The Siege of Fort Beauséjour, 1755

Richard Wilbur is author of The Rise of French New Brunswick and H.H.
Stevens, 1878–1973, and co-author of Silver Harvest: The Fundy
Weirmen’s Story. His latest book is Horse-Drawn Carriages and Sleighs:
Elegant Vehicles from New England and New Bruns

Any motorist travelling across the isthmus connecting New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia will be aware of the old French fort located just off the
main highway, now a restored historic site and a popular tourist stop.
Chris Hand, a Canadian army major on active duty, provides more than
enough information on how the fort was built, and how and why it fell so
quickly to British and New England forces who arrived by sea below the
British Fort Lawrence, a few hundred yards from Beauséjour. Besides
giving much detail on the British leaders, he provides equal space and
research for their French military rivals as each side prepared for the
inevitable siege. He also makes frequent references to the third group
in this drama, the Acadians, who were caught in the middle of a
seemingly endless imperial tug of war.

Anyone familiar with the area today will appreciate the author’s
frequent references to modern landmarks (such as the four-lane highway),
the unique geographical features (such as the fierce and unpredictable
Fundy tides), and the area’s early spring weather, as unpredictable
and often as disagreeable today as it was 250 years ago.

Besides a clear and concise writing style, Hand includes good maps
(some from contemporary sources and others prepared by modern
researchers), drawings of soldiers in their 18th-century garb, and
reproductions showing the kinds of weaponry used in 1755. A final
photograph shows Major Hand leading a group of university students
around the fort in September 2002—further proof of the kind of
research behind this excellent study of a military clash that “marked
the opening shots of a war that ended the French Empire in North
America, reshaped the settlement patterns of the Atlantic region, and
laid the groundwork for the modern province of New Brunswick.”