The siege of Annapolis Royal (also known as the siege of Fort Anne) in 1744 involved two of four attempts by the French, along with their Acadian and native allies, to regain the capital of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Acadia Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...

, Annapolis Royal, during

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. The siege is noted for Governor of Nova Scotia Paul Mascarene successfully defending the last British outpost in the colony and for the first arrival of New England Ranger John Gorham to Nova Scotia. The French and Mi'kmaq land forces were thwarted on both attempts on the capital because of the failure of French naval support to arrive.

Historical context

The conquest of

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began with the 1710 capture of the provincial capital, Port Royal. In the 1713

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vac ...

, France formally ceded Acadia to Britain. However, there was disagreement about the provincial boundaries, and some Acadians also resisted British rule. With renewed war imminent in 1744, the leaders of

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formulated plans to retake what the British called

with an assault on the capital, which the British had renamed Annapolis Royal. With the outbreak of the

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(whose North American theater is also known as

) in Europe, the French colony of Île-Royale (present-day

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) received the news first and took immediate action. French officer François Dupont Duvivier led an attack on raided the British outpost at Canso, capturing the small garrison of the 40th Regiment of Foot without incident. Du Vivier's next plan was to take the only other British outpost in Nova Scotia, Annapolis Royal.

First stage

The governor of Ile Royal, Jean-Baptiste Prévost du Quesnel, lacking the troop strength to attack Annapolis Royal, recruited the militant French priest Jean-Louis Le Loutre to raise a force of Acadians and Indians to assault the Nova Scotian capital. Le Loutre raised a force of 300

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

and

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, and arrived before Annapolis Royal's main fortification, Fort Anne, on 12 July 1744. The attackers killed two soldiers, and the assault ended after four days with the arrival of British ships with 70 soldiers from

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. Le Loutre withdrew to Grand Pre to await the arrival of DuVivier.

Second stage

François Dupont Duvivier, who had led the Canso raid, led the second siege attempt against Fort Anne, with a force of 200 troops. Duvivier arrived at Fort Anne on 6 September 1744. The first night he erected shelters. He used Gautier's house for his Headquarters. The next morning he approached the fort and the Governor of Nova Scotia, Paul Mascarene responded by firing a cannon, which lead Duvivier to withdraw. That night Duvivier sent small parties to the fort which led to skirmishing the whole night. On the morning of 7 September, Duvivier sent his younger brother to the fort under a flag of truce carrying a message that said British resistance was futile. Paul Mascarene, rejected the surrender demand, and replied that naval reinforcements were on the way and that if the French surrendered they would receive benign treatment. Duvivier gave them twenty four hours before he said he would attack at noon on 8 September. Duvivier waited until 9 September to begin the siege. The French troops and Mi'kmaq attacked the wall of the fort each night and conducted daily raids around the ramparts. On 15 September, Duvivier again asked Mascarene to surrender which he refused. They continued to fight. On 25 September a British sergeant was killed and a private was wounded. During the siege Duvivier waited weeks for French vessels to arrive to reinforce his attack, while Mascarene awaited for support from Boston. On September 26, New England Ranger John Gorham and Edward Tyng arrived with 50 native rangers (see Gorham's Rangers). Gorham's rangers brought the total manpower of the garrison up to about 270. A few days later, Gorham led his native rangers in a surprise raid on a nearby Mi'kmaq encampment. They killed and mutilated the bodies of women and children. The Mi'kmaq withdrew and Duvivier was forced to retreat back to Grand Pre on 5 October. (The following year, Mi'kmaq sought revenge on Gorham's Rangers by torturing the rangers they took prisoner at Goat Island (off Annapolis Royal) during the siege of Annapolis Royal.

Consequences

From this siege, the French learned that until they could send an army with siege guns and cannon against the capital, there was little to gain from exposing their forces in a siege. A successful French campaign would depend on the navy's ability to supply the army. The French also learned that they could not rely on the majority of Acadians to take up arms against the British. On 20 October 1744 the government of Massachusetts officially declared war on the Mi'kmaq. A bounty was offered for the head of any man, woman or child.Shirley's declaration of war
/ref> Duvivier received the

Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis () is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the fi ...

for his military work in Acadia. The French made two further attempts, both unsuccessful, to regain Annapolis Royal during the war.

References

Endnotes

Secondary sources

* * * Johnson, Rossiter
''A history of the French wars: ending in the conquest of Canada'', Volume 2"> ''A history of the French wars: ending in the conquest of Canada'', Volume 2
* * * * {{cite journal , first=Bernard , last=Pothier , title=The Siege of Annapolis Royal, 1744 , journal=The Nova Scotia Historical Review , volume=5, issue=1, date=1985, pages=59–71 * William O. Raymond
The old Meductic Fort and the Indian chapel of Saint Jean Baptiste: paper read before the New Brunswick Historical Society (1897)
Military history of Acadia Military history of Nova Scotia Military history of New England 1744 in military history Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal 1744 Annapolis Royal 1744 Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal 1744 in North America Annapolis Royal