page_title: Raid on Canso
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Raid on Canso / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Private man, 40th Regiment of Foot, 1742.
context_page_description: The Raid on Canso was an attack by French forces from Louisbourg on the British outpost Fort William Augustus at Canso, Nova Scotia shortly after war declarations opened King George's War. The French raid was intended to boost morale, secure Louisbourg's supply lines with the surrounding Acadian settlements, and deprive Britain of a base from which to attack Louisbourg. There were 50 English families in the settlement. While the settlement was utterly destroyed, the objective failed, since the British launched an attack on Louisbourg in 1745, using Canso as a staging area.
context_section_description: The success of the raid on Canso caused great excitement and celebration in Louisbourg, bolstering the morale of the French citizenry and their native allies, while depriving Britain of a strategic base in eastern Nova Scotia. However the task of maintaining more than one hundred prisoners taxed the colony's already strained food supply.
  Once the 40th regiment's officers and men were paroled in September 1744, the regiment was evacuated to Boston where they (particularly John Bradstreet) provided valuable information on the defences of Louisbourg for the British siege the following year.  Governor Shirley was having difficulty raising troops requested by Mascarene and therefore he ordered the ex-Canso garrison to Annapolis Royal.
  The raid was followed by a siege of Annapolis Royal.  The attacks alarmed the British colonists in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, many of whom believed the raid was a prelude to further attacks on Massachusetts.  On October 20, 1744, Massachusetts officially declared war on the Mi'kmaq. In 1745 the province mounted a successful siege of Louisbourg.
caption: Private, 40th Regiment of Foot, Nova Scotia, 1742 - defending Canso
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