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In 1621 King [[James I of England]] granted to [[William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling|Sir William Alexander]] all of Nova Scotia, which then included [[New Brunswick]]. On July 28, 1629, Sir William and seventy Scottish settlers were established at Port Royal, this time at the present day site of Annapolis Royal. During this time there were few French inhabitants in the colony. In 1629, Sir William sent a ship and some settlers who built Charles Fort at Port Royal, close to the site of [[Fort Anne]] (see [http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/charles/natcul/natcul3.aspx Charles Fort - National Historic Site]). In 1631, under the terms of the Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye, the colonists were ordered to abandon Port Royal to the French. The official handover did not take place until late in 1632 and this gave Captain Andrew Forrester, commander of the then Scottish community the opportunity to cross the Bay of Fundy with twenty-five armed men and raid [[Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour]]'s Fort Sainte-Marie at [[Saint John, New Brunswick]].<ref>There is a monument to Sir William Alexander in Victoria Park, Halifax - see [http://ns1763.ca/hfxrm/alexwill.html Sir Alexander Monument]. As well, the name and [[Flag of Nova Scotia]] were established at this time.</ref>
In 1621 King [[James I of England]] granted to [[William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling|Sir William Alexander]] all of Nova Scotia, which then included [[New Brunswick]]. On July 28, 1629, Sir William and seventy Scottish settlers were established at Port Royal, this time at the present day site of Annapolis Royal. During this time there were few French inhabitants in the colony. In 1629, Sir William sent a ship and some settlers who built Charles Fort at Port Royal, close to the site of [[Fort Anne]] (see [http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/charles/natcul/natcul3.aspx Charles Fort - National Historic Site]). In 1631, under the terms of the Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye, the colonists were ordered to abandon Port Royal to the French. The official handover did not take place until late in 1632 and this gave Captain Andrew Forrester, commander of the then Scottish community the opportunity to cross the Bay of Fundy with twenty-five armed men and raid [[Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour]]'s Fort Sainte-Marie at [[Saint John, New Brunswick]].<ref>There is a monument to Sir William Alexander in Victoria Park, Halifax - see [http://ns1763.ca/hfxrm/alexwill.html Sir Alexander Monument]. As well, the name and [[Flag of Nova Scotia]] were established at this time.</ref>

In 1633, protecting the boundary of Acadia, [[Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour|Charles de la Tour]], the French commander of [[Acadia]], made a descent upon [[Machias, Maine]] from his seat at [[Port Royal, Nova Scotia]] killing two of its six defenders, and carrying the others away with their merchandise.<ref>M. A MacDonald, Fortune and La Tour. p. 82</ref>


==French Colony==
==French Colony==

Revision as of 00:14, 13 February 2012

For other uses of the term Port Royal, see Port Royal (disambiguation).
Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia is located in Nova Scotia
Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia
class=notpageimage|
Port Royal in Nova Scotia
Habitation at Port-Royal
Port Royal and Annapolis Basin, 1609
Port Royal from Samuel de Champlain's diagram, circa 1612

Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the original Habitation at Port-Royal. After its destruction by raiders from Virginia in 1613, Port Royal was re-established on the south shore of the basin. The British renamed Port Royal as Annapolis Royal after their conquest of Acadia (1710).

Port Royal was founded by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons and Samuel de Champlain in 1605. The village was the first permanent European settlement north of St. Augustine, Florida. (Two years later, the English made their first permanent settlement in Jamestown, Virginia.) Approximately seventy-five years after Port Royal was founded, Acadians spread out from the capital to found the other major Acadian settlements established before the Expulsion of the Acadians: Grand Pré, Chignecto, Cobequid and Pisiguit.

In the 150 years prior to the founding of Halifax in 1749, Port Royal/Annapolis Royal was the capital of Acadia and later Nova Scotia for most decades.[1] During that time the British made six attempts to conquer Acadia by attacking the capital. They finally defeated the French in the Siege of Port Royal (1710). Over the following fifty years, the French and their allies made six unsuccessful military attempts to regain the capital. Including a raid by Americans in the American Revolution, Port Royal / Annapolis Royal faced a total of thirteen attacks, more than any other place in North America.[2]

French Colony

Port Royal Habitation (1605-1613)

Main article: Habitation at Port-Royal
Portrait of Captain Samuel Argall

Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts built the Habitation at Port-Royal in 1605 as a replacement for his initial attempt at colonizing Saint Croix Island (present day Maine).[3] The trading monopoly of de Monts was cancelled in 1607, and most of the French settlers returned to France, although some remained with the natives. Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt et de Saint-Just led a second expedition to Port Royal in 1610.[4]

Port Royal was the site of a number of North American firsts: the first resident surgeon; first continuing church services; first social club (named the "Order of Good Cheer"); creation of the first library; first French theatrical performance (titled Neptune); first apothecary; and first weekly Bible class.[5] The author of Neptune, Marc Lescarbot, wrote a popular history of his time in New France, entitled Histoire de la Nouvelle-France (1609).[6]

Battle of Port Royal (1613)

Almost ten years later, the Admiral of Virginia Samuel Argall led an English invasion force from Virginia to attack Acadia. He began with the Saint-Saveur mission (Mount Desert Island, Maine) and then St. Croix Island. In October 1613, Argall surprised the settlers at Port Royal and sacked every building.[7] The Battle destroyed the Habitation but it did not wipe out the colony. Biencourt and his men remained in the area of Port Royal. The mill at Lequille remained, along with settlers who went into hiding during the battle.[8] (At this time, future Governor Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour migrated from Port Royal to establish himself at both Cap de Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia) and St. John, New Brunswick.}

Scottish Colony

William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling

During the Anglo-French War (1627–1629), under Charles 1, by 1629 the Kirkes took Quebec City, Lord Ochiltree (Sir James Stewart of Killeith) planted a colony on Cape Breton Island at Baleine, and William Alexander established the first incarnation of “New Scotland” at Port Royal, Nova Scotia. This set of British triumphs which left only Cape Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia) as the only major French holding in North America was not destined to last.[9]

In 1621 King James I of England granted to Sir William Alexander all of Nova Scotia, which then included New Brunswick. On July 28, 1629, Sir William and seventy Scottish settlers were established at Port Royal, this time at the present day site of Annapolis Royal. During this time there were few French inhabitants in the colony. In 1629, Sir William sent a ship and some settlers who built Charles Fort at Port Royal, close to the site of Fort Anne (see Charles Fort - National Historic Site). In 1631, under the terms of the Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye, the colonists were ordered to abandon Port Royal to the French. The official handover did not take place until late in 1632 and this gave Captain Andrew Forrester, commander of the then Scottish community the opportunity to cross the Bay of Fundy with twenty-five armed men and raid Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour's Fort Sainte-Marie at Saint John, New Brunswick.[10]

In 1633, protecting the boundary of Acadia, Charles de la Tour, the French commander of Acadia, made a descent upon Machias, Maine from his seat at Port Royal, Nova Scotia killing two of its six defenders, and carrying the others away with their merchandise.[11]

French Colony

In 1635, Governor of Acadia Charles de Menou d'Aulnay de Charnisay moved settlers from LaHave, Nova Scotia to Port Royal, and the Acadian people began to establish their roots. Under D'Aulnay, the Acadians built the first dykes in North America and cultivated the reclaimed salt marshes.[12]

During this time, Acadia was plunged into what some historians have described as a civil war; the two main centres were Port Royal, where d'Aulnay was stationed, and present-day Saint John, New Brunswick, where Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour was stationed.[13]

Battle of Port Royal (1640)

Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour arrived from present day Saint John, New Brunswick and attacked Port Royal with two armed ships. D'Aulnay's captain was killed and La Tour and his men were taken prisoner.[14] In response to the attack, D'Aulay sailed out of Port Royal to establish a blockade of La Tour's fort at Saint John, New Brunswick.

Battle of Port Royal (1643)

Siege of St. John (1745) - d'Aulnay defeats La Tour in Acadia

In 1643, La Tour tried to capture Port Royal again. La Tour arrived at Saint John from Boston with a fleet a five armed vessels and 270 men and broke the blockade. La Tour then chased d'Aulnay's vessels back across the Bay of Fundy to Port Royal. D'Aulnay resisted the attack, and seven of his men were wounded and three killed. La Tour did not attack the fort, which was defended by twenty soldiers. La Tour burned the mill, killed the livestock and seized furs, gunpowder and other supplies.[15]

d'Aulnay ultimately won the war against La Tour with the 1645 siege of Saint John, New Brunswick. After the siege, La Tour went to live in Quebec. After defeating La Tour at Saint John, from the capital Port Royal, d'Aulnay administered posts at LaHave, Nova Scotia; Pentagouet (Castine, Maine); Canso, Nova Scotia; Cap Sable (Port La Tour, Nova Scotia); the Saint John River (Bay of Fundy) and Miscou Island.[16]

After d'Aulnay died (1650), La Tour re-established himself in Acadia.

English Colony

Battle of Port Royal (1654)

In 1654, Colonel Robert Sedgwick led a force to capture Port Royal made up of one hundred New England volunteers and two hundred professional soldiers sent to New England by Oliver Cromwell, the first professional English soldiers sent to North America. Prior to the Battle, Sedgwick captured and plundered present day Castine, Maine and La Tour's fort at present day Saint John, New Brunswick. Sedgwick also took La Tour prisoner. The defenders of Port Royal numbered only about 130. After resisting the English landings and defending the fort during a short siege, the outnumbered Acadians surrendered after negotiating terms that allowed French inhabitants who wished to remain to keep their property and religion.[17] Soldiers and officials were given transport to France while the majority of Port Royal residents remained unharmed. However in violation of the surrender terms, Sedgwick's men rampaged through the Port-Royal monastery, smashing windows, doors, paneling and even the floor boards before burning the monastery and the newly constructed Port Royal church. The English occupied Acadia for the next 16 years with a small garrison, leaving the Acadian residents mostly undisturbed.[18]

French Colony

In 1667, Port Royal was returned to France with the Treaty of Breda (1667). In a census taken in 1671 there were 361 Acadians in the Port Royal area. Another census in the late 1680s shows 450 Acadians in the entire area of Port Royal.[19]

King William's War

Battle of Port Royal (1690)

Main article: Battle of Port Royal (1690)

During King William's War, Port Royal served as a safe harbor for French cruisers and supply point for Wabanaki Confederacy to attack the New England colonies encroaching on the Acadian border in southern Maine.

The Battle of Port Royal (1690) began on May 9.[20] Sir William Phips of New England arrived with 736 men in seven English ships. Governor de Meneval fought for two days and then capitulated. The garrison was imprisoned in the church and Governor de Meneval was confined to his house. The New Englanders levelled what was begun of the new fort.[21] The residents of Port Royal were imprisoned in the church and administered an oath of allegiance to the King.[22]

Phips left, but war ships from New York arrived in June which resulted in more destruction.[23] The seamen burned and looted the settlement, including the parish church.[24]

Raid on Port Royal (1693)

In response to assisting Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste, English frigates attacked Port Royal. The New Englanders burned almost a dozen houses and three barns full of grain.[25] Port Royal was again made the capital in 1699.[26]

Queen Anne's War


During Queen Anne's War, there was a New England blockade of Port Royal and then three attempts to lay siege to the capital. The last siege ultimately resulted in the British conquest of Acadia and Nova Scotia.

Blockade of Port Royal (1704)

In 1704, in retaliation for the Raid on Deerfield, Major Benjamin Church (military officer) created a blockade of Port Royal. Church was instructed not to attack the capital because the action was not authorized from London. Before daylight, on July 2, two English warships and seven smaller vessels entered the Port Royal basin. They captured the guard station opposite Goat Island as well as four Acadians. Landing at Pointe aux Chesnes on the north shore, they took a family prisoner. A woman from the family was sent to the fort to demand its surrender. The blockade lasted seventeen days; those in the fort awaited an attack. Church had moved on to conduct the real purpose of his expedition: the Raid on Grand Pré, Raid on Pisiguit, and Raid on Chignecto. He returned to Port Royal and then with a brief exchange of gunfire, returned to Boston.[27]

Siege of Port Royal (June 1707)

Main article: Siege of Port Royal (1707)
Daniel d'Auger de Subercase

Two major British efforts to besiege the town in 1707 met with failure. The first siege during the war happened on June 17 and lasted eleven days. Colonel John March, the most senior officer in all of Massachusetts was sent to defeat the capital. Acadian governor Daniel d'Auger de Subercase successfully defended the capital.[28]

Siege of Port Royal (August 1707)

Main article: Siege of Port Royal (1707)

Colonel Francis Wainwright led the second siege on August 20. It lasted eleven days. Subercase and his troops killed sixteen New Englanders and lost three soldiers. Again the British retreated.[29]

Siege of Port Royal (1710)

Main article: Siege of Port Royal (1710)

On September 24, 1710, the British returned with 36 ships and 2000 men, and again laid siege to the capital in what would be the final Conquest of Acadia. Supercase and the French held out until October 2 when the approximately 300 defenders of the fort surrendered, ending French rule in Acadia. The following year, after the Acadian and Indian success at the near-by Battle of Bloody Creek (1711), the Acadians and Indians unsuccessfully attempted to lay siege to the capital.

British Colony

Main article: Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

After the conquest of Acadia with the Siege of Port Royal (1710), the British changed the name from Port Royal to Annapolis Royal. The French, Mi'kmaq and Acadians made four attempts to retake the capital of Acadia during King George's War.[30] Many of the Acadian inhabitants at Port Royal remained in the town after it became Annapolis Royal Royal. However during the French and Indian War, the British deported the Acadian residents at Annapolis Royal to British and French territories in the Expulsion of the Acadians, beginning in 1755, because they wanted to remove any military threat the Acadians posed and cut off vital supply lines the Acadians provided to the French Fortress of Louisbourg.

See also

References

Secondary Sources

  • Brenda Dunn, A History of Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal 1605-1800, Halifax: Nimbus, 2004.
  • Griffiths, E. From Migrant to Acadian. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005.
  • John Mack Faragher, A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from their American Homeland (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005).
  • John Reid, Maurice Basque, Elizabeth Mancke, Barry Moody, Geoffrey Plank, and William Wicken. 2004. The 'Conquest' of Acadia, 1710: Imperial, Colonial, an Aboriginal Constructions. University of Toronto Press.
  • Geoffrey Plank, An Unsettled Conquest. University of Pennsylvania. 2001
  • Parks Canada, Port Royal National Historic Site brochure, undated (2001 ?).

Endnotes

  1. ^ For the 144 years prior to the founding of Halifax (1749), Port Royal/ Annapolis Royal was the capital of Acadia 112 of those years (78% of the time). The other locations that served as the Capital of Acadia are: LaHave, Nova Scotia (1632-1636 ); present day Castine, Maine (1670-1674); Beaubassin (1678-1684); Jemseg, New Brunswick(1690-1691); present day Fredericton, New Brunswick (1691-1698), and present day Saint John, New Brunswick (1698-1699). (See Brenda Dunn. Port Royal/ Annapolis Royal. 2004. Nimbus Publishing)
  2. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. viii
  3. ^ Located on an island in the Saint Croix River between present-day Maine and New Brunswick, the Saint Croix settlement failed because the surrounding river became impassable in the winter. It cut off the settlers from necessary supplies of fresh food, water, and fuel wood.
  4. ^ Griffiths, N. 1600-1650. "Fish, Fur and Folk", in Buckner, P. and Reid J. (eds), The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History, Toronto University Press. 1994. p. 56.
  5. ^ Harry Bruce, An Illustrated History of Nova Scotia, Nimbus Publishing. 1997.pp.38-34
  6. ^ An 1866 English translation is accessible at Google Books
  7. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800, Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p.8
  8. ^ Griffiths, E., From Migrant to Acadian, McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005. p.24. Charles La Tour was one of the men who stayed behind. They eventually left Port Royal and settled by 1620, at Cape Negro- Cape Sable. (See M. A. MacDonald. Fortune and La Tour. Methuen Press. 1983.p.14).
  9. ^ Sarty & Knight (2003), p. 18.
  10. ^ There is a monument to Sir William Alexander in Victoria Park, Halifax - see Sir Alexander Monument. As well, the name and Flag of Nova Scotia were established at this time.
  11. ^ M. A MacDonald, Fortune and La Tour. p. 82
  12. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. ix
  13. ^ M. A. MacDonald, Fortune & La Tour: The civil war in Acadia, Toronto: Methuen. 1983
  14. ^ Brenda Dunn, p. 19
  15. ^ Faragher, John Mack, A Great and Noble Scheme, New York; W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. p.54
  16. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. 20
  17. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. 23
  18. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. 24
  19. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. 32
  20. ^ John Reid, "1686-1720: Imperial Intrusions", in Buckner, P. and Reid J. (eds), The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History, Toronto University Press. 1994. p. 82.
  21. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. 38
  22. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. 39
  23. ^ John Reid. 1686-1720: Imperial Intrusions. in Buckner, P. and Reid J. (eds). The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History. Toronto University Press. 1994. p. 82.
  24. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. 40
  25. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. p. 43
  26. ^ Dunn, p. 45
  27. ^ Brenda Dunn. A History of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal: 1605-1800. Nimbus Publishing, 2004. pp.61-62.
  28. ^ Faragher, John Mack, A Great and Noble Scheme New York; W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. pp. 114-115
  29. ^ Faragher, John Mack, A Great and Noble Scheme, New York; W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. pp. 115-116
  30. ^ Griffiths, E., From Migrant to Acadian, McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005. pp.338-371

External links

44°42′40″N 65°36′36″W / 44.71111°N 65.61000°W / 44.71111; -65.61000

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