Scotch Fort

Monument commemorating the Scotch Fort 1629-1632 -2

Scotch Fort

1629 – 1632

Photographs of
Monument

Port Royal
Annapolis County
Nova Scotia

Located on the north side of the highway,

opposite the Port Royal Habitation National Historic Site

GPS location: 44°42’49″N 65°36’35″W

Google map


Plaque commemorating the Scotch Fort 1629-1632
Plaque date: 1952

Photographed on 31 October 2003


William Alexander, Earl of Stirling
(c.1577-1640)


[Not to be confused with Sir William Alexander (c.1602-1638)]



Alexander persuaded King James VII/II that the only way to get Scots to emigrate

was to give them a new Scotland comparable to New France and New England;

and the king conveyed the royal wish to the Council of New England and obtained

from the latter the surrender of all their territory north of the Sainte-Croix.

Thereupon the king immediately instructed the Scottish Privy Council to prepare

a grant of this territory for Sir William Alexander. The grant was signed on

10 September 1621 (o.s.), making Sir William, on paper at least, lord proprietor of

the region now known as the three Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé peninsula

– to be called for all time New Scotland or Nova Scotia.


Sir William Alexander
(c.1602-1638)


[Not to be confused with William Alexander, Earl of Stirling (c.1577-1640)]



On 4 February 1628/29 Alexander, the Kirkes, and others obtained a

monopoly of the trade to Canada. While the Kirkes went off to capture

Quebec, Alexander joined forces with Sir James Stewart, Lord Ochiltree,

helped him build a fort at Port de la Baleine (now Baleine) in Cape Breton,

and then, under the guidance of Claude de Saint-Étienne de La Tour,

proceeded to Port-Royal. Here, in the summer of 1629, Alexander built

a new fort in which he decided to pass the winter, sending back his ship for

additional supplies and colonists. He also dispatched Claude de La Tour

with an agreement for his father, Sir William, to sign, the terms of which

conferred the title of knight-baronet and a large grant of land on Claude

and his son Charles de Saint-Étienne de La Tour, in return for their

assistance and allegiance. This agreement, slightly modified,

was duly signed by Alexander’s father 30 April 1630.


Monument commemorating the Scotch Fort 1629-1632

Photographed on 13 June 2003


Also see: Sir William Alexander monument, Halifax

Thanks to Mrs. Hannelore Fisher.


Scotch Fort 1629-1632: map showing location of monument

Map showing the location of the monument commemorating the
Scotch Fort 1629-1632, Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia.

Roads are shown as they were in 1978. Except for Highway 101, the

layout of the roads in 2006 has not changed much from that shown here.

Links to Relevant Websites

Father and Son on Different Sides of Conflict, for a While,

by Jim Bradshaw, in the Lafayette, Louisiana Daily Advertiser, 23 February 1999

…Claude de La Tour sailed to Nova Scotia in 1629 with Alexander’s eldest son,
who was also named Sir William Alexander. There were two groups of settlers
with them. One group, led by Claude and the young Alexander, settled on what
would later be called the Allain River at a place they named Charlesfort. It was
also called Scotch Fort and was less than five miles from the all but abandoned
French settlement at Port Royal. A second group, led by Lord Ochiltree, settled
on Cape Breton Island at a place they called Baleine. Later, when the French
built a fortress at the site, they called it Louisbourg…

http://www.carencrohighschool.org/la_studies/

ParishSeries/Acadie/FatherAndSon.htm

On the Trail of the Scots of Annapolis County

by Allen B. Robertson, in Celtic Heritage, March-April 2004

…The Scotch Fort was built on the banks of the Annapolis River near
Granville close to the site of the earlier Habitation or French fort. It lasted
as a post only a short time before Britain and France exchanged colonial
possessions in their periodic battles and diplomatic manoeuvres. (In 1632,
the territory was passed to the French as part of the marriage negotiations
of King Charles I of England.) Moreover as a post inhabited only by men
[with the exception of two women] it was not an auspicious way to gain a
permanent foot hold in Nova Scotia. King Charles I of England and Scotland
issued a command to Sir William Alexander in July 1631, “… to demolish
the fort that was builded there by your son and to remove all the people,
goods, ordnance, ammunition, cattle and other things belonging to the
colony.” The following March 1632 by the Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye
all of Acadia alias New Scotland was returned to France. The treaty also
meant that the attempt by Lord Ochiltree to settle Scots in Cape Breton
was halted. Not all of the Scottish colonists chose to return to Scotland.
A few moved on to Boston…Residents of Annapolis County may be proud
of the fact that the only province in Canada to be named for the Scots
presence had its genesis on the banks of the Annapolis River.

http://www.celticheritage.ns.ca/genealogy.htm


Saint-Germain-en-Laye treaty 1632
Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Saint-Germain-en-Laye_%281632%29

Saint-Germain-en-Laye treaty, signed on 29 March 1632

http://www.lafete.org/new/acadia/timeE/1632.htm


Remembering Our Acadian Heritage
by Jim Bradshaw

Lafayette, Louisiana Daily Advertiser, 29 September 1994

…Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, was one of the ablest
of French statesmen. He held strong influence over King Louis XIII, and would,
in fact, be the actual ruler of France for more than 18 years (1624-1642).
Richelieu saw the coming struggle for supremacy in North America, and saw
that France would have to strengthen its colonies there if it was going to
compete with the growing British strength. He immediately organized a
trading company for Quebec and one of Acadie, sending his cousin,
Isaac de Razilly to North America as lieutenant governor of all New France
and Governor of Acadia. In July 1632 Razilly sailed from France aboard the
Esperance a Dieu. With him were two transports carrying 300 people, livestock,
seeds, tool, arms – everything needed to establish and maintain a community.
He would begin the first true steps toward permanent settlement of the Acadian
colony. After
landing at LaHave
on 8September 1632, Razilly took possession
of Port Royal and then took the fort at Penobscot by force. Scottish families
still in Port Royal were sent back to England…

http://www.acadian-cajun.com/acartic25.htm


History of Acadia
Quebec History Encyclopedia

The sturdy band settled at Scots Fort fared badly, and Alexander’s project

suffered a final blow when by the Treaty of St.Germain-en-Laye, in1632,

CharlesI ceded Port Royal and Quebec to the French in return for the

unpaid dowry of Queen Henrietta Maria…

http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/

encyclopedia/HistoryofAcadia.htm


Chapter II: The British in Acadia
Quebec History Encyclopedia

A company of Scots…settled at Port Royal in 1627 and erected a fort,

known as Scots Fort, on the site of the original settlement of De Monts.

This colony, with some reinforcements from Scotland, stood its ground

until the country was ceded to France in 1632. On the arrival of Razilly

in that year most of the Scottish settlers went home, and the few who

remained were soon merged in the French population…



http://web.archive.orghttp://www2.marianopolis.edu/

quebechistory/encyclopedia/SevenYearsWar-ThebritishinAcadia.htm



Cardinal Richelieu, Prime Minister of France 1624-1642


http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95sep/richelieu.html