Robert Monckton

Lieutenant-General Robert Monckton (24 June 1726 – 21 May 1782) was a British Army officer, politician and colonial administrator. He had a distinguished military and political career, being second in command to General James Wolfe at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and later being named the governor of New York. Monckton is also remembered for his role in a number of other important events in the French and Indian War, most notably the capture of Fort Beauséjour in Acadia, and the island of Martinique in the West Indies, as well as for his role in the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia and Acadia.

Monckton sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain between 1774 and 1782. Although never legally married, he had three sons and a daughter. The city of Moncton, New Brunswick (about west of Fort Beauséjour) and Fort Monckton in Port Elgin, New Brunswick are named for him. A second more important Fort Monckton in Gosport, England is also named for him. It remains an active military establishment, and currently houses the training section of MI6. This conflict between Monckton's decency and humanity and Lawrence's intransigence and cruelty would be revisited on subsequent occasions.

French and Indian War

In the winter of 1754, Governor Charles Lawrence of Nova Scotia and Massachusetts Governor William Shirley, under a general British directive, made plans to deal with French "encroachments" on the frontier of the British North American colonies. This process ultimately led to the beginning of the final French and Indian War and the onset of the Seven Years' War in North America. One of the first actions of this war was to be at Fort Beauséjour and Robert Monckton, with his intimate knowledge of the terrain and the local fortifications, was invited to spend the winter in Boston to assist in the planning process.

Fort Beauséjour See main article at Battle of Fort Beauséjour

View of Fort Beauséjour showing the foundation of the Officers Quarters in the foreground, the modern (1930s)museum in the middle ground, and Cumberland Basin in the background. Monckton approached the fort from Aulac Ridge, which would be behind the observer. In June 1755, Monckton, commanding a fleet of 31 transports and three warships carrying 270 British regular troops and 2,000 New England militia, entered Cumberland Basin. The ships dropped anchor at the mouth of the Missaguash River and the British forces were able to land unopposed. Using Fort Lawrence as a staging area, Monckton quickly surrounded Fort Beauséjour and began a careful advancement on the fort from the north by moving along the top of Aulac Ridge. A two-week siege ensued. During this time sappers were used to dig zig-zag offensive trenches until they were close enough to the fort to allow for bombardment by 13-inch mortars. The French commander of the fort, Louis Du Pont Duchambon de Vergor, being outnumbered more than four to one, realised that his position was untenable. Morale in the fort deteriorated considerably once word was received that reinforcements would not be arriving from Fortress Louisbourg. Desertions within the Acadian irregular ranks became a major problem. After one of the British mortar rounds hit the officers mess killing several French soldiers, Vergor decided to capitulate. The British forces then occupied the fort and renamed it Fort Cumberland (after the Duke of Cumberland). Following the capitulation, Monckton treated the defeated French generously and offered the garrison passage to Fortress Louisbourg. He also pardoned the Acadian irregulars. The French commander of Fort Gaspareaux, on the opposite side of the Isthmus of Chignecto, was offered (and subsequently agreed to) the same terms on the following day, thus securing the frontier of Nova Scotia. Fort Gaspareaux was subsequently renamed Fort Monckton.

Acadian deportation

St. John River Campaign: A View of the Plundering and Burning of the City of Grimross (present day Arcadia, New Brunswick) by Thomas Davies in 1758. This is the only contemporaneous image of the Expulsion of the Acadians. Following the capture of Fort Beauséjour, Governor Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council decided that the presence of Acadian irregulars helping in the defence of the fort constituted a "violation" of Acadian neutrality. This of course ignored the fact that the vast majority of the Acadians in the fort were from French controlled Acadia and not from British controlled Nova Scotia. Nevertheless, he used this as a pretext to force the Acadian inhabitants of Nova Scotia to swear an unqualified oath of allegiance to the British crown; something that the Acadian population of Nova Scotia had been successfully able to avoid for 40 years. The Acadians again refused to comply. The die was thus cast and Lawrence, emboldened by the size of Monckton's expeditionary force subsequently issued the order to expel the Acadian population from the region. This decision was heavily influenced by the recent conflicts between the British colonial authorities and the Acadians in Nova Scotia during Father Le Loutre's War. Lawrence's ordering of the deportation of the Acadians from Nova Scotia resulted in their dispersal to the other British North American colonies, as well as to Louisiana and to France. On 10 August 1755, Lt. Colonel Monckton, "with characteristic efficiency but no apparent enthusiasm",