Fort Lawrence Fort Lawrence was a British fort built during Father Le Loutre ' s War and located on the Isthmus of Chignecto ( in the modern - day community of Fort Lawrence ) . 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 settlements . 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 . In the spring of 1750 , a British Army expeditionary force under Major Charles Lawrence arrived at Beaubassin . The village was ordered burnt by the French priest Jean - Louis Le Loutre to ensure that the British could not profit from its seizure . The British forces soon found they were outnumbered by Acadians and Mi ' kmaq . Lawrence ' s troops retreated but returned in September 1750 in greater numbers and engaged in the Battle at Chignecto . After Le Loutre ' s militia retreated , Lawrence began to build Fort Lawrence , a palisade fort on a ridge immediately east of the Missaguash River , the disputed border between Acadia and Nova Scotia since the Treaty of Utrecht was signed , and within sight of Fort Beausejour . The structure was completed within weeks and on August 15 , 1752 , Lt . Col . Robert Monckton took command of Fort Lawrence . In 1753 Captain George Scott took command of the fort and in May , warriors scalped two British soldiers . Scott made contact with the spy Thomas Pichon . Scott relinquished command of Fort Lawrence in the autumn of 1754 and Captain John Hussey took over command . Preparations were then being made for an attack on Beauséjour , and he was appointed to command one of the two battalions of Massachusetts troops . He played a considerable part in the brief siege . 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 . Battle of Beausejour . The Battle of Fort Beausejour ended Father Le Loutre ' s War and began the French and Indian War in the region . On June 4 , 1755 the British conquest for all of France ' s North American territory began when a force of British regulars and New England militia attacked Fort Beauséjour from Fort Lawrence under command of Lt . Col . Robert Monckton . The British - led force took control of Fort Beauséjour by June 16 , 1755 , after which they changed the name to Fort Cumberland . Expulsion of the Acadians . In the ensuing months , British forces attempted to get Acadians living in the region to sign an oath of allegiance to the British Crown , however the Acadians refused , preferring to stay neutral . In August 1755 , the British Expulsion of the Acadians began with the Bay of Fundy Campaign ( 1755 ) . The order was given by Governor of Nova Scotia , Charles Lawrence , the same military officer who had presided over construction of Fort Lawrence in 1750 . Along with Fort Beausejour , Fort Lawrence was also used to imprison male Acadians . The most famous Acadian held here was Joseph Broussard ( Beausoleil ) . On October 1 , 1755 , the Acadian prisoners at Fort Lawrence escaped . Joseph Broussard was one of the escapees . Acadian homes were burnt by British forces to prevent their return . As the British army was now using the more substantial facility at Fort Cumberland , British forces decided to demolish the abandoned works at Fort Lawrence to prevent the facility being used as shelter by Acadians who may have escaped to nearby forests . Fort Lawrence was razed by fire on October 12 , 1756 only 6 years after its construction . Current site . The site containing the archaeological remains of Fort Lawrence was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1923 . Today the site of Fort Lawrence is a barren field behind a visitor information centre . Plans are in place for a full reconstruction of the fort , however funding from various levels of government has yet to be allocated . Various archaeological explorations from Fort Lawrence have netted numerous artifacts , some of which can be viewed at a display at Fort Beauséjour National Historic Site . References . Texts Endnotes