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*John Grenier. ''The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760.'' Oklahoma University Press.2008
*John Grenier. ''The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760.'' Oklahoma University Press.2008
*John Grenier. The first way of war: American war making on the frontier, 1607-1814 Cambridge University Press. 2005
*John Grenier. The first way of war: American war making on the frontier, 1607-1814 Cambridge University Press. 2005
*Geoffrey Plank, “The Two Majors Cope: the boundaries of Nationality in Mid-18th Century Nova Scotia”, Acadiensis, XXV, 2 (Spring 1996), pp. 18–40.
⚫
* Geoffrey Plank. "New England Soldiers in the Saint John River Valley: 1758-1760" in ''New England and the Maritime provinces: connections and comparisons'' By Stephen Hornsby, John G. Reid. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005. pp. 59–73
*Geoffrey Plank. An Unsettled Conquest: The British Campaign Against the Peoples of Acadia. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2001
⚫
* Geoffrey Plank. "New England Soldiers in the Saint John River Valley: 1758-1760" in ''New England and the Maritime provinces: connections and comparisons'' By Stephen Hornsby, John G. Reid. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005. pp. 59–73
* John Faragher. A Great and Nobel Scheme. Norton. 2005. p. 405.
* John Faragher. A Great and Nobel Scheme. Norton. 2005. p. 405.


Revision as of 04:59, 12 July 2011

Edward Cornwallis
Edward Cornwallis
Born5 March 1713
London, England
Died14 January 1776(1776-01-14) (aged 62)
Gibraltar
Buried
Culford, Suffolk
Allegiance Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/branchBritish Army
RankLieutenant General
Battles/wars

Lieutenant General Edward Cornwallis (5 March 1713 – 14 January 1776) was a British military officer who founded Halifax, Nova Scotia with 2500 settlers and later served as the Governor of Gibraltar.[1]

Early life

He was the sixth son of Charles, fourth Baron Cornwallis, and Lady Charlotte Butler, daughter of the Earl of Arran.[2] The Cornwallis family possessed large estates at Culford in Suffolk and the Channel Islands.[2] His grandfather, Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, was First Lord of the Admiralty. (His nephew, Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, would become a British general in the American War of Independence, and was later Governor-General of India.)

A twin brother to Frederick Cornwallis, both Edward and Frederick were made royal pages at the age of 12.[2] They were enrolled at Eton school at 14, and at age 18, Edward was commissioned into the 47th Regiment of Foot in 1731.[2]

Military career

War of the Austrian Succession

Cornwallis participated in the Battle of Fontenoy during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Jacobite Rising of 1745.[2]

Father Le Loutre's War

Fort Edward (Nova Scotia), named after Edward Cornwallis

The British Government appointed Cornwallis as Governor of Nova Scotia and he arrived on 21 June 1749 at Chibouctou Harbour.[2] Father Le Loutre's War began with the British unilaterally establishing Halifax, which was a violation of an earlier treaty with the Mi'kmaq people (1726) that was signed after Dummer's War.[3] Cornwallis also established forts in the largest Acadian communities, which were located at Windsor (Fort Edward), Grand Pre (Fort Vieux Logis) and Chignecto (Fort Lawrence). As a result, during Cornwallis' three years in Nova Scotia, Acadians and Mi'kmaq people orchestrated attacks on the British at Chignecto, Grand Pre, Dartmouth, Canso, and Halifax. The French erected forts at present day Saint John, Chignecto and Port Elgin, New Brunswick. Cornwallis's forces responded by attacking the Mi'kmaq and Acadians at Mirligueche (later known as Lunenburg), Chignecto and St. Croix.

Frontier warfare was the standard practice of warfare in North America during the colonial wars between New England and New France and their respective native allies.[4] In Acadia and Nova Scotia, both the British and Mi'kmaq forces engaged in frontier warfare or total war, that is, both sides of the conflict repeatedly killed combatants and non-combatants (i.e., women, children and babies).[5] While the British paid the New England Rangers for Mi'kmaq scalps, the French paid the Mi'kmaq for British scalps.[6] Unlike the French, the British did not have a bounty on those of European decent.[7]

At the same time the British were adopting an uncomplicated, racially based view of local politics, several leaders of the Micmac community were developing a similar stance.[8]

There has been much public attention in the twenty-first century on Cornwallis' use of frontier warfare, with little regard for the historical context and the Mi'kmaq leaders and warriors use of this type of warfare against the British.[9]

Cornwallis left Nova Scotia in 1752, three years before Father Le Loutre's War ended in 1755.

Seven Years War

Further information: [[:Great Britain in the Seven Years War]]

In November 1756 Cornwallis was one of three colonels who were ordered to proceed to Gibraltar and from there embark for Minorca, which was then under siege from the French.[2] Admiral John Byng called a council of war, which involved Cornwallis, and advised the return of the fleet to Gibraltar leaving the garrison at Minorca to its fate.[2] Cornwallis was also one of the senior officers in the September 1757 Raid on Rochefort which saw a failed amphibious descent on the French coastline.[2]

Governor of Gilbraltar

Cornwallis served as the Governor of Gibraltar from June 14, 1761 to January 1776 when he died at the age of 63.[2]

Legacy

In Popular Culture

References

Texts

  • John Grenier. The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760. Oklahoma University Press.2008
  • John Grenier. The first way of war: American war making on the frontier, 1607-1814 Cambridge University Press. 2005
  • Geoffrey Plank, “The Two Majors Cope: the boundaries of Nationality in Mid-18th Century Nova Scotia”, Acadiensis, XXV, 2 (Spring 1996), pp. 18–40.
  • Geoffrey Plank. An Unsettled Conquest: The British Campaign Against the Peoples of Acadia. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2001
  • Geoffrey Plank. "New England Soldiers in the Saint John River Valley: 1758-1760" in New England and the Maritime provinces: connections and comparisons By Stephen Hornsby, John G. Reid. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005. pp. 59–73
  • John Faragher. A Great and Nobel Scheme. Norton. 2005. p. 405.

Endnotes

  1. ^ Charlotte Gray 'The Museum Called Canada: 25 Rooms of Wonder' Random House, 2004
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mastermason.com profile of Edward Cornwallis
  3. ^ John Grenier. The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760. Oklahoma University Press. 2008
  4. ^ John Grenier. The first way of war: American war making on the frontier, 1607-1814 Cambridge University Press. 2005.
  5. ^ Plank, 1996, p.33-34
  6. ^ The regiments of both the French and British militaries were not skilled at frontier warfare, while the Natives and Rangers were. British officers Cornwallis and Amherst both expressed dismay over the tactics of the rangers and the Mi'kmaq (See Grenier, 2008. p.152, Faragher, p. 405).
  7. ^ Plank, p. 67
  8. ^ Plank, 1996, p.33
  9. ^ According to historian Geoffery Plank, both combatants understood their conflict as a race war, and that the Mi’kmaq and British were “singlemindedly” determined to drive each other from the peninsula of Nova Scotia (Plank, 1996, pp.33-34). Plank's work contrasts with the work of amateur historian See Daniel Paul on Cornwallis and the newspaper article Replace Cornwallis statue to honour Marshall: author Halifax Weekly News, August 2009 and Paul on Cornwallis: You be the judge
  10. ^ http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9021231.html

External links

Government offices
Preceded by Governor of Gibraltar
1761–1776 		Succeeded by

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