Skmaqn–Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst is a
National Historic Site located in
Rocky Point,
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
.
This location has the double distinction of hosting one of the first
Acadian
The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...
settlements in present-day
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
, as well as the first
military fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
on the island while under control of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
as well as the first military fortification on the island while under control of
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
.
From 1720 to 1770 Port-la-Joye, later named Fort Amherst, served as the seat of government and port of entry for settlers to the island while under both French and British control. As such, it played an important role as a colonial outpost in the French-British struggle for dominance in North America.
The site was designated a
National Historic Site by
Alvin Hamilton
Francis Alvin George Hamilton, (March 30, 1912June 29, 2004) was a Canadian politician. Hamilton led the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan from 1949 until he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1957 general election ...
, the
Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources, on May 27, 1958, on the advice of the national
Historic Sites and Monuments Board. The property was acquired by the
federal government in 1959, and the present visitor center opened in 1973. The site's name was changed from Port-la-Joye—Fort Amherst NHS to Skmaqn—Port-la-Joye—Fort Amherst NHS on February 16, 2018. The additional Mi’kmaq word means “the waiting place”, and is thought to originate between 1725 and 1758, "when Mi’kmaq and French leaders met annually at the site to renew their relationship and military alliance."
French settlement
The first European settlers in the area were
French military personnel from
Fortress Louisbourg
The Fortress of Louisbourg (french: Forteresse de Louisbourg) is a National Historic Site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Its two sie ...
who founded a settlement in 1720 named Port La-Joye on the southwestern part of the harbour opposite the present-day city of
Charlottetown
Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...
. This settlement effort was led by Michel Haché-Gallant, who used his sloop to transport
Acadian settlers from
Louisbourg
Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia.
History
The French military founded the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1713 and its fortified seaport on the southwest part of the harbour, ...
on
Île Royal.
Acadian settlers established farms in the surrounding area while under French control from 1720 to 1745 and 1746–1758 and the French military established a small military force at the outpost, garrisoned with troops from Louisbourg. Morale was low and troops were infrequently relieved due to its unpopularity. The wood barracks were poor protection from harsh winters when wind, rain and snow swirled between picket walls and rotten planked roofs.
Battle at Port-la-Joye (1745)
The first
Siege of Louisbourg by
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
military forces took place in May–June 1745 as part of
King George's War. When the French commander of Louisbourg capitulated to the invasion force composed largely of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
irregulars, this also resulted in the ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' surrender of Île Saint-Jean (present-day
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
).
Following the French surrender at Louisbourg, a British military detachment landed that summer at Port-la-Joye. Under the command of
Joseph de Pont Duvivier Joseph Dupont Duvivier (12 November 1707 – 24 November 1760) was an Acadian-born military leader of the French.
Life
Joseph Dupont Duvivier was born in Port Royal, Acadia, the second of the three surviving sons of François du Pont Duvivier an ...
, the French garrison at that time comprised 20 soldiers. The French troops fled while the British force burned the community to the ground. Duvivier and his soldiers retreated up the Northeast River (present-day
Hillsborough River), pursued by the New Englanders until the French troops received reinforcements from local Acadian settlers and the Mi'kmaq. The French troops and their allies were able to drive the New Englanders back to their ships; in the process, nine New Englanders were killed, wounded or made prisoner while the New Englanders took six Acadians as hostages, who were threatened with execution should the Acadians or Mi'kmaq rebel against British control.
The British forces returned to Louisbourg while Duvivier and his 20 troops left to seek refuge in Quebec. After the fall of Louisbourg, the resident French population of Île Royal (present-day
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18. ...
) were deported to France while the Acadians of Île Saint-Jean lived under the threat of deportation for the remainder of the war.
Battle at Port-la-Joye (1746)
The British had left a garrison of 200 soldiers (New England irregulars and several British Army regulars) as well as two
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
ships at Port-La-Joye to over-winter.
To regain control of Acadia for France,
Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay
Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch, ''Seigneur de Ramezay'', (4 September 1708, in Montreal, New France – 7 May 1777, in Blaye, France; officer of the marines and colonial administrator for New France during the 18th century. Joining at age 11, as an ...
was sent from Quebec to the region in 1746 to join forces with the
Duc d'Anville Expedition. Upon arriving at
Fort Beausejour
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
on the
Isthmus of Chignecto
The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that connects the Nova Scotia peninsula with North America.
The isthmus separates the waters of Chignecto Bay, a sub-basin of the Bay of ...
, he sent
French officer Boishébert to Île Saint-Jean on a reconnaissance to assess the size of the British forces. After Boishebert returned, de Ramezay sent Joseph-Michel Legardeur de Croisille et de Montesson along with over 500 men, 200 of whom were Mi'kmaq, to Port-La-Joye.
The battle took place in July 1746 near the site of Port-la-Joye on the banks of the Northeast River (present-day
Hillsborough River). Montesson and his troops killed or imprisoned 34 of the New England irregulars and Montesson was commended for having distinguished himself in his first independent command.
The fall of Port-la-Joye saw Île Saint-Jean return to control by France. French military forces constructed a star-shaped fort on the site between 1748 and 1749 in a style influenced by
Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban.
Seven Years' War
The first three years of the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
had relatively little impact on Île Saint-Jean, however, the deportation of Acadians from
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
as a result of the
Bay of Fundy Campaign saw an influx of refugees to the colony in the late summer and fall of 1755.
In July 1758 the final
Siege of Louisbourg saw the French commander surrender to British forces; just as in 1745, this surrender of the colony of Île-Royale (present day
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18. ...
) also saw the ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' surrender of the colony of Île Saint-Jean and with it its capital at Port-la-Joye. In late August a small British fleet of four ships carrying 500 soldiers under command of
Lord Rollo
Lord Rollo, of Duncrub in the County of Perth, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created on 10 January 1651 for Sir Andrew Rollo. His great-great-grandson, the fifth Lord, was a Brigadier-General in the Army and fought in North ...
arrived at Port-la-Joye. Lord Rollo, travelling aboard , had been told to expect approximately 300-500 Acadians but was surprised to find roughly 3,000-5,000 instead. The British Army proceeded to round up approximately 3,000 Acadians for deportation back to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Thirteen additional ships arrived by October and departed overseas; 700 lives being lost due to ships sinking en route to Europe and an estimated 900 additional lives being lost due to disease and illness during the deportation. Approximately 1,600 Acadians evaded capture by hiding in forests in the western part of what the British now called St. John's Island.
After the British seized control of Port-la-Joye they replaced the rudimentary French fortification with a new
stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall.
Etymology
''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...
fort immediately to the east (toward the water). It was built under the supervision of British Army Lieutenant William Spry who reported it to be complete on October 10, 1758. This fortification was named Fort Amherst in honour of General
Jeffery Amherst
Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, (29 January 1717 – 3 August 1797) was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army. Amherst is credited as the architect of Britain's successful campaign ...
.
The small fort was home to 190 soldiers from the
28th Regiment of Foot, also known as "The Old Braggs" in honour of their Colonel, Lieutenant-General
Philip Bragg
Philip Bragg (died 6 June 1759) was an Irish lieutenant-general, colonel 28th foot, and M.P. for Armagh City.
Life
Bragg was at the Battle of Blenheim in the 1st Foot Guards on 10 March 1702. He appears to have afterward served in the 24th Foo ...
. The stockade was surrounded by a dry ditch and was crossed by a
drawbridge
A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...
. The foundation of the
pallisade was porous sandstone. There were 18 cannon placed at the fort with 4 mounted in each corner and one mid-way on two of the walls. Buildings inside the fort included the commanding officer's headquarters, officer's quarters, soldier barracks, bakehouse, forge, storehouse and a prison. The British Army soldiers were rotated through the fort each spring with fresh replacements from
Louisbourg
Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia.
History
The French military founded the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1713 and its fortified seaport on the southwest part of the harbour, ...
.
A
mutiny
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...
took place among the garrison at Fort Amherst in 1762, resulting in
courts-martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
at Louisbourg for the main people involved; demotions and hundreds of
lashes by cat o'nine tails and one execution.
The
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
in 1763 ended the Seven Years' War which saw the garrison reduced at Fort Amherst.
British colonial period
On March 6, 1764
Samuel Holland was appointed Surveyor-General of North America. On March 23, he received instructions to survey all British possessions north of the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
, which included St. John's Island (present day
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
), the
Magdalen Islands
The Magdalen Islands (french: Îles de la Madeleine ) are a small archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with a land area of . While part of the Province of Quebec, the islands are in fact closer to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland th ...
and Royal Island (present day
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18. ...
), due to their importance for the fisheries.
St. John's Island was Holland's first stop on this assignment and he noted that the island's population had decreased significantly following the deportation of the Acadians in 1758. His survey of the island proposed an immigration and resettlement scheme based on a semi-
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
system of land distribution with a
feudal land tenure
Under the English feudal system several different forms of land tenure existed, each effectively a contract with differing rights and duties attached thereto. Such tenures could be either free-hold, signifying that they were hereditable or perpet ...
tied to
fees
A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead (business), overhead, wages, costs, and Profit (accounting), markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Repu ...
.
Holland arrived at Fort Amherst in summer 1764 with his family but realized the fortification was unsuitable for his use and chose instead to build a dwelling approximately south of the garrison at a location he named Observation Cove (present-day Holland Cove). From there, Holland, his deputy surveyor Thomas Wright, engineers, volunteers, and soldiers from Fort Amherst set out to complete the survey, enduring harsh conditions through the winter. The survey divided the island into a system of three counties, 15 parishes, 67 townships, 3 royalties and various town sites.
Holland's survey selected the site of present-day
Charlottetown
Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...
to be the colonial capital of St. John's Island. In 1768 Charles Morris of Nova Scotia surveyed the town site for Charlottetown with the help of soldiers from Fort Amherst. Charlottetown was named the capital of St. John's Island by
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
in 1768, it being named after his Consort,
Queen Charlotte
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...
.
The garrison at Fort Amherst was moved in 1770 to Charlottetown. This resulted in Fort Amherst being abandoned as a settlement and fortification. The palisade and buildings were demolished in the 1770s and by 1779 nothing was left but the ditch and earthworks.
On November 17, 1775, during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, the colonial capital of St. John's Island was attacked by
-based
privateers
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
in the
Raid on Charlottetown (1775)
The Raid on Charlottetown of 17–18 November 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, involved two United States, American privateers of the 14th Continental Regiment, Marblehead Regiment attacking and pillaging Charlottetown, Prince Edw ...
. They privateers stole the Colonial Seal and took several hostages. The Seal and the hostages were later released in
Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1801 the British Army upgraded its defences of the colonial capital by establishing the
Prince Edward Battery on the western edge of Charlottetown in present-day
Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to:
Places Australia
* Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales
* Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse
* Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...
. In support of the Prince Edward Battery's harbour defence duties, shore batteries of cannon were placed on each side of the entrance into Charlottetown Harbour. The western battery was placed southeast of the abandoned Fort Amherst earthworks near what is now known as "Blockhouse Point" in the community of
Rocky Point. The eastern battery was placed northeast of the abandoned Fort Amherst earthworks at what is now known as "Battery Point" in the present day town of
Stratford.
National Historic Site
Following its abandonment by the British Army, the property became part of the township of
Lot 65. The feudal owners of the township were Richard Wright, Esq., and Hugh Owens, Esq. In 1781, one half was sold for arrears (to the Owens Holding). The actual land containing the abandoned fortification was the first governor of St. John's Island,
Walter Patterson, who acquired the land in 1773. Governor Patterson and his wife, Hester Warren, built a farmhouse on the property and named it "Warren Farm". Patterson was removed from office in 1786 and the land was left vacant until 1796 when his title was nullified.
A variety of landowners farmed the property until 1959 when it was purchased by the federal government for preservation, which had designated it a National Historic Site the previous year.
The present visitor center was officially opened in 1973 as part of
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
's celebration of its centennial of provincehood.
The site is named, in part, after a fort which was renamed for officer Jeffery Amherst of the British army. A 2007 article, "The Un-Canadians", in ''
The Beaver'', includes Amherst on a list of those in the history of Canada who are considered contemptible because he "supported plans of distributing smallpox-infested blankets to First Nations people." In 2008,
Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...
spiritual leader John Joe Sark called the name of Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst a "terrible blotch on Canada", and said, "To have a place named after General Amherst would be like having a city in Jerusalem named after Adolf Hitler...it's disgusting." Sark raised his concerns again in a January 29, 2016, letter to the federal government. Mi'kmaq historian
Daniel N. Paul, who referred to Amherst as motivated by
white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
beliefs, also supports a name change, saying "In the future I don't think there should ever be anything named after people who committed what can be described as crimes against humanity." In February 2016, a spokesperson for Parks Canada said it would review the matter after a proper complaint is filed, and after consultation with the Historic Sites and Monuments Board. Ultimately, the minister responsible for Parks announced a name change for the site, from Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst NHS to Skmaqn–Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst NHS on February 16, 2018. The additional Mi’kmaq word means “the waiting place”, and is thought to originate between 1725 and 1758, "when Mi’kmaq and French leaders met annually at the site to renew their relationship and military alliance."
Statement from Minister McKenna on the name change of an important national historic site
Parks Canada news release, February 16, 2018
Special events
In July 1989, Port-la-Joye—Fort Amherst National Historic Site was host to the 7th Canadian Scout Jamboree
The Canadian Scout Jamboree or CJ is a jamboree run by Scouts Canada for members of the Scout and Venturer sections. The Jamboree also includes groups from other countries attending, most notable from the United States.
History
CJ'07
(CJ'07) ...
— "CJ '89" — which became the second largest population center in the province for a two-week period, with over 10,000 campers on site.
See also
*Military history of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia (also known as Mi'kma'ki and Acadia) is a Canadian province located in Canada's Maritimes. The region was initially occupied by Mi'kmaq. The colonial history of Nova Scotia includes the present-day Canadian Maritime provinces and th ...
*List of French forts in North America
This is a list of forts in New France built by the French government or French chartered companies in what later became Canada, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the United States. They range from large European-type citadels like at Quebec City to ...
Notes
External links
Port-la-Joye–Fort Amherst National Historic Site of Canada (Parks Canada official website
References
Port-la-Joye – Fort Amherst (Parks Canada official website)
* "Introduction (Prince Edward Island)", ''Canada's Atlantic Provinces Adventure Guide''
excerpt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Port-la-Joye-Fort Amherst
Military forts in Prince Edward Island
Parks in Prince Edward Island
Buildings and structures in Queens County, Prince Edward Island
National Historic Sites in Prince Edward Island
Military forts in Acadia
Former colonial capitals in Canada