Fort Edward ( Nova Scotia ) Fort Edward is a National Historic Site of Canada in Windsor , Nova Scotia , Canada ( formerly known as Pisiguit ) 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 ( 1755 ) and in protecting Halifax , Nova Scotia from a land assault in the American Revolution . While much of Fort Edward , including the officers quarters ( burned down 1922 ) and barracks , has been destroyed , the blockhouse that remains is the oldest in North America . A cairn was later added to the site . 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 Father Rale ' s War . The British remained largely in Halifax ; having attempted to establish a settlement east of Halifax 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 Protestant settlements , British fortifications were erected in Halifax ( 1749 ) , Bedford ( Fort Sackville ) ( 1749 ) , Dartmouth ( 1750 ) , Lunenburg ( 1753 ) and Lawrencetown ( 1754 ) . Within 18 months of establishing Halifax , the British also took firm control of peninsula 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 already existed at the other major Acadian centre of Annapolis Royal , Nova Scotia . Cobequid remained without a fort . ) 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 firmly control Pisiquid by having the Acadians destroy their church so that Fort Edward could be built in its place ( 1750 ) . On Gorham ' s march to Piziquid to secure the area prior to the setting up of 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 . At first Alexander Murray commanded at Fort Sackville and then 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 the 12 December 1752 , Murray was charged by the Nova Scotia Council with exploiting the local Acadian community by giving unfair prices for supplies and random imprisonment . 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 , Rogers or 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 fro , as required . French and Indian War . Fort Edward played an important role in the Bay of Fundy Campaign ( 1755 ) of the Acadian Expulsion . Shortly after the Battle of Fort Beauséjour on the eve of the Expulsion , the commander at Fort Edward Captain Alexander Murray wrote his wife saying the Acadians " are in as great anxiety as I am about their fate " . A month later , at exactly the same time as Winslow read the expulsion orders in Grand Pré ; September 5 at 15 : 00 hrs , Captain Alexander Murray read the order to the 183 Acadian males he had imprisoned at Fort Edward . On October 20 , 920 Acadians from Piziquid were loaded on to four transports . Unlike the neighbouring community of Grand Pré , the buildings at Pisiquid were not destroyed by fire . As a result , when the New England Planters arrived , many houses and barns still stood there . Fort Edward was one of four forts in which Acadians were imprisoned over the nine years of the expulsion ( the others were Fort Frederick , Saint John , New Brunswick ; Fort Cumberland ; and Fort Charlotte , Georges Island , Halifax ) . On average , over a period of nine years , there were 350 Acadian prisoners at one time held at the garrison . Raids on Fort Edward . There was Acadian and Mi ' kmaq resistance to the Expulsion . In September 1756 , a group of 100 Acadians ambushed a party of thirteen soldiers who were working outside the fort . Seven were taken prisoner and six escaped back to the fort . In the April 1757 , a band of Acadian and Mi ' kmaq partisans raided a warehouse near Fort Edward , killing thirteen British soldiers and , after taking what provisions they could carry , setting fire to the building . A few days later , the same partisans also raided Fort Cumberland . In the early 1760s it was illegal for Acadians to reside in Nova Scotia ; families and individuals who had avoided capture in 1755 were imprisoned . The prison lists for Fort Edward between 1761 - 1762 still exist ( For a list of the prisoners see List of Acadian Prisoners - Fort Edward ) . In 1762 , one of the most famous prisoners , Acadian Joseph Broussard ( Beausoleil ) was imprisoned here . Between June 1763 and 1764 , in the Minas region , the British authorities took 363 Acadians into custody at Fort Edward . While prisoners , the Acadians were made to assist the New England Planters with establishing their farmlands . When the war finished , rather than stay and work as subordinates , the Acadians settled with their compatriots in present day New Brunswick and Saint Pierre and Miquelon . American Revolution . During the American Revolution the 84th Regiment of Foot ( Royal Highland Emigrants ) , 2nd Battalion were stationed at Forts throughout Atlantic Canada . Fort Edward was the headquarters for the 84th Regiment in Atlantic Canada . The 84th Regiment moved from Halifax to Fort Edward to guard against a land assault on Halifax . Throughout the war , Fort Edward housed prisoners taken from American Privateering ships . The Jacobite heroine Flora MacDonald spent the winter of 1778 - 1779 at the Fort with her husband , Alan Macdonald , before she returned alone to Scotland . War of 1812 . Fort Edward was also active during the War of 1812 . During this time , the Fort continued to protect Nova Scotia against assault by American Privateers . Fort Edward remained part of the British defenses in Nova Scotia until 1858 . World War I . During World War I , it was utilized as a training depot for Canadian and British soldiers . The site became known locally ( but not officially ) as " Camp Fort Edward " for the duration of the war . Among the recruits passing through the camp was the ill - fated Hollywood film director William Desmond Taylor . During World War I the British Army used the fort to establish a training depot for Jewish men training to liberate Palestine from Turkish rule and ultimately help Great Britain , France and America defeat Germany . Known as The Jewish Legion , this unit , was " stood up " for service in 1917 manned by Jews from around the world who came to Windsor for training on the slopes of the fort under Major W . F . D Bremner . Bremner lived in Castle Fredericks and is an ancestor of Falmouth ’ s James Bremner ( See Halifax Provisional Battalion ) . Pictures and first - hand accounts of the time indicate that the men lived in tents on the hillside below the blockhouse . Many of these recruits came with Zionist ideals and dreams of a restored Palestinian homeland for the Jews . In Windsor , Nova Scotia 1100 non - commissioned officers were trained . Founders of the legion included David Ben - Gurion , who became the first prime minister of Israel , and Ze ' ev Jabotinsky , both men were trained at Fort Edward . At age 70 , David Ben - Gurion reported on his time at Fort Edward : " I will never forget Windsor where I received my first training as a soldier and where I became a corporal . " National Historic Site . The fort was designated a National Historic Site in 1920 . The blockhouse was additionally designated a Classified Federal Heritage Building in 1994 . Windsor Agricultural Fair . The Windsor Agricultural Fair is the oldest continuous agricultural fair in North America , beginning with the first generation of New England Planters at Fort Edward ( 1765 ) . References . Texts Endnotes