Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Encyclopedia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
Annapolis Royal is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. Known as Port Royal until the Conquest of Acadia in 1710 by Britain, the town is the oldest continuous European settlement in North America, north of St...
in the western part of the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of 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...
. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin
Annapolis Basin
The Annapolis Basin is a sub-basin of the Bay of Fundy, located on the southwestern shores of the bay, along the northwestern shore of Nova Scotia and at the western end of the Annapolis Valley....
, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the original Habitation at Port-Royal
Habitation at Port-Royal
The Habitation at Port-Royal was the first successful French settlement of New France in North America, and is presently known as Port-Royal National Historic Site, a National Historic Site located on the northern side of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada...
. After its destruction by raiders from Virginia in 1613, Port Royal was re-established on the south shore of the basin. The British renamed Port Royal as Annapolis Royal after their conquest of Acadia (1710)
Siege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
.
Port Royal was founded by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons and Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
in 1605. The village was the first permanent European settlement north of St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
. (Two years later, the English made their first permanent settlement in Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
.) Approximately seventy-five years after Port Royal was founded, Acadians spread out from the capital to found the other major Acadian settlements established before the Expulsion of the Acadians: Grand Pré, Chignecto
Isthmus of Chignecto
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....
, Cobequid
Cobequid
The old name Cobequid was derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Wagobagitk" meaning "the bay runs far up", in reference to the area surrounding the easternmost inlet of the Minas Basin, a body of water called Cobequid Bay....
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...
.
In the 150 years prior to the founding of Halifax in 1749, Port Royal/Annapolis Royal was the capital of Acadia and later Nova Scotia for most decades. During that time the British made six attempts to conquer Acadia by attacking the capital. They finally defeated the French in the Siege of Port Royal (1710)
Siege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
. Over the following fifty years, the French and their allies made six unsuccessful military attempts to regain the capital. Including a raid by Americans in the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, Port Royal / Annapolis Royal faced a total of thirteen attacks, more than any other place in North America.
Port Royal Habitation (1605-1613)
Pierre Dugua, Sieur de MontsPierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts
Pierre Du Gua de Monts, was a French merchant, explorer and colonizer. A Protestant, he was born in Royan, France and had a great influence over the first two decades of the 17th century...
built the Habitation at Port-Royal
Habitation at Port-Royal
The Habitation at Port-Royal was the first successful French settlement of New France in North America, and is presently known as Port-Royal National Historic Site, a National Historic Site located on the northern side of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada...
in 1605 as a replacement for his initial attempt at colonizing Saint Croix Island (present day Maine)
Saint Croix Island, Maine
Saint Croix Island , long known to locals as Dochet Island, is a small uninhabited island in Maine near the mouth of the Saint Croix River that forms part of the International Boundary separating Maine from New Brunswick....
. The trading monopoly of de Monts was cancelled in 1607, and most of the French settlers returned to France, although some remained with the natives. Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just
Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just
Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just was a member of the French nobility best remembered as a commander of the French colonial empire, one of those responsible for establishing the most successful among early attempts to establish a permanent settlement in the North American...
led a second expedition to Port Royal in 1610.
Port Royal was the site of a number of North American firsts: the first resident surgeon; first continuing church services; first social club (named the "Order of Good Cheer"); creation of the first library; first French theatrical performance (titled Neptune); first apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
; and first weekly Bible class.. The author of Neptune, Marc Lescarbot
Marc Lescarbot
Marc Lescarbot was a French author, poet and lawyer, best known for his Histoire de la Nouvelle-France , based on his expedition to Acadia and research into French exploration. Considered one of the first great books in the history of Canada, it was printed in three editions, and was translated...
, wrote a popular history of his time in New France, entitled Histoire de la Nouvelle-France (1609).
Battle of Port Royal (1613)
Almost ten years later, the Admiral of Virginia Samuel ArgallSamuel Argall
Sir Samuel Argall was an English adventurer and naval officer.As a sea captain, in 1609, Argall was the first to determine a shorter northern route from England across the Atlantic Ocean to the new English colony of Virginia, based at Jamestown, and made numerous voyages to the New World...
led an English invasion force from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
to attack Acadia. He began with the Saint-Saveur mission (Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island , in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 6th largest island in the contiguous United States. Though it is often claimed to be the third largest island on the eastern seaboard of the United States, it is actually second...
, Maine) and then St. Croix Island. In October 1613, Argall surprised the settlers at Port Royal and sacked every building.
The Battle destroyed the Habitation but it did not wipe out the colony. Biencourt and his men remained in the area of Port Royal. The mill at Lequille remained, along with settlers who went into hiding during the battle. (At this time, future Governor Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour, the French King's appointed Governor of Acadia from 1631–1642 and again from 1653–1657, was born in France in 1593 and died at Cap de Sable in 1666...
migrated from Port Royal to establish himself at both Cap de Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Barrington Municipal District of Shelburne County.The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada erroneously assert that Fort Saint Louis is located at Port La Tour. The fort at Port La Tour was Fort Lomeron . ...
) and St. John, New Brunswick.}
Scottish Colony
David Kirke
Sir David Kirke was an adventurer, colonizer and governor for the king of England. Kirke was the son of Gervase Kirke, a wealthy London-based Scottish merchant, who had married a Huguenot woman, Elizabeth Goudon, and was raised in Dieppe, in Normandy.In 1627 Kirke's father and several London...
took Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, Lord Ochiltree
Lord Ochiltree
Lord Ochiltree of Lord Stuart of Ochiltree was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. In 1542 Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Avondale exchanged the lordship of Avondale with Sir James Hamilton for the lordship of Ochiltrie and by Act of Parliament was ordained to be styled Lord Stuart of Ochiltrie...
(Sir James Stewart of Killeith) planted a colony on Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
at Baleine
Baleine, Nova Scotia
Baleine is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality on Cape Breton Island...
, and William Alexander
William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling
William Alexander, Earl of Stirling was a Scotsman who was an early developer of Scottish colonisation of Port Royal, Nova Scotia and Long Island, New York...
established the first incarnation of “New Scotland”
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...
at Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...
. This set of British triumphs which left only Cape Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Barrington Municipal District of Shelburne County.The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada erroneously assert that Fort Saint Louis is located at Port La Tour. The fort at Port La Tour was Fort Lomeron . ...
) as the only major French holding in North America was not destined to last.
In 1621 King James I of England
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
granted to Sir William Alexander
William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling
William Alexander, Earl of Stirling was a Scotsman who was an early developer of Scottish colonisation of Port Royal, Nova Scotia and Long Island, New York...
all of Nova Scotia, which then included 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...
. On July 28, 1629, Sir William and seventy Scottish settlers were established at Port Royal, this time at the present day site of Annapolis Royal. During this time there were few French inhabitants in the colony. In 1629, Sir William sent a ship and some settlers who built Charles Fort at Port Royal, close to the site of Fort Anne
Fort Anne
For a similarly named fort in New York City see: Fort AmsterdamFort Anne is a typical star fort built to protect the harbour of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. The fort repelled all French attacks during the early stages of King George's War....
(see Charles Fort - National Historic Site). In 1631, under the terms of the Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye, the colonists were ordered to abandon Port Royal to the French. The official handover did not take place until late in 1632 and this gave Captain Andrew Forrester, commander of the then Scottish community the opportunity to cross the Bay of Fundy with twenty-five armed men and raid Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour, the French King's appointed Governor of Acadia from 1631–1642 and again from 1653–1657, was born in France in 1593 and died at Cap de Sable in 1666...
's Fort Sainte-Marie at 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...
.
French Colony
In 1635, Governor of Acadia Charles de Menou d'AulnayCharles de Menou d'Aulnay
Charles de Menou d'Aulnay was a pioneer of European settlement in North America and Governor of Acadia .-Biography:D'Aulnay was a member of the French nobility who was at various times a sea captain, a lieutenant in the French navy to his cousin Isaac de Razilly, and Governor of Acadia...
de Charnisay moved settlers from LaHave, Nova Scotia
LaHave, Nova Scotia
LaHave was once the capital of Acadia/ Nova Scotia and is now a small scenic village located on Highway 331 at the mouth of the LaHave River in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, across the river from Riverport and approximately 15 kilometres from the town of Bridgewater.- French Colony :LaHave was the...
to Port Royal, and the Acadian people began to establish their roots. Under D'Aulnay, the Acadians built the first dykes in North America and cultivated the reclaimed salt marshes.
During this time, Acadia was plunged into what some historians have described as a civil war; the two main centres were Port Royal, where d'Aulnay was stationed, and present-day Saint John, New Brunswick, where Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour, the French King's appointed Governor of Acadia from 1631–1642 and again from 1653–1657, was born in France in 1593 and died at Cap de Sable in 1666...
was stationed.
Battle of Port Royal (1640)
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la TourCharles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour
Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour, the French King's appointed Governor of Acadia from 1631–1642 and again from 1653–1657, was born in France in 1593 and died at Cap de Sable in 1666...
arrived from present day Saint John, New Brunswick and attacked Port Royal with two armed ships. D'Aulnay's captain was killed and La Tour and his men were taken prisoner. In response to the attack, D'Aulay sailed out of Port Royal to establish a blockade of La Tour's fort at Saint John, New Brunswick.
Battle of Port Royal (1643)
In 1643, La Tour tried to capture Port Royal again. La Tour arrived at Saint John from Boston with a fleet a five armed vessels and 270 men and broke the blockade. La Tour then chased d'Aulnay's vessels back across the Bay of Fundy to Port Royal. D'Aulnay resisted the attack, and seven of his men were wounded and three killed. La Tour did not attack the fort, which was defended by twenty soldiers. La Tour burned the mill, killed the livestock and seized furs, gunpowder and other supplies.d'Aulnay ultimately won the war against La Tour with the 1645 siege of 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...
. After the siege, La Tour went to live in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. After defeating La Tour at Saint John, from the capital Port Royal, d'Aulnay administered posts at LaHave, Nova Scotia
LaHave, Nova Scotia
LaHave was once the capital of Acadia/ Nova Scotia and is now a small scenic village located on Highway 331 at the mouth of the LaHave River in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, across the river from Riverport and approximately 15 kilometres from the town of Bridgewater.- French Colony :LaHave was the...
; Pentagouet {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...
); Canso, Nova Scotia
Canso, Nova Scotia
For the headland, see Cape Canso.Canso is a small Canadian town in Guysborough County, on the north-eastern tip of mainland Nova Scotia, next to Chedabucto Bay. The area was established in 1604, along with Port Royal, Nova Scotia. The British construction of a fort in the village , was instrumental...
; Cap Sable (Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Barrington Municipal District of Shelburne County.The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada erroneously assert that Fort Saint Louis is located at Port La Tour. The fort at Port La Tour was Fort Lomeron . ...
); the Saint John River (Bay of Fundy) and Miscou Island
Miscou Island
Miscou Island is a Canadian island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at the northeastern tip of Gloucester County, New Brunswick.It is separated from neighbouring Lamèque Island to the southwest by the Miscou Channel with both islands forming Miscou Harbour....
.
After d'Aulnay died (1650), La Tour re-established himself in Acadia.
Battle of Port Royal (1654)
In 1654, Colonel Robert SedgwickRobert Sedgwick
Major General Robert Sedgwick was an English colonist, born 1611 in Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, and baptised on May 6, 1613.-Biography:...
led a force to capture Port Royal made up of one hundred New England volunteers and two hundred professional soldiers sent to New England by Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, the first professional English soldiers sent to North America. Prior to the Battle, Sedgwick captured and plundered present day 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...
and La Tour's fort 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...
. Sedgwick also took La Tour prisoner. The defenders of Port Royal numbered only about 130. After resisting the English landings and defending the fort during a short siege, the outnumbered Acadians surrendered after negotiating terms that allowed French inhabitants who wished to remain to keep their property and religion. Soldiers and officials were given transport to France while the majority of Port Royal residents remained unharmed. However in violation of the surrender terms, Sedgwick's men rampaged through the Port-Royal monastery, smashing windows, doors, paneling and even the floor boards before burning the monastery and the newly constructed Port Royal church. The English occupied Acadia for the next 16 years with a small garrison, leaving the Acadian residents mostly undisturbed.
French Colony
In 1667, Port Royal was returned to France. In a census taken in 1671 there were 361 Acadians in the Port Royal area. Another census in the late 1680s shows 450 Acadians in the entire area of Port Royal.Battle of Port Royal (1690)
During King William's WarKing 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...
, Port Royal served as a safe harbor for French cruisers and supply point for Indians hostile to the New England
New 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...
colonies.
The Battle of Port Royal (1690)
Battle of Port Royal (1690)
The Battle of Port Royal occurred at Port Royal, the capital of French Acadia, during King William's War , the first of the four French and Indian Wars. A large force of New England provincial militia arrived before Port Royal, which was surrendered without resistance not long after...
began on May 9. Sir William Phips
William Phips
Sir William Phips was a shipwright, ship's captain, treasure hunter, military leader, and the first royally-appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay....
of New England arrived with 736 men in seven English ships. Governor de Meneval fought for two days and then capitulated. The garrison was imprisoned in the church and Governor de Meneval was confined to his house. The New Englanders levelled what was begun of the new fort. The residents of Port Royal were imprisoned in the church and administered an oath of allegiance to the King.
Phips left, but war ships from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
arrived in June which resulted in more destruction. The seamen burned and looted the settlement, including the parish church.
Raid on Port Royal (1693)
In response to assisting Pierre Maisonnat dit BaptistePierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste was a French privateer famous for the success he had against New England merchant shipping and fishing interests. Baptiste's crew members were primarily Acadians....
, English frigates attacked Port Royal. The New Englanders burned almost a dozen houses and three barns full of grain. Port Royal was again made the capital in 1699.
Queen Anne's War
During Queen Anne's WarQueen 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...
, there was a New England blockade of Port Royal and then three attempts to lay siege to the capital. The last siege ultimately resulted in the British conquest of Acadia and Nova Scotia.
Blockade of Port Royal (1704)
In 1704, in retaliation for the Raid on Deerfield, Major Benjamin Church (military officer) created a blockade of Port Royal. Church was instructed not to attack the capital because the action was not authorized from London. Before daylight, on July 2, two English warships and seven smaller vessels entered the Port Royal basin. They captured the guard station opposite Goat Island as well as four Acadians. Landing at Pointe aux Chesnes on the north shore, they took a family prisoner. A woman from the family was sent to the fort to demand its surrender. The blockade lasted seventeen days; those in the fort awaited an attack. Church had moved on to conduct the real purpose of his expedition: the Raid on Grand PréRaid 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...
, Raid on 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...
, and Raid on Chignecto
Isthmus of Chignecto
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....
. He returned to Port Royal and then with a brief exchange of gunfire, returned to Boston.
Siege of Port Royal (June 1707)
Two major British efforts to besiege the town in 1707Siege of Port Royal (1707)
The Siege of Port Royal in 1707 was two separate attempts by English colonists from New England to conquer Acadia by capturing its capital Port Royal during Queen Anne's War. Both attempts were made by colonial militia, and were led by men inexperienced in siege warfare...
met with failure. The first siege during the war happened on June 17 and lasted eleven days. Colonel John March
John March
John March was in a variety of businesses in Newbury, Massachusetts. He was a colonel in the Massachusetts Bay militia and, in that position, was active in a number of military operations against the French and Indians by the English in King William's War and Queen Anne's War.March was in charge...
, the most senior officer in all of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
was sent to defeat the capital. Acadian governor Daniel d'Auger de Subercase
Daniel d'Auger de Subercase
Daniel d'Auger de Subercase naval officer and French governor of Newfoundland, born Orthez, Béarn died Cannes-Ecluse, Île-de-France....
successfully defended the capital.
Siege of Port Royal (August 1707)
Colonel Francis Wainwright led the second siege on August 20. It lasted eleven days. Subercase and his troops killed sixteen New Englanders and lost three soldiers. Again the British retreated.Siege of Port Royal (1710)
On September 24, 1710, the British returned with 36 ships and 2000 men, and again laid siegeSiege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
to the capital in what would be the final Conquest of Acadia. Supercase and the French held out until October 2 when the approximately 300 defenders of the fort surrendered, ending French rule in Acadia. The following year, after the Acadian and Indian success at the near-by Battle of Bloody Creek (1711), the Acadians and Indians unsuccessfully attempted to lay siege to the capital.
British Colony
After the conquest of Acadia with the Siege of Port Royal (1710)Siege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
, the British changed the name from Port Royal to Annapolis Royal
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
Annapolis Royal is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. Known as Port Royal until the Conquest of Acadia in 1710 by Britain, the town is the oldest continuous European settlement in North America, north of St...
. The French, Mi'kmaq and Acadians made four attempts to retake the capital of Acadia during King George's War
King 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...
. Many of the Acadian inhabitants at Port Royal remained in the town after it became Annapolis Royal Royal. However 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...
, the British deported the Acadian residents at Annapolis Royal to British and French territories in the Expulsion of the Acadians, beginning in 1755, because they wanted to remove any military threat the Acadians posed and cut off vital supply lines the Acadians provided to the French Fortress of Louisbourg
Fortress of Louisbourg
The Fortress of Louisbourg is a national historic site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th century French fortress at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia...
.
External links
- Biography of Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Meneval, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Photographs of historic plaques at the Port Royal Habitation National Historic Site, Nova Scotia
- Photographs of the Scotch Fort historic monument at Port Royal, Nova Scotia
- Nova Scotia Archieves and Records Management
- Port Royal/Annapolis Royal Timeline
See also
- Royal eponyms in CanadaRoyal eponyms in CanadaIn Canada, a number of sites and structures are named for royal individuals, whether a member of the past French Royal Family, British Royal Family, or present Canadian Royal Family, thus reflecting the country's status as a constitutional monarchy under the Canadian Crown.-King Francis I:-Queen...
- Monarchy in Nova Scotia