FORT CUMBERLAND

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On 28 November 1776 HMS Vulture arrived at the head of the Bay of Fundy with British marines aboard to relieve Fort Cumberland which had been beseiged since earlier in the month. A force of American militia, natives, and some Nova Scotians, led by Jonathan Eddy, tried to capture the Fort as the precursor to the start of a rebellion in the colony and eventual attack on Halifax.  Eddy had settled in Nova Scotia as a New England Planter and was one of a few members of the General Assembly in Halifax sympathetic to the American Revolution. The attack is described in The Siege of Fort Cumberland, 1776 - An Episode in the American Revolution authored by Ernest Clarke, UE, a member of the United Empire Loyalists' Association in Nova Scotia.  The book was published by McGill - Queen's University Press in 1995.

Book published by Ernest Clarke, UE
 

In this book Ernest Clarke, UE, "examines the attitudes of the various players in the region - New England Planters, Acadians, Native peoples, Yorkshiremen, and Scots - Irish - and their responses to the call to arms issued by the revolutionary forces in the thirteen colonies.  Clarke reveals how the siege of Fort Cumberland shaped the attitudes of Nova Scotians to the revolution and to their place in the North American world." 

Members of the Halifax / Dartmouth Branch of the United Empire Loyalists' Association prepared a play on the events of the Siege of Fort Cumberland that was presented with members of the New Brunswick Branch. Ernest Clarke, UE, is pictured among these presenters in below photo.


  Reading of Siege of Fort Cumberland (Source:  The Loyalist Gazette, Fall 1997)

The Play about the Siege of Fort Cumberland had a script of 54 pages with a cast of: Jonathan Eddy, Rev. James Lyon (Presbyterian Minister of Machias), John Allan (Cumberland rebel), Ruth Peck (Loyal farmer at Shepody Point near where Eddy's rebels landed), Joseph Goreham (Commander of Fort Cumberland), Isbrook Eddy (Rebel soldier and son of Jonathan Eddy), Michael Franklin (Nova Scotia Militia Commander), Lewis Delesdernier (Rebel soldier), William Milburn (Loyal Cumberland resident), Thomas Robinson (Loyal Cumberland resident), Thomas Batt (Commander of expedition that routed the rebels), William Black (Loyal Cumberland resident), and Alexander MacDonald (Officer in the Royal Highland Emigrants).

The story begins with Jonathan Eddy and three rebels on the Boston waterfront. From there they go to Machias, in present day Maine, where he receives support for an invasion of Nova Scotia from the Presbyterian Minister of the Town, the Reverend James Lyon who says:  

"Nova Scotia is almost defenceless and nearly nine - tenths of its inhabitants would bid us a hearty welcome and now it may be taken without much loss of blood, if any.  I highly approve of the noble spirit of Captain Jonathan Eddy and heartily wish him success and all the honour of reducing Nova Scotia."

However,  after the Siege of Fort Cumberland ended poorly for the rebels, one of them, John Allan comments: 

"The siege of Fort Cumberland was a hasty and rash operation of inexperienced and avaricious men."

The final statement of the play, on the last page of the script, is from Alexander MacDonald, officer with the Royal Highland Emigrants, saying:

"After all the great hurry and terror that this province was put in by the invasion from New England, it appears now from the information of four prisoners brought here to Halifax that the noise about Fort Cumberland has turned out to be a mere phantom..."

Following the failed attack on Fort Cumberland, Jonathan Eddy went to Massachusetts, the place of his birth. In 1784 he established the community now known as Eddington, Maine. 



Further Reading:

Clarke, Ernest, The Siege of Fort Cumberland, 1776 - An Episode in the American Revolution, published by McGill - Queen's University Press, 1995


Historian & Author; Member of United Empire Loyalists ' Association of Canada, Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia, Ulster Historical & Genealogical Guild (Life)

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