American veteran of the Seven Years War.
The series turn depicts a number of provincial units, and characters including future governor of Upper Canada and promoter of the “Act to prevent the further introduction of slaves and to limit the term of contract for servitude within this province” of 1793.
Another minor character, was a Black soldier in the Queens Rangers named Jordan. Jordan appears to be a composite of Black Loyalist auxiliaries, and somewhat resembles the Black Loyalist leader Colonel Tye, or Titus Cornelius.
As for Hewlett, though not defected in TURN, Hewlett was an enslaver and would have had two enslaved people living at the location here in Queens, New Brunswick.
Images and video from the miniseries Turn.
New Brunswick Museum and the New Brunswick Black History Society.
