Citadel Hill (Fort George)

Halifax looking south from atop Citadel Hill, circa 1870. A row of cannons face down towards the harbour.

Inside the ditch of Fort George

Firing of the noon gun at Fort George

Fort George is a National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and was built during Father Le Loutre's War. A series of four different defensive fortifications have occupied the summit of Citadel Hill since this time, with the construction and levelling resulting in the summit of the hill being dropped by ten to twelve metres.

Father Le Loutre's War

Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. Father Le Loutre's War began when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports on June 21, 1749. By unilaterally establishing Halifax the British were violating earlier treaties with the Mi'kmaq (1726), which were signed after Dummer's War. The British quickly began to build other settlments. To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian and French attacks on the new protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (1749), Dartmouth (1750), Bedford (Fort Sackville) (1751), Lunenburg (1753) and Lawrencetown (1754).

French and Indian War

Fort George was also instrumental to the British during the French and Indian War. The Fort helped to faciltate the Expulsion of the Acadians. During the war, the Mi'kmaq and Acadians resisted the British. Acadian Pierre Gautier, son of Joseph-Nicolas Gautier, led Mi’kmaq warriors from Louisbourg on three raids against Halifax in 1757. In each raid, Gautier took prisoners or scalps or both. The last raid happened in September and Gautier went with four Mi’kmaq and killed and scalped two British men at the foot of Citadel Hill. There were also numerous raids in the province such as the Lunenburg and other places during the war.

The first fort was part of the western perimeter wall for the old city which was protected by five stockaded forts. The others were Horsemans Fort, Cornwallis Fort, Fort Lutrell and Grenadier Fort.

Fort George is a National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and was built during Father Le Loutre's War. A series of four different defensive fortifications have occupied the summit of Citadel Hill since this time, with the construction and levelling resulting in the summit of the hill being dropped by ten to twelve metres.

Father Le Loutre's War

Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. Father Le Loutre's War began when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports on June 21, 1749. By unilaterally establishing Halifax the British were violating earlier treaties with the Mi'kmaq (1726), which were signed after Dummer's War. The British quickly began to build other settlments. To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian and French attacks on the new protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (1749), Dartmouth (1750), Bedford (Fort Sackville) (1751), Lunenburg (1753) and Lawrencetown (1754).

American Revolution

Citadel Hill hosted a three-story octagonal blockhouse from 1776–1789, covering a fourteen-gun battery.

The current star-shaped fortress, or citadel, is formally known as Fort George and was completed in 1856, following twenty-eight years of construction. This massive masonry-construction fort was designed to repel a land-based attack by United States forces and was inspired by the designs of Louis XIV's commissary of fortifications Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban – a star-shaped hillock fortress with internal courtyard and clear harbour view from armoured ramparts. Between 1820 and 1831 the British had constructed a similar albeit larger citadel in Quebec City known as the Citadel of Quebec.

Fort George and its predecessors was the focal point of the British, and later Canadian, military's "Halifax Defence Complex" which included (at various years):

• Fort Needham
• HMC Dockyard
• Fort George (Citadel Hill)
• Fort Massey
• Fort Ogilvie
• Prince of Wales Tower
• Connaught Battery
• York Redoubt
• Practice Battery
• Sandwich Point
• Camperdown
• Fort Chebucto
• (Fort Charlotte)
• Fort Clarence
• Devil's Battery / Hartlen Point
• Five forts on McNabs Island:
  • Fort Ives
  • Fort Hugonin
  • Sherbrooke Tower
  • Strawberry Hill
  • Fort McNab

Citadel Hill in winter.

Fort George was constructed to defend against smoothbore weaponry; it became obsolete following the introduction of more powerful rifled guns in the 1860s. British forces upgraded Fort George's armaments to permit it to defend the harbour as well as land approaches, using heavier and more accurate long-range artillery. The role of Fort George in the defense of Halifax Harbour had evolved by the turn of the 20th century to becoming a command centre for other, more distant harbour defensive works, as well as providing barrack accommodations.

Although never attacked, Citadel Hill's various fortifications were garrisoned by the British Army until 1906 and afterward by the Canadian Army throughout the First and Second World Wars; Fort George having been used as temporary barracks during 1939-1940 and as the coordinating point for the city's anti-aircraft defences.

According to the historian and novelist Thomas Head Raddall, Citadel Hill was "like Vesuvius over Pompeii, a smiling monster with havoc in its belly". Following the Second World War, the hill and fortifications were designated a National Historic Site of Canada and today is under the responsibility of Parks Canada. Fort George has been restored to the mid-Victorian period.

Halifax Citadel National Historic Site

Reenactors portray soldiers in every day life at the fort

One of the most enduring and recognized symbols of Citadel Hill's role in shaping Halifax is the daily ceremonial firing of the noon gun. The artillery is also used for formal occasions such as 21-gun salutes.

Fort George has a living history program featuring animators portraying life in the fort where soldiers of the 78th Highland Regiment, the Third Brigade of the Royal Artillery, soldiers wives, and civilian tradespersons re-enact life in 1869.

There are guided and self-guided tours available as well as audio-visual presentations and exhibits which serve to communicate the Citadel's role in shaping Halifax's and North America's history.

The "Army Museum", located in the Citadel's Cavalier Block, displays a rare collection of weapons, medals and uniforms exploring Nova Scotia's army history. It is an independent non-profit museum but works in close partnership with the Citadel staff of Parks Canada.

In July 2006, Halifax Citadel celebrated the 100th anniversary of the withdrawal of the last British military forces from Canada. The citadel hosted over 1,000 re-enactors from around the world.

Approaching the Christmas season, Citadel Hill annually hosts a "Victorian Christmas". Visitors are treated to crafts, carolers and games.

Town clock

It is said that Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the commander-in-chief of military forces in British North America, wished to correct the tardiness of the Halifax garrisons of the British Army and Royal Navy so he commissioned a clock tower in 1800 prior to his return to England. The Town Clock opened on October 20, 1803 at a location on the east slope of Citadel Hill on Barrack (now Brunswick) Street and has kept time for the community ever since.

References

• Parks Canada, Halifax Citadel National Historic Site brochure, 2001.
• Cuthbertson, Brian, The Halifax Citadel: Portrait of a Military Fortress, 2001, Formac Publishing Company, Ltd., Halifax.

External links

• Halifax Citadel National Historic Site of Canada
• Halifax Citadel Regimental Association
• Satellite Photo of Citadel Hill