Battleground: Nova Scotia
The British, French, and First Nations at War in the Northeast 1675–1760
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About the Book
Th e colonial wars that raged in northeastern America from 1688 until 1760 pitted France, her colonists in New France and Acadia, and her aboriginal First Nations allies against the might of the British Empire, her colonists, militias, and aboriginal allies. One of the most frequently contested areas during these confl icts was the French colony of Acadia and, aft er its capture by Great Britain in 1710, the new British colony of Nova Scotia. Acadia was the launchpad for frequent French and First Nations raids into Maine and New England. Th e British sought to stop these attacks by capturing Port-Royal, the capital of French Acadia, and subduing or winning the favor of the First Nations tribes. Th e British, with the support of their New England militia, captured and held Port-Royal beginning in 1710 and renamed the place Annapolis Royal. Yet British control over the remainder of old Acadia proved elusive. Time aft er time, the French and First Nations struck at Annapolis and the British fi shing settlement at Canso, Nova Scotia, hoping to reclaim the territory for the French Crown. Th e eff ort was in vain. Beginning in 1755, Great Britain mustered a signifi cant force that not only drove the French military from Nova Scotia but was used to expel the remaining majority French Acadian population from the British colony. By 1760, Great Britain was victorious in Nova Scotia, and the First Nations were required to come into a fi nal series of treaty and trade accommodations with the English. Th e Acadians trickled back to their old homeland to begin a new life under an uncontested British rule.
About the Author
Ronald Edward Gaffney is a retired lawyer living in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He attended St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and later received his law degree at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. As a practicing lawyer, he had the good fortune to both research and litigates First Nations treaty – related cases and Aboriginal land claims. Th is legal work increased both his knowledge and interest in the subject matter of the book.