Background
Nova Scotia was generally poorly defended in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, and unrest in the eastern regions provoked fears of an American-led uprising. Although some reinforcements had reached Halifax by early 1776, the frontiers of the province were only lightly defended.
Fort Cumberland was located on the Isthmus of Chignecto, which connects modern mainland Nova Scotia with New Brunswick. The area was strategically important in earlier conflicts between the French colony of Acadia and British-controlled Nova Scotia. Originally built by the French in 1750 as Fort Beauséjour, Fort Cumberland was in deplorable condition. Won from the French in the Battle of Fort Beauséjour in 1755, the fortifications had been minimally garrisoned by the British after the Seven Years' War and abandoned in 1768. As early as June 1775, Colonel Joseph Goreham had been ordered by General Thomas Gage to raise the Royal Fencible American Regiment of Foot and natives in Nova Scotia for the defense of the province against Patriot activity. Arriving at the fort in the summer of 1776, Colonel Goreham and a garrison of 200 Loyalist troops of the RFA did what they could to restore the premises to a defensible condition. But Goreham had not been adequately provisioned and his men lacked everything from victuals to uniforms. Furthermore, the locals were generally sympathetic to the Patriot cause, and refused to assist in rehabilitating the fort, even trying to induce members of the garrison to defect.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Fort Cumberland
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