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Introduction
Port Royal was founded by Samuel Champlain in 1605. The French fortified the place and used it as a base to raid the British colonies to the south during the colonial wars. The British attacked and captured the place in war after war but used it as leverage to obtain concessions elsewhere at the treaty negotiations. This time they were going to take it and keep it for good.
This selection is by Duncan Campbell.
Time: 1710
Place: Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Each time that England and France quarreled in Europe their colonies became engaged in strife. In 1690, when William III fought Louis XIV the able Governor of Canada, Frontenac, dispatched his Indian allies to ravage New England, while with rare military skill he defended himself and his province. He could not, however, prevent the capture of Port Royal (now Annapolis) in Nova Scotia. This great fortress, the pride of Louis XIV, was attacked by the New England colonists under Sir William Phips, the Governor of Massachusetts and was captured by a most dashing attack. When England and France made peace, Port Royal was restored to the French, much to the dissatisfaction of the English colonists, who saw clearly that as soon as another war arose they would have to make the assault again.
During the era of Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) French and Indian forays and incursions were frequent on the borders of Acadia and New England. Britain, meanwhile, was desirous of limiting the growth of France in the New World, and, with the provocation that had been given the New England colonies by the murderous raids of the French and Abenaquis Indians on her towns and border settlements, the English colonists retaliated by attempting, in 1704 and 1707, to recapture Acadia. They finally succeeded in 1710 under General Nicholson. The story of this expedition will be found appended in Campbell’s narrative, as well as the account given of the disastrous failure of Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker’s formidable expedition in 1711 up the St. Lawrence with the design of assaulting Québec. On the capture by the New England colonies of Port Royal and the expulsion of its French garrison, the place became an English fortress and was renamed Annapolis Royal, in honor of Queen Anne.
In perusing the history of Nova Scotia, the reader is struck with the frequency with which the country, or, in other words, the forts, passed from the French to the English and vice versa. As a rule, permanent retention was not contemplated. Hence we find that when Port Royal was taken by Phips, he departed without leaving a solitary man to defend it. A few days after the expedition had left, the Chevalier de Villebon, the newly appointed French Governor, arrived and if accompanied by the means, had a favorable opportunity of putting it once more in a state of defense and retaining it as a French stronghold. But Phips was not far off and he therefore deemed it prudent, considering the small force at his disposal, to retire to the river St. John, where he remained for some years, destroying New England vessels and organizing schemes for the consolidation of French authority in the province.
In the meantime Villebon showed his temper toward the New Englanders by building a chapel on the disputed territory and driving their fishermen from the coast of Nova Scotia. Villebon was succeeded by Brouillan, in 1700 and not only was an enemy to the fishermen but actually afforded protection to pirates who preyed on the trade of Massachusetts, which inspired a degree of hostility in New England that, on the accession of Queen Anne, in 1702, the declaration of war which followed was hailed in that colony with demonstrations of joy.
The New Englanders had a long catalogue of grievances unredressed, hostile attacks unrevenged and were more determined than ever to put forth their strength for the expulsion of the French from the province. In 1704 a preliminary expedition was dispatched by them to the coast of Nova Scotia, consisting of a ship of forty-two and another of thirty-two guns, a number of transports and whale-boats, on board of which were upward of five hundred men, under the command of Colonel Church, whose instructions were to destroy settlements and where dams existed to deluge the cultivated ground and make as many prisoners as possible. One detachment visited Minas and spread desolation and ruin in that fertile region, through which Brouillan passed on his way to Annapolis, representing the people as living like true republicans, not acknowledging royal or judicial authority and able to spare eight hundred hogsheads of wheat yearly for exportation and as being supplied with abundance of cattle.
Another detachment went to Port Royal, which they deemed it prudent not to attack. Brouillan having died in 1706, M. Subercase was appointed governor. In the spring of 1707 another expedition was sent from New England to attack Port Royal. It consisted of twenty-three transports and the province galley, convoyed by a man-of-war of fifty guns, on which were embarked two regiments of militia, under Colonels Wainwright and Hilton. The expedition arrived at the entrance to Port Royal on June 6th. A landing was soon effected but Subercase’s dispositions for resistance were so able that the English found it impossible to make any impression on the defenses, and, after losing eighty men, the troops were reembarked and proceeded to Casco Bay, from which place the commanders communicated with the Governor of New England and waited orders. The failure of the expedition caused great indignation in New England and the Governor immediately resolved to strengthen the army with a hundred recruits and to order a second attack. Accordingly, the expedition again sailed for Port Royal, when Subercase was in a far more formidable position than formerly. After a siege of fifteen days, in which the English officers displayed unaccountable cowardice, the ships retired, having lost sixteen men, while the French had only three men killed and wounded.
Subercase immediately proceeded to strengthen his position in anticipation of a third attack. A bomb-proof powder magazine was accordingly constructed, capable of containing sixty thousand pounds of powder and the fort was otherwise improved. This Governor, who had formed a high estimate of the climate, soil and general resources of the province, was one of the ablest appointed under French rule. He made urgent appeals to the French government to colonize the country on a large scale, pointing out the advantages that would follow; but all his suggestions were disregarded and he had the mortification, notwithstanding his zeal and personal sacrifices in the service of his country, to receive less encouragement and support from the home government than any of his predecessors.
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