Isthmus of Chignecto
Encyclopedia
The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus
bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia
which connects the Nova Scotia peninsula
with North America
.
The isthmus separates the waters of Chignecto Bay
, a sub-basin of the Bay of Fundy
, from those of Baie Verte, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait
which is an arm of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The isthmus stretches from its northerly point at an area in the Petitcodiac River
valley near the city of Dieppe, New Brunswick
to its southerly point at an area near the town of Amherst, Nova Scotia
. At its narrowest point between Amherst
and Tidnish
, the isthmus measures 24 kilometres wide. Because of its strategic position, it has been important to competing forces through much of its history of occupation.
, as well as tidal rivers, mud flats, inland freshwater marshes, coastal saltwater marshes, and mixed forest. Several prominent ridges rise above the surrounding low land and marshes along the Bay of Fundy shore, namely the Fort Lawrence Ridge (in Nova Scotia), the Aulac Ridge, the Sackville Ridge, and the Memramcook Ridge (in New Brunswick).
In contrast to the Bay of Fundy shoreline in the west, the Northumberland Strait shoreline in the east is largely forested with serpentine tidal estuaries
such as the Tidnish River
penetrating inland. The narrowest point on the Northumberland shoreline is opposite the Cumberland Basin at Baie Verte
. If sea levels were to rise by 12 meters, the isthmus would be flooded, effectively making the mainland Nova Scotia an island
. http://flood.firetree.net/
In 1872, the Intercolonial Railway of Canada
constructed a mainline between Halifax, Nova Scotia
and Moncton, New Brunswick across the southern portion of the isthmus. It skirted the edge of the Bay of Fundy while crossing the Tantramar Marshes between Amherst, Nova Scotia
and Sackville, New Brunswick
.
In 1886 a railway line was built from Sackville across the isthmus to Port Elgin
and on to Cape Tormentine
. The latter was a port for the iceboat
service. In 1917 a rail ferry service to Prince Edward Island
was established by Canadian National Railways to connect with the Prince Edward Island Railway
.
In the mid-1880s, the isthmus was also the site of one of Canada's earliest mega-projects: construction of a broad-gauge railway from the port of Amherst to the Northumberland Strait at Tidnish
for carrying small cargo and passenger ships. This ship railway was never successfully operational, and construction was abandoned shortly before completion.
In the 1950s, while construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway was underway, a group of industrialists and politicians from the Maritimes called for a Chignecto Canal to be built as a shortcut for ocean-going ships travelling between Saint John
and U.S. ports to the Great Lakes
to avoid travelling around Nova Scotia. The project never progressed beyond the survey stage.
In the early 1960s, the Trans-Canada Highway
was built on the isthmus to connect with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island
. Route 2 in New Brunswick and Highway 104 in Nova Scotia were built parallel to the existing Canadian National Railway
trackage; this inter-provincial highway was upgraded to a 4-lane expressway in the 1990s. Route 16 in New Brunswick was built from an interchange with Route 2 in Aulac
to the ferry terminal at Cape Tormentine; this was subsequently modified in 1997 to connect with the Confederation Bridge
at Cape Jourimain
.
an settlements on the isthmus were French
. Prior to British control of present-day mainland Nova Scotia (after 1713), the isthmus was the location of a growing Acadian
farming community called Beaubassin
. The isthmus became the location of the historic dividing line between the British colony of Nova Scotia and the French territory. French military forces established Fort Beausejour
on the Aulac Ridge in 1749 in response to the British construction of an outpost called Fort Lawrence
on the ridge immediately to the east. Between the two ridges was a tidal stream called the Missaquash River which France generally accepted to be the boundary between the territories, although the powers had never determined and agreed to an official boundary. France also constructed Fort Gaspereau on the shores of the Northumberland Strait to effectively control travel on the isthmus.
During King William's War
- the first of the four French and Indian Wars
- French and Native raided Pemaquid, Maine (present day Bristol, Maine
) earlier that year. In response, the English colonial militia leader Benjamin Church led a devastating raid on the Chignecto at Beaubassin
in 1696.
Church and four hundred men (50 to 150 of whom were Indians, likely Iroquois) arrived offshore of Beaubassin on September 20. They managed to get ashore and surprise the Acadians. Many fled while one confronted Church with papers showing they had signed an oath of allegiance in 1690 to the English king.
Church was unconvinced. He burned a number of buildings, killed inhabitants, looted their household goods, and slaughtered their livestock. Governor Villebon reported that
In Queen Anne's War
, in retaliation for the Raid on Deerfield, in which many colonists were killed and more than 100 taken captive and forced overland from Massachusetts to Montreal
, Major Church returned to Acadia. On July 17, 1704 he raided Chignecto. The Acadian settlers returned some gun fire but quickly sought shelter in the woods. Church burned 40 empty houses and killed over 200 cattle and other livestock.
On this campaign against Acadia, Church also raided Castine, Maine
, Grand Pre
, and Pisiguit
(present-day Windsor
/Falmouth
).
, Chignecto was used as the staging area for French raids on British Nova Scotia. It was the gathering place for De Ramezay prior to the Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744). Chignecto was also the base of Coulon de Valliers prior to the Battle of Grand Pre
(1747).
During Father Le Loutre's War
, conflict in Acadia continued. On September 18, several Mi'kmaq and Maliseet killed three Englishmen at Chignecto. They lost seven natives killed in the skirmish.
Battle at Chignecto (1750)
In May 1750, Lawrence was unsuccessful in getting a base at Chignecto because Le Loutre burned the village of Beaubassin, preventing Lawrence from using its supplies to establish a fort. (According to the historian Frank Patterson, the Acadians at Cobequid also burned their homes as they retreated from the British to Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia
in 1754.) Lawrence retreated, but he returned in September 1750.
On September 3, Rous, Lawrence and Gorham
led over 700 men to Chignecto, where Mi’kmaq and Acadians opposed their landing. They killed twenty British, who in turn killed several Mi’kmaq. Le Loutre's militia eventually withdrew, burning the rest of the Acadians' crops and houses as they went. Le Loutre and the Acadian militia leader Joseph Broussard
resisted the British assault. The British troops defeated the resistance and began construction of Fort Lawrence
near the site of the ruins of Beaubassin. The work on the fort proceeded rapidly and they completed the facility within weeks. To limit the British to peninsular Nova Scotia
, the French also began to fortify the Chignecto and its approaches; they constructed Fort Beausejour
and two satellite forts: one at present-day Port Elgin, New Brunswick
(Fort Gaspareaux
) and the other at present-day Saint John, New Brunswick
(Fort Menagoueche).
During these months, 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.
Raid on Chignecto (1751)
The British retaliated for the Raid on Dartmouth (1751)
by sending several armed companies to Chignecto. They killed a few French defenders were killed and breached the dikes, allowing the low lands to flood. Hundreds of acres of crops were ruined, which was disastrous for the Acadians and the French troops. In the summer of 1752, Father Le Loutre went to Quebec and then on to France to raise funds and supplies to re-build the dikes. He returned in the spring of 1753.
In May 1753, Natives scalped two British soldiers at Fort Lawrence.
On May 22, 1755 the British commanded a fleet of three warships and thirty-three transports carrying 2,100 soldiers from Boston, Massachusetts; they landed at Fort Lawrence on June 3, 1755. The following day the British forces attacked Fort Beausejour
, and on June 16, 1755 the French forces evacuated to Fort Gaspereaux, arriving at Louisbourg on June 24, 1755.
On the isthmus, the British renamed Fort Beausejour as Fort Cumberland and abandoned Fort Lawrence; they recognized the superior construction of the French fort. Beginning the Acadian
expulsion (the Great Upheaval
), British forces rounded up French settlers during the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
. The British deported them and burned their villages at Chignecto to prevent their return.
Skirmish at Chignecto (1755 July)
During the French and Indian War
, at Fort Moncton (formerly Fort Gaspareaux
), one of Captain Silvaus Cobb’s soldiers was shot from his horse and killed in an ambush. Cobb assembled 100 troops but was unable to catch the Mi’kmaq. Monckton dispatched 200 men from Fort Lawrence but was also unsuccessful in catching any Mi’kmaq.
Raid on Chignecto (1755 September)
On September 15, majors Jedediah Preble and Benjamin Coldthwait took 400 men to destroy an Acadian village a short distance outside of Fort Monckton.
Raid on Chignecto (1756 January)
On January 20, Boishebert
sent Francois Boucher de Niverville to Baie Verte to burn a British schooner. Niverville killed seven soldiers and took one prisoner; he burned the ship. Boishebert and 120 Acadians/ Mi’kmaq escaped capture in a possible ambush when he tried to set up a siege of Fort Cumberland.
Raid on Chignecto (1756 April)
The Mi'kmaq and Acadians attacked Fort Cumberland for two days between April 26–27, 1756, and nine British soldiers were killed and scalped.
Raid on Chignecto (1756 October)
Boishebert moved against Fort Monckton. The British abandoned the fort and burned it to the ground so that it could not be used by the French.
Skirmish at Chignecto (1757 July)
On July 20 Mi’kmaq captured two of Gorham’s rangers outside Fort Cumberland.
Skirmish at Chignecto (1757 September)
On September 6, Monckton directed Lt. Colonel Hunt Walsh to take the 28th regiment and a company of rangers to Baie Verte to burn what was left of it. When they arrived, it was already vacated.
ers to come to Nova Scotia, settle on vacated Acadian lands, and take up free land grants. He also extended the invitation to New England soldiers' serving in Canada whose enlistments had expired and were planning on returning home. Such settlers became known as the New England Planters
. Following the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, the British created three 100,000-acre (400 km²) townships on the isthmus, called Amherst, Sackville
and Cumberland.
The drive to attract settlers from New England was not immediately successful. After a few small groups arrived in 1760 and 1761, some families returned home, and the British government decided to look elsewhere for settlers. Between 1772 and 1775, more than 20 ships arrived from England, carrying upwards of 1,000 settlers from Yorkshire
to the new townships. The descendants of the Yorkshire emigration
continue to be prominent in the area's development and history.
One of these descendants was elected 22nd Prime Minister of Canada in 2006, namely the Right Honourable Stephen Harper. The Prime Minister's ancestor Christopher Harper and his family arrived in 1775 and took up residence in a farm he purchased within sight of Fort Cumberland. When Jonathan Eddy's colonial American forces arrived to attack Fort Cumberland in 1776, Christopher Harper and other Yorkshiremen went to Fort Cumberland to serve with Colonel Goreham and his forces in defence of the fort.
Early in the American Revolutionary War
, in October and November 1776 local guerrilla
and colonial American forces led by Jonathan Eddy
and John Allan attempted to take over Fort Cumberland and the Tantramar region. Supported by George Washington
but with limited personnel, Eddy's attacking force consisted of "about twenty" Americans from Machias, Maine, 27 Yankee settlers from the Saint John River valley, 140 Malisseet and four Mi'kmaq, 21 Acadians from the Memramcook Valley and the Allen family farm, and about 120 farmers from Cumberland, Onslow
, and Pictou. Eddy had insufficient forces to capture the fort in a direct assault so he had his men settle in for a siege of the fort which might succeed if the fort's defenders ran out of food and/or water. After a three-week-long siege of Fort Cumberland (also known as the "Eddy Rebellion"), British forces dispatched from Halifax
and Windsor
routed the invaders.
During the siege of the fort, rebel sympathizers from Sackville burned the house, barn and outbuildings on Christopher Harper's farm. After the rebel attackers were routed, Christopher Harper sued those responsible and was awarded a judgement to compensate him for his losses and that judgement was settled by the Court awarding him lands owned by the rebel sympathizer defendants in the Sackville area.
The Eddy Rebellion proved disastrous for the Acadian rebels. The British put to the torch eight of their houses and barns at Inverma Farm, Jolicoeur. Since their release as prisoners from Fort Cumberland in 1764, the Acadians had been tenants of Willian Allan, the father of John Allan, leader of the Nova Scotia rebels. With winter coming rapidly, the Acadians were forced to relocate with their families to Memramcook. Eddy, Allan and many of the other English-speaking rebels were also expelled from Nova Scotia. The American colonial government rewarded their efforts with land grants in Maine and Ohio.
Isthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
which connects the Nova Scotia peninsula
Nova Scotia peninsula
The Nova Scotia peninsula is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of North America.-Location:The Nova Scotia peninsula is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada and is connected to the neighbouring province of New Brunswick through the Isthmus of Chignecto...
with North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
The isthmus separates the waters of Chignecto Bay
Chignecto Bay
Chignecto Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy located between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and separated from the waters of the Northumberland Strait by the Isthmus of Chignecto. It is a unit within the greater Gulf of Maine Watershed...
, a sub-basin of the Bay of Fundy
Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...
, from those of Baie Verte, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait
Northumberland Strait
The Northumberland Strait is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada...
which is an arm of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The isthmus stretches from its northerly point at an area in the Petitcodiac River
Petitcodiac River
The Petitcodiac River is a Canadian river in south-eastern New Brunswick. The river runs about through the province's Westmorland, Albert, and Kings counties, draining a watershed area of about . The region around the river features valleys, ridges, and rolling hills, and is home to a diverse...
valley near the city of Dieppe, New Brunswick
Dieppe, New Brunswick
Dieppe is a Canadian city in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.-Geography:Dieppe is located on the Petitcodiac River east of the adjacent city of Moncton...
to its southerly point at an area near the town of Amherst, Nova Scotia
Amherst, Nova Scotia
Amherst is a Canadian town in northwestern Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.Located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, Amherst is strategically situated on the eastern boundary of the Tantramar Marshes 3 kilometres east of the interprovincial border with New...
. At its narrowest point between Amherst
Amherst, Nova Scotia
Amherst is a Canadian town in northwestern Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.Located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, Amherst is strategically situated on the eastern boundary of the Tantramar Marshes 3 kilometres east of the interprovincial border with New...
and Tidnish
Tidnish, Nova Scotia
Tidnish is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Cumberland County .The population is 1,327. It has a community centre located at 4358 HIGHWAY 366, RR#2....
, the isthmus measures 24 kilometres wide. Because of its strategic position, it has been important to competing forces through much of its history of occupation.
Geography
The majority of the lands comprising the isthmus have low elevation above sea level; a large portion comprises the Tantramar MarshesTantramar Marshes
The Tantramar Marshes is a National Wildlife Area on the southern part of the Isthmus of Chignecto, which joins Nova Scotia to New Brunswick and the Canadian mainland. It is the site of the historic Battle of Fort Beauséjour, the final chapter in the long battle for Acadia by the British and French...
, as well as tidal rivers, mud flats, inland freshwater marshes, coastal saltwater marshes, and mixed forest. Several prominent ridges rise above the surrounding low land and marshes along the Bay of Fundy shore, namely the Fort Lawrence Ridge (in Nova Scotia), the Aulac Ridge, the Sackville Ridge, and the Memramcook Ridge (in New Brunswick).
In contrast to the Bay of Fundy shoreline in the west, the Northumberland Strait shoreline in the east is largely forested with serpentine tidal estuaries
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
such as the Tidnish River
Tidnish River
The Tidnish River is a short Canadian river on the Isthmus of Chignecto along the interprovincial boundary with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia....
penetrating inland. The narrowest point on the Northumberland shoreline is opposite the Cumberland Basin at Baie Verte
Baie Verte, New Brunswick
Baie Verte is a community in Westmorland County in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.The community is situated near the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island and is surrounded by a large area of salt marsh. It is home to the Winegarden Estate vineyard and the Waterfowl Village....
. If sea levels were to rise by 12 meters, the isthmus would be flooded, effectively making the mainland Nova Scotia an island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
. http://flood.firetree.net/
Transportation
A key surface transportation route since the 17th century, the Isthmus of Chignecto was crossed by French and later British military roads to the Tantramar Marshes and along the strategic ridges.In 1872, the Intercolonial Railway of Canada
Intercolonial Railway of Canada
The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway , was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways...
constructed a mainline between Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
and Moncton, New Brunswick across the southern portion of the isthmus. It skirted the edge of the Bay of Fundy while crossing the Tantramar Marshes between Amherst, Nova Scotia
Amherst, Nova Scotia
Amherst is a Canadian town in northwestern Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.Located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, Amherst is strategically situated on the eastern boundary of the Tantramar Marshes 3 kilometres east of the interprovincial border with New...
and Sackville, New Brunswick
Sackville, New Brunswick
Sackville is a Canadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Mount Allison University is located in the town...
.
In 1886 a railway line was built from Sackville across the isthmus to Port Elgin
Port Elgin, New Brunswick
Port Elgin is a Canadian village in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Port Elgin is situated near the Nova Scotia border at the mouth of the Gaspareaux River where it empties into Baie Verte.-History:...
and on to Cape Tormentine
Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick
Cape Tormentine is a Canadian rural community in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.The community derives its name from a headland of the same name which extends into the Northumberland Strait, forming the easternmost point in the province.-Railway:...
. The latter was a port for the iceboat
Northumberland Strait iceboat
A Northumberland Strait iceboat is a rowing boat, typically 5 metres in length, 2 metres in beam, with runners fastened to the hull for dragging over sea ice....
service. In 1917 a rail ferry service to Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
was established by Canadian National Railways to connect with the Prince Edward Island Railway
Prince Edward Island Railway
The Prince Edward Island Railway was a historic Canadian railway.-Construction:Located wholly within the province of Prince Edward Island, construction of the PEIR started in 1871, financed by the United Kingdom...
.
In the mid-1880s, the isthmus was also the site of one of Canada's earliest mega-projects: construction of a broad-gauge railway from the port of Amherst to the Northumberland Strait at Tidnish
Tidnish, Nova Scotia
Tidnish is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Cumberland County .The population is 1,327. It has a community centre located at 4358 HIGHWAY 366, RR#2....
for carrying small cargo and passenger ships. This ship railway was never successfully operational, and construction was abandoned shortly before completion.
In the 1950s, while construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway was underway, a group of industrialists and politicians from the Maritimes called for a Chignecto Canal to be built as a shortcut for ocean-going ships travelling between Saint John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
and U.S. ports to the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
to avoid travelling around Nova Scotia. The project never progressed beyond the survey stage.
In the early 1960s, the Trans-Canada Highway
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...
was built on the isthmus to connect with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
. Route 2 in New Brunswick and Highway 104 in Nova Scotia were built parallel to the existing Canadian National Railway
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....
trackage; this inter-provincial highway was upgraded to a 4-lane expressway in the 1990s. Route 16 in New Brunswick was built from an interchange with Route 2 in Aulac
Aulac, New Brunswick
Aulac is a Canadian community in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Aulac is situated upon the Aulac Ridge, a prominent rise running west-east across the Tantramar Marshes on the Isthmus of Chignecto, approximately 2 kilometres west of the Missaguash River which forms the southern part of the...
to the ferry terminal at Cape Tormentine; this was subsequently modified in 1997 to connect with the Confederation Bridge
Confederation Bridge
The Confederation Bridge is a bridge spanning the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick, Canada. It was commonly referred to as the "Fixed Link" by residents of Prince Edward Island prior to its official naming. Construction took place...
at Cape Jourimain
Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick
Cape Jourimain is a headland in the western part of the Northumberland Strait on its southern shore, 3 kilometres west of New Brunswick's easternmost point at Cape Tormentine....
.
History
The first EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an settlements on the isthmus were French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
. Prior to British control of present-day mainland Nova Scotia (after 1713), the isthmus was the location of a growing Acadian
Acadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
farming community called Beaubassin
Beaubassin
Beaubassin was the first settlement on the Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia, which was Acadian. The area is now known as the Tantramar Marshes. Beaubassin was settled in 1672, the second Acadian village to be established after Port Royal. The village was one of the largest and most prosperous in...
. The isthmus became the location of the historic dividing line between the British colony of Nova Scotia and the French territory. French military forces established Fort Beausejour
Fort Beauséjour
Fort Beauséjour, was built during Father Le Loutre's War from 1751-1755; it is located at the Isthmus of Chignecto in present-day Aulac, New Brunswick, Canada...
on the Aulac Ridge in 1749 in response to the British construction of an outpost called Fort Lawrence
Fort Lawrence
Fort Lawrence was a British fort built during Father Le Loutre's War and located on the Isthmus of Chignecto .-Father Le Loutre's War:...
on the ridge immediately to the east. Between the two ridges was a tidal stream called the Missaquash River which France generally accepted to be the boundary between the territories, although the powers had never determined and agreed to an official boundary. France also constructed Fort Gaspereau on the shores of the Northumberland Strait to effectively control travel on the isthmus.
King William's War
Raid on Chignecto (1696)During King William's War
King William's War
The first of the French and Indian Wars, King William's War was the name used in the English colonies in America to refer to the North American theater of the Nine Years' War...
- the first of the four French and Indian Wars
French and Indian Wars
The French and Indian Wars is a name used in the United States for a series of conflicts lasting 74 years in North America that represented colonial events related to the European dynastic wars...
- French and Native raided Pemaquid, Maine (present day Bristol, Maine
Bristol, Maine
Bristol is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,644 at the 2000 census. A fishing and resort area, Bristol includes the villages of New Harbor, Pemaquid, Round Pond, Bristol Mills and Chamberlain. It includes the Pemaquid Archeological Site, a U.S. National...
) earlier that year. In response, the English colonial militia leader Benjamin Church led a devastating raid on the Chignecto at Beaubassin
Beaubassin
Beaubassin was the first settlement on the Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia, which was Acadian. The area is now known as the Tantramar Marshes. Beaubassin was settled in 1672, the second Acadian village to be established after Port Royal. The village was one of the largest and most prosperous in...
in 1696.
Church and four hundred men (50 to 150 of whom were Indians, likely Iroquois) arrived offshore of Beaubassin on September 20. They managed to get ashore and surprise the Acadians. Many fled while one confronted Church with papers showing they had signed an oath of allegiance in 1690 to the English king.
Church was unconvinced. He burned a number of buildings, killed inhabitants, looted their household goods, and slaughtered their livestock. Governor Villebon reported that
"the English stayed at Beaubassin nine whole days without drawing any supplies from their vessels, and even those settlers to whom they had shown a pretence of mercy were left with empty houses and barns and nothing else except the clothes on their backs."
Queen Anne's War
Raid on Chignecto (1704)In Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
, in retaliation for the Raid on Deerfield, in which many colonists were killed and more than 100 taken captive and forced overland from Massachusetts to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Major Church returned to Acadia. On July 17, 1704 he raided Chignecto. The Acadian settlers returned some gun fire but quickly sought shelter in the woods. Church burned 40 empty houses and killed over 200 cattle and other livestock.
On this campaign against Acadia, Church also raided Castine, Maine
Castine, Maine
Castine is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States and was once the capital of Acadia . The population was 1,343 at the 2000 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduates officers and engineers for the United States Merchant Marine and marine...
, Grand Pre
Raid on Grand Pre
The Raid on Grand Pré was the major action of a raiding expedition conducted by New England militia Colonel Benjamin Church against French Acadia in June 1704, during Queen Anne's War...
, and Pisiguit
Pisiguit
In the Minas Basin of Acadia, which is now Nova Scotia, the settlement of Grand-Pré grew eastward towards the Pisiquid River. This settlement became known as Pisiguit or . Pisiguit came from the Mi'kmaq term Pesaquid, meaning "Junction of Waters". It became so large that it was viewed as...
(present-day Windsor
Windsor, Nova Scotia
Windsor is a town located in Hants County, Mainland Nova Scotia at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers. It is the largest community in western Hants County with a 2001 population of 3,779 and was at one time the shire town of the county. The region encompassing present day Windsor was...
/Falmouth
Falmouth, Nova Scotia
Falmouth, Nova Scotia is a village located along the Avon River in Hants County between Mount Denson and Windsor.Falmouth and area was known as Pisiguit by the Acadians. Having migrated from Port Royal, Nova Scotia, the Acadians were the first to settle in the area, around 1685...
).
King Georges War
During King George's WarKing George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
, Chignecto was used as the staging area for French raids on British Nova Scotia. It was the gathering place for De Ramezay prior to the Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744). Chignecto was also the base of Coulon de Valliers prior to the Battle of Grand Pre
Battle of Grand Pré
The Battle of Grand Pré, also known as the Battle of Minas, was a battle in King George's War that took place between British and French forces near present-day Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia in the winter of 1747 during the War of the Austrian Succession...
(1747).
Father Le Loutre's War
Battle at Chignecto (1749)During Father Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre’s War , also known as the Indian War, the Micmac War and the Anglo-Micmac War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the British and New England colonists were led by British Officer Charles...
, conflict in Acadia continued. On September 18, several Mi'kmaq and Maliseet killed three Englishmen at Chignecto. They lost seven natives killed in the skirmish.
Battle at Chignecto (1750)
In May 1750, Lawrence was unsuccessful in getting a base at Chignecto because Le Loutre burned the village of Beaubassin, preventing Lawrence from using its supplies to establish a fort. (According to the historian Frank Patterson, the Acadians at Cobequid also burned their homes as they retreated from the British to Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia
Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia
Tatamagouche is a Canadian village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia.Tatamagouche is situated on the Northumberland Strait 50 kilometers north of Truro and 50 kilometres west of Pictou. The village is located along the south side of Tatamagouche Bay at the mouths of the French and Waugh Rivers...
in 1754.) Lawrence retreated, but he returned in September 1750.
On September 3, Rous, Lawrence and Gorham
John Gorham (military officer)
John Gorham was a New England Ranger and was the first significant British military presence on the frontier of Nova Scotia and Acadia to remain in the region for a substantial period of time after the Conquest of Acadia . He established the famous "Gorham's Rangers". Gorham was commissioned a...
led over 700 men to Chignecto, where Mi’kmaq and Acadians opposed their landing. They killed twenty British, who in turn killed several Mi’kmaq. Le Loutre's militia eventually withdrew, burning the rest of the Acadians' crops and houses as they went. Le Loutre and the Acadian militia leader Joseph Broussard
Joseph Broussard
Joseph Gaurhept Broussard , also known as Beausoleil, was a leader of the Acadian people in Acadia; later Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Broussard organized a resistance movement against the forced Expulsion of the Acadians...
resisted the British assault. The British troops defeated the resistance and began construction of Fort Lawrence
Fort Lawrence
Fort Lawrence was a British fort built during Father Le Loutre's War and located on the Isthmus of Chignecto .-Father Le Loutre's War:...
near the site of the ruins of Beaubassin. The work on the fort proceeded rapidly and they completed the facility within weeks. To limit the British to peninsular Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia peninsula
The Nova Scotia peninsula is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of North America.-Location:The Nova Scotia peninsula is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada and is connected to the neighbouring province of New Brunswick through the Isthmus of Chignecto...
, the French also began to fortify the Chignecto and its approaches; they constructed Fort Beausejour
Fort Beauséjour
Fort Beauséjour, was built during Father Le Loutre's War from 1751-1755; it is located at the Isthmus of Chignecto in present-day Aulac, New Brunswick, Canada...
and two satellite forts: one at present-day Port Elgin, New Brunswick
Port Elgin, New Brunswick
Port Elgin is a Canadian village in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Port Elgin is situated near the Nova Scotia border at the mouth of the Gaspareaux River where it empties into Baie Verte.-History:...
(Fort Gaspareaux
Fort Gaspareaux
Fort Gaspareaux was a French fort at the head of Baie Verte near the mouth of the Gaspareaux River and just southeast of the modern village of Port Elgin, New Brunswick, Canada, on the Isthmus of Chignecto...
) and the other at present-day Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
(Fort Menagoueche).
During these months, 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.
Raid on Chignecto (1751)
The British retaliated for the Raid on Dartmouth (1751)
Raid on Dartmouth (1751)
The Raid on Dartmouth occurred during Father Le Loutre’s War on May 13, 1751 when an Acadian and Mi’kmaq militia from Chignecto, under the command of Acadian Joseph Broussard, raided Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, destroying the town and killing twenty British villagers...
by sending several armed companies to Chignecto. They killed a few French defenders were killed and breached the dikes, allowing the low lands to flood. Hundreds of acres of crops were ruined, which was disastrous for the Acadians and the French troops. In the summer of 1752, Father Le Loutre went to Quebec and then on to France to raise funds and supplies to re-build the dikes. He returned in the spring of 1753.
In May 1753, Natives scalped two British soldiers at Fort Lawrence.
French and Indian War
Battle of Fort Beauséjour (1755)Battle of Fort Beauséjour
The Battle of Fort Beauséjour was fought on the Isthmus of Chignecto and marked the end of Father Le Loutre’s War andthe opening of a British offensive in the French and Indian War, which would eventually lead to the end the French Empire in North America...
, and on June 16, 1755 the French forces evacuated to Fort Gaspereaux, arriving at Louisbourg on June 24, 1755.
On the isthmus, the British renamed Fort Beausejour as Fort Cumberland and abandoned Fort Lawrence; they recognized the superior construction of the French fort. Beginning the Acadian
Acadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
expulsion (the Great Upheaval
Great Upheaval
The Expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from present day Canadian Maritime provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island...
), British forces rounded up French settlers during the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
The Bay of Fundy Campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when the British ordered the Expulsion of the Acadians from Acadia after the Battle of Beausejour . The Campaign started at Chignecto and then quickly moved to Grand Pré, Rivière-aux-Canards, Pisiguit, Cobequid, and finally Port...
. The British deported them and burned their villages at Chignecto to prevent their return.
Skirmish at Chignecto (1755 July)
During the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, at Fort Moncton (formerly Fort Gaspareaux
Fort Gaspareaux
Fort Gaspareaux was a French fort at the head of Baie Verte near the mouth of the Gaspareaux River and just southeast of the modern village of Port Elgin, New Brunswick, Canada, on the Isthmus of Chignecto...
), one of Captain Silvaus Cobb’s soldiers was shot from his horse and killed in an ambush. Cobb assembled 100 troops but was unable to catch the Mi’kmaq. Monckton dispatched 200 men from Fort Lawrence but was also unsuccessful in catching any Mi’kmaq.
Raid on Chignecto (1755 September)
On September 15, majors Jedediah Preble and Benjamin Coldthwait took 400 men to destroy an Acadian village a short distance outside of Fort Monckton.
Raid on Chignecto (1756 January)
On January 20, Boishebert
Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot
Charles Deschamps de Boishébert , was the leader of the Acadian resistance to the Expulsion of the Acadians. He settled and tried to protect Acadians refugees along the rivers of New Brunswick. Fort Boishebert is named after him...
sent Francois Boucher de Niverville to Baie Verte to burn a British schooner. Niverville killed seven soldiers and took one prisoner; he burned the ship. Boishebert and 120 Acadians/ Mi’kmaq escaped capture in a possible ambush when he tried to set up a siege of Fort Cumberland.
Raid on Chignecto (1756 April)
The Mi'kmaq and Acadians attacked Fort Cumberland for two days between April 26–27, 1756, and nine British soldiers were killed and scalped.
Raid on Chignecto (1756 October)
Boishebert moved against Fort Monckton. The British abandoned the fort and burned it to the ground so that it could not be used by the French.
Skirmish at Chignecto (1757 July)
On July 20 Mi’kmaq captured two of Gorham’s rangers outside Fort Cumberland.
Skirmish at Chignecto (1757 September)
On September 6, Monckton directed Lt. Colonel Hunt Walsh to take the 28th regiment and a company of rangers to Baie Verte to burn what was left of it. When they arrived, it was already vacated.
Yorkshire emigration
In 1758 Governor Lawrence issued a proclamation inviting New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
ers to come to Nova Scotia, settle on vacated Acadian lands, and take up free land grants. He also extended the invitation to New England soldiers' serving in Canada whose enlistments had expired and were planning on returning home. Such settlers became known as the New England Planters
New England Planters
The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign of the Acadian Expulsion...
. Following the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, the British created three 100,000-acre (400 km²) townships on the isthmus, called Amherst, Sackville
Sackville, New Brunswick
Sackville is a Canadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Mount Allison University is located in the town...
and Cumberland.
The drive to attract settlers from New England was not immediately successful. After a few small groups arrived in 1760 and 1761, some families returned home, and the British government decided to look elsewhere for settlers. Between 1772 and 1775, more than 20 ships arrived from England, carrying upwards of 1,000 settlers from Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
to the new townships. The descendants of the Yorkshire emigration
Yorkshire Emigration to Nova Scotia
Migration from Yorkshire to Nova Scotia occurred between 1772 and 1775 and involved an approximate one thousand migrants from mainly Yorkshire, England arriving in Nova Scotia to settle the colony some years following the expulsion of its Acadian population....
continue to be prominent in the area's development and history.
One of these descendants was elected 22nd Prime Minister of Canada in 2006, namely the Right Honourable Stephen Harper. The Prime Minister's ancestor Christopher Harper and his family arrived in 1775 and took up residence in a farm he purchased within sight of Fort Cumberland. When Jonathan Eddy's colonial American forces arrived to attack Fort Cumberland in 1776, Christopher Harper and other Yorkshiremen went to Fort Cumberland to serve with Colonel Goreham and his forces in defence of the fort.
American Revolutionary War
Battle of Fort CumberlandEarly in the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, in October and November 1776 local guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
and colonial American forces led by Jonathan Eddy
Jonathan Eddy
Jonathan Eddy served for the British in the French and Indian War and for the American Patriots in the American Revolution. After the French and Indian War he settled in Nova Scotia as a New England Planter, becoming a member of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia. During the American...
and John Allan attempted to take over Fort Cumberland and the Tantramar region. Supported by George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
but with limited personnel, Eddy's attacking force consisted of "about twenty" Americans from Machias, Maine, 27 Yankee settlers from the Saint John River valley, 140 Malisseet and four Mi'kmaq, 21 Acadians from the Memramcook Valley and the Allen family farm, and about 120 farmers from Cumberland, Onslow
Onslow, Nova Scotia
Onslow is a small, unincorporated, Canadian rural community in central Colchester County, Nova Scotia. The community is located along the north bank of the Salmon River, opposite the town of Truro and is largely a farming area...
, and Pictou. Eddy had insufficient forces to capture the fort in a direct assault so he had his men settle in for a siege of the fort which might succeed if the fort's defenders ran out of food and/or water. After a three-week-long siege of Fort Cumberland (also known as the "Eddy Rebellion"), British forces dispatched from Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
and Windsor
Windsor, Nova Scotia
Windsor is a town located in Hants County, Mainland Nova Scotia at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers. It is the largest community in western Hants County with a 2001 population of 3,779 and was at one time the shire town of the county. The region encompassing present day Windsor was...
routed the invaders.
During the siege of the fort, rebel sympathizers from Sackville burned the house, barn and outbuildings on Christopher Harper's farm. After the rebel attackers were routed, Christopher Harper sued those responsible and was awarded a judgement to compensate him for his losses and that judgement was settled by the Court awarding him lands owned by the rebel sympathizer defendants in the Sackville area.
The Eddy Rebellion proved disastrous for the Acadian rebels. The British put to the torch eight of their houses and barns at Inverma Farm, Jolicoeur. Since their release as prisoners from Fort Cumberland in 1764, the Acadians had been tenants of Willian Allan, the father of John Allan, leader of the Nova Scotia rebels. With winter coming rapidly, the Acadians were forced to relocate with their families to Memramcook. Eddy, Allan and many of the other English-speaking rebels were also expelled from Nova Scotia. The American colonial government rewarded their efforts with land grants in Maine and Ohio.
Secondary sources
- Chris M. Hand, The Siege of Fort Beausejour 1755, 2004, Fredercton: Goose Lane Editions and the New Brunswick Military Heritage Project. ISBN 0-86492-377-5.
- Bernard Pothier, Battle for the Chignecto Forts, 1995, Toronto: Balimuir.
- Dr. John Clarence Webster, The Forts of Chignecto, 1930, self published.
- Grenier, John. The Far Reaches of Empire. War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2008.
External links
- History of Chignecto, Central Library, Nova Scotia
- Peter Landry, "The Eddy Rebellion - Chignecto and the American Revolutionary War", in The Lion and the Lily, self-published, BluPete
- "The Chignecto Ship Railway", University of New Brunswick Library
- Chignecto-region - Acadian