page_title: Fort Edward (Nova Scotia)
section_title: Father Le Loutre's War
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Edward (Nova Scotia) / Father Le Loutre's War
caption_attribution_description: English: Fort_Edward (Nova Scotia) 1753_by_Capt._John_Hamilton.
context_page_description: Fort Edward is a National Historic Site of Canada in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and was built during Father Le Loutre's War. The British built the fort to help prevent the Acadian Exodus from the region. The Fort is most famous for the role it played both in the Expulsion of the Acadians and in protecting Halifax, Nova Scotia from a land assault in the American Revolution. While much of Fort Edward has been destroyed, including the officers quarters and barracks, the blockhouse that remains is the oldest extant in North America. A cairn was later added to the site.
context_section_description: Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by ethnic French Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. Father Le Loutre's War began when Edward Cornwallis arrived with 13 transports on June 21, 1749 to establish Halifax. The Mi'kmaq believed the British were violating earlier treaties (1726) that were signed after Father Rale's War, by unilaterally establishing Halifax and encroaching on their territory. The British were largely confined to Halifax; having attempted to establish a settlement to the east near present-day Lawrencetown Beach, they quickly abandoned the effort due to the threat of Mi'kmaq attacks. Four years after the founding of Halifax, Lunenburg was established. To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian, and French attacks on the new British Protestant settlements, the latter erected fortifications in Halifax (1749), Bedford (Fort Sackville) (1749), Dartmouth (1750), Lunenburg (1753), and Lawrencetown (1754).
  Within 18 months of establishing Halifax, the British  took firm control of peninsular Nova Scotia by building fortifications in all the major Acadian communities: present-day Windsor (Fort Edward); Grand Pre (Fort Vieux Logis) and Chignecto (Fort Lawrence). (A British fort - Fort Anne - already existed at the other major Acadian centre of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Cobequid was not fortified.)
  Fort Edward was the site of the Acadian church for the parish of l'Assomption (established 1722). After initially failing to take the settlements of Chignecto, Major Charles Lawrence ordered his New England Rangers to control Pisiquid by having the Acadians destroy their church so that Fort Edward could be built in its place (1750). In early March 1750, the Acadians and Mi'kmaq took three English prisoners.  Gorham was ordered to Fort Edward. On Gorham's march to Pisiquid to secure the area prior to building Fort Edward, the Rangers engaged the Mi'kmaq in the Battle at St. Croix (1750).
  The Fort is named after Edward Cornwallis, who established Halifax, Nova Scotia.
  On 9 May 1750, Phillips was fired on by French and Indians. Capt. John Rous was in a skirmish off Fort Edward at the same time, where he killed two native people, whose comrades took their bodies. 
  At first Alexander Murray commanded at Fort Sackville. In September 1751 he was given command of Fort Edward, where he remained for most of the ensuing seven years, except for a tour of duty at Halifax in 1753.  On 12 December 1752, Murray was charged by the Nova Scotia Council with exploiting the local Acadian community by paying unfair prices for supplies and randomly imprisoning some of the men.
  On November 1, 1753, Captain Hale was relieved by Commander Floyer as the commander of Fort Edward.
  Fort Edward, Fort Lawrence, and Fort Anne were all supplied by and dependent on the arrival of Captains Cobb, Jeremiah Rogers or John Taggart, in one of the government sloops. These vessels took the annual or semi-annual relief to their destination.  They carried the officers and their families to and from, as required.
caption: Fort Edward by Capt. John Hamilton (1753)
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