Formation of the Regiment

In 1717 the independent companies of soldiers stationed in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland were merged by Nova Scotia's Governor Richard Phillips to create Phillips' Regiment. The royal warrant stated:

Our Will and Pleasure is, that this our establishment of our Regiment of Foot, commanded by our trusty and well-beloved Colonel, Richard Phillips, and for the garrison of Annapolis Royal and Placentia, do commence and take place from the 25th day of August last inclusive, from which time all former establishments for our eight Independent Companies and Garrisons at Annapolis Royal and Placentia are to cease and determine.

As governor of Nova Scotia from 1717 to 1749, Phillips made two brief stays in the fledgling colony (172~22, 1729-31). His second stay was shortened when he was recalled to answer questions on his debts to the officers of his regiment. In his absence, the senior officers of his regiment, in succession, served as lieutenant governor and councillors for the colony.

In Newfoundland, similar administrative demands were placed on regimental officers. Officers like John Doucet, Alexander Crosby, Paul Mascarene, Christopher Albridge, Otho Hamilton, and John Handfield all played prominent roles in the development of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland during Phillips' tenure.

Skirmishes

The early part of the regiment's history involved a number of skirmishes with the Indians while protecting Nova Scotia. The destruction of the Canso fishery by Indians in 1720 brought a quick response by Phillips. A company of the regiment was deployed to take up garrison of a small fort in Canso built by the New England fishermen. Despite numerous diplomatic attempts at peace, the Indians continued preying on shipping, forcing the garrison to take action in 1722. Serving as marines, the troops and local fishermen were able to disperse the marauding Indians. The next engagement came in July 1724 when a party of sixty Indians attacked Annapolis.

The garrison responded with a poorly calculated sortie from the town's dilapidated fort, resulting in the death of a sergeant and private, the wounding of an officer and three privates, and the repulse of the troops. After some pillaging, the Indians departed with a number of civilian prisoners. From 1717 to 1743, Phillips, Regiment, garrisoning Annapolis, Placentia, and Canso, was successful in protecting settlers firom Indian attacks, checking French influence in the area, and preserving the British foothold in Atlantic Canada.

War of the Austrian Succession 1744-1748

When war was declared in March 1744, the French at Louisbourg quickly acted. In May a flotilla containing 900 French regulars and militia appeared near Canso to the surprise of the garrison who were not aware that the war had begun. The four poorly-supplied companies of Phillips' Regiment were forced to surrender. The garrison's commander reported:

That considering the bad state of the place, having but eighty-seven men, whereof one-third was sick or lame, the blockhouse not tenable against great shot, the first shot against it going through it, four barrels of powder damaged for want of proper store-house to keep it, and no good flints, he thought it advisable to capitulate in time to obtain better terms.

The town was subsequently destroyed and the prisoners sent to Louisbourg. Once the regiment's officers were paroled, they were able to provide valuable information on the defences of Louisbourg for the Britsh siege the following year.

In July 1744, three hundred Indians under command of a French priest named Le Loutre attacked Annapolis, the last British garrison in Nova Scotia. Only eighty men of Phillips' Regiment were available to meet this threat, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Mascarene. Mascarene, a Huguenot, refused to surrender to Le Loutre. Lacking resolve, Le Loutre's party burned a number of houses and withdrew. Following this the garrison was reinforced with an additional seventy men. In September the enemy, this time three hundred regulars and militia with Indian support, reappeared outside the dilapidated earthworks of Annapolis Royal.

After a halfhearted four week siege and lacking a train of artillery, the French withdrew from the defiant garrison. A force of six hundred French and Indians again attempted to take Annapolis in May 1745. This demonstration ended quickly with the enemy ordered back to help defend Louisbourg from the British.

Expedition With Pirates

The only other action seen by Phillips' Regiment occurred while serving as marines and seamen. A detachment from the garrison at St. John's, Newfoundland volunteed to serve on a captured twentygun ship for an expedition with three privateers to Fishotte Bay. The prize entered Fishotte Bay alone and engaged a number of anchored French ships. After five hours of fighting and the loss of ten killed and thirty wounded, the ship had captured three fourteen- gun and two twelve-gun enemy ships; forty six of their crews were killed and three hundred and thirty two made prisoner.

The lagging privateers entered the harbour and assisted in the destruction of French fishing stages and the removal of enemy ships and prisoners. By the end of the war Phillips' Regiment, after defending Britain's foothold in Nova Scotia with a skeleton complement, had its establishment raised to seventy men for each company. Men were quickly impressed in England for service in the regiment.

A Period of Expansion 1746-1755

Between 1746 and 1748 the regiment contented itself with garrison duty at Annapolis and St. John's. In July 1749, the grenadier company under Captain Handfield were sent to garrison the new settlement of Halifax founded the month earlier by the new Governor of Nova Scotia, Edward Cornwallis. A surprise attack by local Micmacs resulted in the capture of a detachment of the company including Lieutenant Otho Hamilton and Handfield's son. The captives were later returned to Halifax.

Further engagements occurredwith the Indians that year as the troops preserved the line of communication between Halifax and Annapolis. Additional members of the regiment formed the garrison of Fort Sackville and established themselves at Pisiquid (now Windsor).

By 1750 Cornwallis had taken over the colonelcy of the regiment. By the Royal Warrant of 1st July 1751, Cornwallis' Regiment was given the numerical distinction of the 40th Regiment of Foot. Neglected for so many years by its former colonel, Cornwallis set about enhancing the condition of his new regiment.

The companies in Newfoundland were rotated and discipline was improved. Desertion was poorly tolerated by Cornwallis. Of six deserters, two were shot and the rest reprieved. Three other deserters were hanged and their bodies suspended in chains as a warning to others. Further changes happened in the 40th with Cornwallis' appointment of Major Charles Lawrence of the 45th to the regiment's lieutenant colonelcy.

Lawrence proved to be an energetic and effective military and administrative leader. After his appointment, Lawrence lead an expedition to the Missaguash River in August 1750 where he routed a superior number of Indians under Le Loutre. That fall he built Fort Lawrence across the river from Fort Beausejour.

New Colonels

In 1752 Peregrine Hopson succeeded Cornwallis as Nova Scotia's governor and colonel of the 40th Regiment. Hopson was not unfamiliar to the region, having served as governor of the captured Louisbourg from 1746 to 1749. In poor health, Hopson returned to England in 1753 leaving the governing of the colony to Lawrence. In 1755 Hopson officially resigned as governor and Lawrence was appointed. However Hopson remained the colonel of the 40th Regiment until his death in 1759. For the first time since its forrnation, the regiment's colonel was not the governor of Nova Scotia. Hopson was succeeded as colonel in 1759 by John Barrington, followed by Robert Armiga in December 1760.

Regional relations with the French and Indians continued to deteriorate. By 1755 it was decided that the recently erected French Fort Beausejour had to be removed as a threat. The English force, including members of the 40th Regiment, was met by a large body of regulars and militia as they crossed the Massaquash river. This enemy force was attacked and dispersed quickly. Beausejour was subsequently laid siege to on 21st June and it surrendered four days later. Though casualties were light, one 40th officer did meet a melancholy demise during the siege:

Ensign Alexander Hay, who had been taken prisoner by the Indians on his way to the camp before Beausejour, was killed by one of our shells in the French fort, which fell through a sort of casement and also killed three French officers and wounded two more.

After the siege, the name of the fort became Fort Cumberland. The only other 40th officer to be killed that year was Captain Floyer who was serving on Braddock's expedition against Fort Duquesne.

Also in 1755, it was decided that the Acadian population could not be relied upon during wartime and their expulsion was ordered. Part of this unfortunate duty fell upon the 40th officers stationed at Annapolis. After such a long stay in the colony, a number of the officers had married into the local Acadian population.

Therefore the deportation order forced officers to exile their own relations. Even the commander of the garrison, Major Handfield, had to deport his wife's "sister-in-law, nephews and nieces, uncles, aunts, and cousins." Handfield wrote to another officer performing the same task: "I heartily join with you in wishing that we were both of us got over this most disagreeable and troublesome part of the Service."

40th Regiment Part 2: Seven Years War and After

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