Fort Sackville (Nova Scotia)

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Fort Sackville
FortSackville.jpg
Fort Sackville (Nova Scotia)
EstablishedSeptember 11, 1749
Location Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
Founder John Gorham (military officer)

Fort Sackville was a British fort in present-day Bedford, Nova Scotia. It was built during Father Le Loutre's War by British adjacent to present-day Scott Manor House, on a hill overlooking the Sackville River to help prevent French, Acadian and Mi'kmaq attacks on Halifax. The fort consisted of a blockhouse, a guard house, a barracks that housed 50 soldiers, and outbuildings, all encompassed by a palisade. Not far from the fort was a rifle range. The fort was named after George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville. [1]

Contents

Historical context

Captain Alexander Murray of the 45th Regiment of Foot AlexanderMurray.png
Captain Alexander Murray of the 45th Regiment of Foot
Fort Sackville by John Brewse (inset of A map of the surveyed parts of Nova Scotia, 1756) Fort Sackville by John Brewse (inset of A map of the surveyed parts of Nova Scotia, 1756).png
Fort Sackville by John Brewse (inset of A map of the surveyed parts of Nova Scotia, 1756)

Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. Father Le Loutre's War began when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports on June 21, 1749. [2] The British remained largely in Halifax, having attempted to establish a settlement east of Halifax near present-day Lawrencetown Beach they quickly abandoned the effort due to the threat of Mi'kmaq attacks. Four years after the founding of Halifax, Lunenburg was established. To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian and French attacks on the new Protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (Citadel Hill) (1749), Bedford (Fort Sackville) (1749), Dartmouth (1750), Lunenburg (1753) and Lawrencetown (1754). [3]

Within 18 months of establishing Halifax, the British also took firm control of peninsula Nova Scotia by building fortifications in all the major Acadian communities: present-day Windsor (Fort Edward); Grand Pre (Fort Vieux Logis) and Chignecto (Fort Lawrence). (A British fort already existed at the other major Acadian centre of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Cobequid remained without a fort.) [3]

Father Le Loutre's War

40th Regiment of Foot by David Morier, 1751 40thRegimentOfFootByDavid Morier.png
40th Regiment of Foot by David Morier, 1751

On September 11, 1749, Cornwallis sent New England Ranger John Gorham (military officer) to build a fort at the mouth of the Sackville River. [4] The fort was to protect Halifax from attack by the Wabanaki Confederacy, Acadians and French. Gorham's Rangers were primarily natives from Cape Cod, his own hometown. He was sent with an armed vessel that stayed with him as Fort Sackville was built. Five weeks later, on October 17, Cornwallis wrote, "The Posts of the Head of the Bay and Minas are made secure." [4] Lt. Robert Pateshall of the 40th Regiment of Foot was also stationed at the Fort while Gorham used Fort Sackville as his base from which he "scoured the country" for Mi'kmaq scalps as per Cornwallis' bounty set October 1749. [5]

Cornwallis ordered Gorham to Piziquid November 9 in an attempt to relieve the Mi'kmaq and Acadian Siege of Grand Pre. Gorham also oversaw the establishment of a road to Windsor, which was completed by December 17. Gorham left again on January 3, 1750. [6] He was again ordered to Piziquid to build Fort Edward on March 29, 1750. On his way he engaged in the surprise Battle at St. Croix with Mi'kmaq. Gorham had to seek relief from Captain William Clapham who arrived with rangers from Fort Sackville.

In early 1750, Captain Alexander Murray commanded at Fort Sackville (Nova Scotia) and then in September 1751 he was given command of Fort Edward (Nova Scotia). [7]

In August 1750, Cornwallis replaced Gorham at Fort Sackville with Captain Francis Bartelo, who was killed the following month in the Battle at Chignecto. Gorham returned to Fort Sackville by March 1751. In the summer of 1751, Gorham built the first registered vessel in Halifax, a brig he named Osborn Galley at Gorham Point (present-day Halifax Dockyard). [8]

In late September 1752, Mi'kmaq stripped and scalped a man they had caught outside the Palisade of Fort Sackville. [9]

French and Indian War

Captain George Scott owned property on which his brother Joseph Scott built the Scott Manor House GeorgeScottByCopleyAtTheBrook.png
Captain George Scott owned property on which his brother Joseph Scott built the Scott Manor House

During the French and Indian War, in April 1757, a band of Acadian and Mi'kmaq partisans raided a warehouse near-by Fort Edward, killing thirteen British soldiers and, after taking what provisions they could carry, setting fire to the building. A few days later, the same partisans also raided Fort Cumberland. [10] Because of the strength of the Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq militia, British officer John Knox wrote that "In the year 1757 we were said to be Masters of the province of Nova Scotia, or Acadia, which, however, was only an imaginary possession." He continues to state that the situation in the province was so precarious for the British that the "troops and inhabitants" at Fort Edward, Fort Sackville and Lunenburg "could not be reputed in any other light than as prisoners." [11] [12] On 28 September 1759, Mi'kmaw kill two labourers at Fort Sackville. [13]

American Revolution

During this war the Fort was an important way-station between Halifax and Fort Edward in Windsor and points beyond, including Fort Cumberland. As the war went on, the Royal Nova Scotia Volunteer Regiment became competent enough to serve as the garrison of the Fort, under day-to-day command of the senior captain, John Solomon.

Wars of the French Revolution

During most of this period (1793–1802) Fort Sackville was garrisoned by detachments of the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment. On July 1, 1797, 34 officers and men are shown as being on duty.

Commanders

Legacy

See also

Related Research Articles

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Raid on Dartmouth (1751) Massacre of British-Canadians during Father Le Loutres War

The Raid on Dartmouth occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on May 13, 1751, when a Miꞌkmaq and Acadian militia from Chignecto, under the command of Acadian Joseph Broussard, raided Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, destroying the town and killing twenty British villagers and wounding British regulars. The town was protected by a blockhouse on Blockhouse Hill with William Clapham's Rangers and British regulars from the 45th Regiment of Foot. This raid was one of seven the Natives and Acadians would conduct against the town during the war.

Siege of Grand Pré 1749 siege in Nova Scotia

The siege of Grand Pré happened during Father Le Loutre's War and was fought between the British and the Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadian militia. The siege happened at Fort Vieux Logis, Grand-Pré. The native and Acadia militia laid siege to Fort Vieux Logis for a week in November 1749. One historian states that the intent of the siege was to help facilitate the Acadian Exodus from the region.

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Acadian Exodus Flight and Relocation of Acadians during Father Le Loutres War

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Fort Vieux Logis

Fort Vieux Logis was a small British frontier fort built at present-day Hortonville, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1749, during Father Le Loutre's War (1749). Ranger John Gorham moved a blockhouse he erected in Annapolis Royal in 1744 to the site of Vieux Logis. The fort was in use until 1754. The British rebuilt the fort again during the French and Indian War and named it Fort Montague (1760).

Fort Menagoueche

Fort Menagoueche was a French fort at the mouth of the St. John River, New Brunswick, Canada. French Officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot and Ignace-Philippe Aubert de Gaspé built the fort during Father Le Loutre's War and eventually burned it themselves as the French retreated after losing the Battle of Beausejour. It was reconstructed as Fort Frederick by the British.

Battle at Chignecto

The Battle at Chignecto happened during Father Le Loutre's War when Charles Lawrence, in command of the 45th Regiment of Foot and the 47th Regiment, John Gorham in command of the Rangers and Captain John Rous in command of the navy, fought against the French monarchists at Chignecto. This battle was the first attempt by the British to occupy the head of the Bay of Fundy since the disastrous Battle of Grand Pré three years earlier. They fought against a militia made up of Mi'kmaq and Acadians led by Jean-Louis Le Loutre and Joseph Broussard (Beausoliel). The battle happened at Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia on 3 September 1750.

Raid on Dartmouth (1749) 1749 raid of a sawmill in Nova Scotia

The Raid on Dartmouth (1749) occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on September 30, 1749 when a Mi'kmaw militia from Chignecto raided Major Ezekiel Gilman's sawmill at present-day Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, killing four workers and wounding two. This raid was one of seven the Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadians would conduct against the settlement during the war.

Attack at Mocodome 1753 Battle in Nova Scotia

The Attack at Mocodome occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on February 21, 1753, when two English and six Mi'kmaq died. The battle ended any hope for the survival of the Treaty of 1752 signed by Governor Hobson and chief Jean-Baptiste Cope.

Captain Francis Bartelo (?-1750) was a ranger who served under Edward Cornwallis during Father Le Loutre's War. Bartelo had fought at Flanders in the War of Austrian Succession. In February 1750, Bartelo successfully arrested Priest Jacque Girrard and a number of Acadians who participated in the Siege of Grand Pre. After the Battle at St. Croix, he also arrested the Acadians who killed Cornwallis' messenger. In March 1750, Cornwallis wrote, "Gorham is no officer at all; Capt. Bartelo, I can confided in as a good officer, and an honest man." In April, Bartelo was appointed the commander of all the independent companies in Nova Scotia. In September, Cornwallis gave command of Gilman's rangers to Captain Bartelo. He was the commander at Fort Sackville in August 1750, when he served as second in command at the Battle at Chignecto. On August 26 Salusbury recorded that the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias killed him in the battle. 35 Mi'kmaq and Acadians ambushed Ranger Captain Francis Bartelo, killing him and six of his men while taking seven others captive. The Mi'kmaq conducted ritual torture of the captives throughout the night, which had a chilling effect on the New Englanders.

Lunenburg campaign (1758)

The Lunenburg campaign was executed by the Mi'kmaq militia and Acadian militia against the Foreign Protestants who the British had settled on the Lunenburg Peninsula during the French and Indian War. The British deployed Joseph Gorham and his Rangers along with Captain Rudolf Faesch and regular troops of the 60th Regiment of Foot to defend Lunenburg. The campaign was so successful, by November 1758, the members of the House of Assembly for Lunenburg stated "they received no benefit from His Majesty's Troops or Rangers" and required more protection.

References

  1. ↑ "Website Update | Nova Scotia Archives". Novascotia.ca. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  2. ↑ Grenier (2008); Thomas Beamish Akins. History of Halifax, Brookhouse Press. 1895. (2002 edition). p 7
  3. 1 2 Grenier (2008).
  4. 1 2 Tolson, p. 29
  5. ↑ "Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society". Halifax – via Internet Archive.
  6. ↑ Tolson, p. 34
  7. ↑ Humphreys, John (1974). "Murray, Alexander (d. 1762)". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. III (1741–1770) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  8. ↑ Tolson, p. 41
  9. ↑ (Halifax Gazette September 30, 1752)
  10. ↑ Faragher, John Mack (2005). A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland. W.W Norton & Company. p. 398. ISBN   978-0-393-05135-3.
  11. ↑ Knox. Vol. 2, p. 443 Bell, p. 514
  12. ↑ Knox, John (January 28, 1769). "An historical journal of the campaigns in North America for the years 1757, 1758, 1759 and 1760 [microform] : containing the most remarkable occurrences of that period particularly the two sieges of Quebec, &c., & c., the orders of the admirals and general officers : descriptions of the countries where the author has served, with their forts and garrisons, their climates, soil, produce and a regular diary of the weather, as also several manifesto's, a mandate of the late Bishop of Canada, the French orders and disposition for the defence of the colony, &c., &c., &c". London : Printed for the author and sold by W. Johnston ..., and J. Dodsley ... – via Internet Archive.
  13. ↑ Estabrooks Diary. As cited in the Burials until 1799.

Sources

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