Battle of Fort Beauséjour

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Battle of Fort Beauséjour Part of the French and Indian War Lewis Parker's Camp of the British 43rd Regiment at Fort Beauséjour features grenadiers and regular infantry at the siege. Date June 3-16, 1755 Location Near present-day Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada 45°51′55.83″N 64°17′26.85″W / 45.8655083°N 64.2907917°W / 45.8655083; -64.2907917Coordinates: 45°51′55.83″N 64°17′26.85″W / 45.8655083°N 64.2907917°W / 45.8655083; -64.2907917 Result British victory Belligerents France Great Britain Commanders Louis Du Pont Duchambon de Vergor Robert Monckton Strength 162 troupes de la Marine 300 Acadian militia 270 British army troops 2,000 New England militia

v • d • e Seven Years' War in North America: The French and Indian War Jumonville Glen – Fort Necessity – Fort Beauséjour – Monongahela – Lake George – Fort Bull – Fort Oswego – Kittanning – First Snowshoes –  – Fort William Henry – Bloody Creek – German Flatts – Second Snowshoes – Louisbourg – Fort Carillon – Fort Frontenac – Fort Duquesne – Fort Ligonier – La Belle-Famille – Fort Niagara – Ticonderoga – Beauport – Quebec – St. Francis – Sainte-Foy – Restigouche – Thousand Islands – Signal Hill

The Battle of Fort Beauséjour marked the opening of a British offensive in the French and Indian War (the North American theater of the Seven Years' War). Beginning June 3, 1755, a British army under Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Monckton staged out of nearby Fort Lawrence, besieged the small French garrison at Fort Beauséjour with the goal of opening the Isthmus of Chignecto to British control. After two weeks of siege, Louis Du Pont Duchambon de Vergor, the fort's commander, capitulated on June 16.

[edit] Battle

In June 1755, Lieutenant-Colonel Monckton, commanding a fleet of 31 transports and three Royal Navy warships carrying 270 British regular troops (from the 43rd Regiment of Foot) and 2,000 New England militia, entered Cumberland Basin. The ships dropped anchor at the mouth of the Missaguash River and the British forces were able to land unopposed. Using the nearby British outpost of Fort Lawrence (about three kilometers (2 miles) to the east) as a staging area, Monckton then proceeded to the top of Aulac Ridge. The British offensive began on June 3, with Monckton carefully and methodically advancing on the French fortification from the north. When his forces were close enough on June 13, Monckton began a bombardment with 13 inch mortars.

Although the commander of the fort, the Marquis Louis Du Pont Duchambon de Vergor, defied the British for two weeks, there was little the French could realistically do against the numerically superior British forces. On June 16, British mortar fire breached the walls of the fortification and badly mauled the French garrison. De Vergor had little choice but to surrender.

The next day, the French abandoned nearby Fort Gaspareaux, severing communications between Acadia and Île Royale (Cape Breton Island), and leaving the British forces in control of the frontier between Nova Scotia and Acadia.

[edit] Aftermath

The campaign of 1755 was not strategically decisive and did little to threaten New France's overall territorial integrity in North America since Edward Braddock's simultaneous thrust into the Ohio Valley ended in disaster at the Battle of the Monongahela. However the impact of the battle upon the local Acadian population was catastrophic. Some French-speaking Acadians who had previously declared neutrality in French-British conflicts participated in defense of the fort. This open breach of neutrality was viewed by the British officials in Halifax as being unacceptable. Governor Charles Lawrence of Nova Scotia used the presence of these Acadian irregulars at Fort Beauséjour as a pretense and excuse to order the deportation of the Acadian population from the colony. Monckton and his expeditionary force were placed in charge of executing the directive. The effects of the deportation resonates to the present day throughout Atlantic Canada and as far afield as Louisiana in the United States where many Acadians settled. The name Acadian was corrupted in Louisiana becoming Cajun.^{[citation needed]}

Fort Beauséjour was renamed by the British to Fort Cumberland. It saw little further action in the French and Indian War, and was abandoned in 1768. It was refortified in 1776, and besieged by Jonathan Eddy and a mixed band of rebels from Massachusetts and Nova Scotia in November 1776.

[edit] References

• Chris M. Hand, The Siege of Fort Beausejour 1755, Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions/New Brunswick Military Heritage Project, 2004.