---

Fort Beauséjour, built by order of Marquis de la Jonquière, Governor of Canada, in 1750-1. Taken by Lt. Col. Robert Monckton with volunteers from New England, known as Shirley's Regiment, raised by Lt. Col. John Winslow, aided by men of the Royal Artillery, and other British troops, after a siege lasting from 3rd June to 16th June, 1755. Renamed Fort Cumberland. Besieged by rebels under Jonathan Eddy from 4th Nov. to 24th Nov. 1776. Defended by the Royal American Fencible Regiment under Lt. Col. Joseph Gorham and relieved by Major Thomas Batt with a body of Royal Marines and Royal Highland Emigrants, who routed the besiegers.

Fort Beauséjour, construit en 1750-51 par ordre du Marquis de la Jonquière, alors Gouverneur du Canada. Capturé en 1755, après un siège qui avait duré du 3 au 16 juin, par le Lieutenant Colonel Robert Monckton à la tête des volontaires de la Nouvelle Angleterre, connu sous le nom de Régiment Shirley, levé par le Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow, aidé par L'Artillerie Royale et autres troupes anglaises. Il fut renommé Fort Cumberland. Assiégé du 4 au 24 novembre 1776 par les rebelles sous la conduite de Jonathan Eddy, il fut défendu par le Régiment Royal Americain Fencible, commandé par le Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Gorham et relevé par le Major Thomas Batt à la tête du détachement des Royal Marines et Royal Highland Emigrants qui mirent les assiégeants en déroute.

Markers placed by Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, in 1923.

On the site of Fort Beauséjour see the Fort Beauséjour, National Historic Site Web site. On the events of 1750-1755, and the Eddy Rebellion of 1776, see Bird, Will R., A Century at Chignecto: The Key to Old Acadia (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1928), Chapters VI-XVI. On the Eddy rebellion, see also, Snowdon, James D., Footprints in the Marsh Mud: Politics and Land Settlement in the Township of Sackville 1760-1800 (M.A. thesis, University of New Brunswick, 1974; reprinted, Tantramar Heritage Trust, 2000), pp. 74-80. For a detailed account of the 1776 siege and the events leading up to it, see Clarke, Ernest, The Siege of Fort Cumberland, 1776: An Episode in the American Revolution (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995). On Lt. Col. Robert Monckton (1726-1782), see Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol.IV, pp. 540-542. On Jonathan Eddy (1726-1804), see Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol.V, pp. 295,296.

TANTRAMAR HISTORIC SITES home page

List of 18th CENTURY sites