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Although there was always at that time fear of an outbreak of war with the French, the immediate menace was that of the Indians. After the Peace of 1763, though they were rendered largely impotent by the withdrawal of assistance from the French , their previous terrors had not been lost upon the settlers. They knew that the Micmacs had never given up their attachment to the French and were thoroughly suspicious that they were always plotting the destruction of the English settlers. Even innocent movements on the part of the Indians were watched with fear, and in that fear, Francklin shared. He seemed particularly apprehensive that the withdrawal of military protection from the far scattered settlements would result in a repetition of the massacres of Dartmouth and of Lunenburg. Tatamagouche for years had been one of the summer rendezvous for the savages. There they had gathered in 1765 and in 1766, much to the alarm of the English. The next year, when Pictou was settled, they gathered again and openly boasted that the land was theirs and they would permit no settlement in the neighborhood. These threats had come to Francklin’s ears, probably by then greatly exaggerated, and he himself, was possibly unduly alarmed. So he decided that a military post should be setup at Tatamagouche, as a terminus of a military road from Cobequid. For that purpose, Francklin had Colonel Carr, Commanding Officer of His Majesty’s Troops, despatch Lieut. Marr of the Engineers to make an estimate* of all expenses in connection with the surveying and the opening of the road from Cobequid to Tatamagouche and as well of the cost of erecting the blockhouse. This was done and on May 27th, 1768, the King’s Troops embarked in a transport for their new post at Tatamagouche, where in due time they arrived together with supplies, materials and artificers. Of the details of the actual survey of the road and of its building we have none. Nor do we know anything about the building of the fort itself, except the fact that it was built. Altogether the cost of the military road, the blockhouse and the establishment at Charlottetown was to be L1530 - but the costs were not apportioned among the three principal items. *Public Archives, Series A. Vol 82, page 117. Back |
