Fort Lawrence

Fort Lawrence was a British fort located several kilometres west of Amherst, Nova Scotia in the modern-day community of Fort Lawrence.

The region comprising the Tantramar Marshes on the Isthmus of Chignecto had been settled by French colonists during the 17th and 18th centuries - giving the name Beaubassin to this part of Acadia. Following the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the part of Acadia which is known today as peninsular Nova Scotia changed from French to British control, becoming the 14th British colony on the eastern seaboard and was named Nova Scotia.

The western limits between Nova Scotia and Acadia were not clear, although it was generally understood to be in the vicinity of Beaubassin. As tensions between France and Britain escalated in the 1740s, the territorial dispute over colonial limits became an important issue.

Construction of Fort Lawrence

In 1750, a British Army expeditionary force under Major Charles Lawrence arrived at Beaubassin. The village was ordered burnt by a local French priest 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 began construction of a palisade fort on a ridge immediately east of the Missaguash River, believed to be the historic dividing line between Acadia and Nova Scotia since the Treaty of Utrecht was signed. The work on the fort proceeded rapidly and the facility was completed within weeks.

Construction of Fort Beauséjour

France retaliated to the construction of Fort Lawrence in November 1750 when the Governor of New France, Jacques-Pierre de Taffanel de la Jonquière, Marquis de la Jonquière, ordered a fortress be built on the southern end of Beauséjour Ridge (present-day Aulac Ridge), 1.8 kilometres west of Fort Lawrence, facing the British fortification across the Missaguash River valley.

Work on the French fortress did not begin until the following spring, but by April 1751 construction was underway. When it was completed, Fort Beauséjour was a more substantial construction, given its earthworks. Together with Fort Beauséjour, Fort Lawrence guarded the frontier between French and British territory on the Isthmus of Chignecto until the Seven Years' War commenced in the middle part of the decade.

Attack on Fort Beauséjour

Fort Beauséjour was among the northernmost and easternmost of a series of French forts in North America which were built along the Mississippi and Ohio valleys and in the Great Lakes to contain British expansion into French territory. These defensive works are believed to have developed the "claustrophobic feeling" that American colonists on the eastern seaboard felt in being prevented westward expansion from the Appalachian Mountains, leading to the French and Indian War, and the downfall of France's colonial ambitions in North America.

On June 4, 1755 the British conquest of 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.

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 under the orders of Governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, the same military officer who had presided over construction of Fort Lawrence in 1750. This event was also known as the Great Upheaval ("le Grand Dérangement") in Acadian society and it commenced with those remaining settlers in Beaubassin.

Demolition of Fort Lawrence

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.

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.

External links

* [http://ns1763.ca/cumberco/fortlawrence-p.html Photographs of the Fort Lawrence plaque] Historic Sites and Monuments Board
* [http://ns1763.ca/sunco/fortlawrence-panel.html Photographs of the Fort Lawrence interpretative panel] Parks Canada