Fort Clarence (Nova Scotia)
Fort Clarence (formerly the Eastern Battery) was a British coastal fort built in 1754 at the beginning of the French and Indian War in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. The battery was built on the grant of Capt. John Rous. Initially it had 8 guns mounted. In the spring of 1759, a Mi'kmaq attack on the Eastern Battery killed five soldiers.[1]
On 17 November 1778 the King's Orange Rangers arrived by sea at Halifax.[2] The reason for the transfer was probably to stem desertions by relocating the men to a place much farther away from their homes. The KOR was assigned to protect the Eastern Battery on the shore of Halifax harbour at the south end of Woodside, where the neighborhood of Imperoyal now exists.
Eastern Battery was renamed as Fort Clarence by Prince Edward on 20 October 1798 in honor of his brother, the Duke of Clarence and St. Andrews, later King William IV. In the late 1790s a Martello Tower replaced the blockhouse.
In 1929 Imperial Oil purchased the site, which became part of their Dartmouth Refinery.
References
Texts
- Chapman, Harry (2000) In the Wake of the Alderney: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, 1750-2000. Dartmouth Historical Association.
- Faragher, John (2005) Great and Noble Scheme.
- Leefe, JOhn G., (1996) King's Orange Rangers. (Liverpool).
- Mrs. William Lawson. The History of The Townships of Darmouth, Preston and Lawrencetown, Halifax County, Nova Scotia, p. 16
Links
Endnotes
See also
- Military history of Nova Scotia
- Military history of the Mi’kmaq people
- Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax