Battle of Fort Beauséjour

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=Lewis Parker's "Camp of the British 43rd Regiment at Fort Beauséjour" features grenadiers and regular infantry at the siege.
conflict=Battle of Fort Beauséjour
colour_scheme=background:#ffcccc
partof=the Seven Years' War
date=June 3-16, 1755
place=Near Sackville, New Brunswick
result=British victory
combatant1=flagicon|France|restauration [George Ripley, Charles Anderson Dana, "The American Cyclopaedia", New York, 1874, p. 250, "...the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis...". * [http://www.anyflag.com/history/fleur23.htm] The original Banner of France was strewn with fleurs-de-lis. * [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgdisplaylargemeta.cfm?strucID=585779&imageID=1236061&parent_id=585395&word=&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&lword=&lfield=&num=0&imgs=12&total=98&pos=1&snum=] :on the reverse of this plate it says: "Le pavillon royal était véritablement le drapeau national au dix-huitième siecle...Vue du chateau d'arrière d'un vaisseau de guerre de haut rang portant le pavillon royal (blanc, avec les armes de France)." [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Flag] from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica: "The oriflamme and the Chape de St Martin were succeeded at the end of the 16th century, when Henry III., the last of the house of Valois, came to the throne, by the white standard powdered with fleurs-de-lis. This in turn gave place to the famous tricolour."] Kingdom of France
combatant2=flagicon|United Kingdom|1606Kingdom of Great Britain
commander1=Louis Du Pont Duchambon de Vergor
commander2=Robert Monckton
strength1=Unknown
strength2=2,000
casualties1=162 dead, wounded, or captured
casualties2=Unknown|The Battle of Fort Beauséjour can be considered as being the first major British-American offensive action of the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War in North America). Taking place from June 3-16, it was a British victory.

Battle

In June 1755, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Monckton, commanding a fleet of 31 transports and three Royal Navy warships carrying 270 British regular troops and 2,000 New England militia, entered Cumberland Basin. The ships dropped anchor at the mouth of the Missaguash River and the British forces were able to land unopposed. Using the nearby British outpost of Fort Lawrence (about three kilometres to the east) as a staging area, Monckton then proceeded to the top of Aulac Ridge. The British offensive began on June 3, with Monckton carefully and methodically advancing on the French fortification from the north. When his forces were close enough, Monckton began a bombardment with 13 inch mortars. The French capitulated on June 16, 1755.

Although the commander of Fort Beausejour, the Marquis Louis Du Pont Duchambon de Vergor, defied the British for two weeks, there was little the French could realistically do against the numerically superior British forces. On June 16, British mortar fire breached defective fortification works and badly mauled the French garrison. de Vergor had little choice but to surrender.

The next day, the French abandoned nearby Fort Gaspareaux, severing communications with Acadia. The British forces now controlled the frontier of Nova Scotia.

Aftermath

The campaign of 1755 was not strategically decisive and did little to threaten New France's overall territorial integrity in North America since Edward Braddock's simultaneous thrust into the Ohio Valley ending in disaster at the Battle of the Monongahela. However the impact of the Battle of Fort Beausejour upon the local Acadian population was catastrophic. Some French-speaking Acadians (who had previously declared neutrality in the conflict between France and Britain) unwisely had participated in the Battle of Fort Beausejour on the side of the French. This open breach of neutrality was viewed by the British officials in Halifax as being unacceptable. Governor Charles Lawrence of Nova Scotia used the presence of these Acadian irregulars at Fort Beausejour as a pretense and excuse which allowed him to order the deportation of the Acadian population from the colony. Robert Monckton and his expeditionary force were placed in charge of executing the directive. The effects of the deportation resonate to the present day throughout Atlantic Canada and as far afield as Louisiana in the United States.

References

See also

* Great Upheaval

Further reading

* Chris M. Hand, "The Siege of Fort Beausejour 1755", Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions/New Brunswick Military Heritage Project, 2004.