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The Battle of Fort Cumberland (also known as the Eddy Rebellion) was an attempt by a small number of militia commanded by Jonathan Eddy to bring the American Revolutionary War to Nova Scotia in late 1776. With minimal logistical support from Massachusetts and four to five hundred volunteer militia and Natives, Eddy attempted to besiege and storm Fort Cumberland in central Nova Scotia (near the present-day border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) in November 1776. The fort's defenders, the Royal Fencible American Regiment led by Joseph Goreham, a veteran of the French and Indian War, successfully repelled several attempts by Eddy's militia to storm the fort, and the siege was ultimately relieved when the RFA plus Royal Marine reinforcements drove off the besiegers on November 29. In retaliation for the role of locals who supported the siege, numerous homes and farms were destroyed, and Patriot sympathizers were driven out of the area. The successful defense of Fort Cumberland preserved the territorial integrity of the British Maritime possessions, and Nova Scotia remained loyal throughout the war. ==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.〔Clarke, p. 12〕 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.〔Clarke, p. 45〕 As early as June 1775, Colonel Joseph Goreham had been ordered by General Thomas Gage to raise the Royal Fencible American Regiment of Foot〔(Loyalist Institute: Royal Fencible Americans, Proposal to Raise a Battalion, 1775 )〕 and natives in Nova Scotia for the defense of the province against Patriot activity.〔Annual Report 1894, p. 332〕 Arriving at the fort in the summer of 1776, Colonel Goreham and a garrison of 200 Loyalist〔Annual Report 1894, p. 352〕 troops of the RFA did what they could to restore the premises to a defensible condition.〔Clarke, p. 113〕 But Goreham had not been adequately provisioned and his men lacked everything from victuals to uniforms.〔Annual Report 1894, p. 361〕 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.〔〔Leamon, p. 89〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Fort Cumberland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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