Halifax Citadel
Halifax, Nova Scotia

settling down and calling the region Acadia. French and Indian lived relatively peacefully until the British set their flinty gaze on the area, culminating in the siege of Acadia's capital, Port Royal, in 1710. The remaining French were shoved in the direction of Quebec and/or Louisiana, and on June 21 1749, 2,576 British colonists arrived at what would become Halifax harbor. The sprouting city was named for the Earl of Halifax, George Montagu-Dunk (1716-1771), President of Britain's Board of Trade, who was the sponsor of this particular undertaking.

Over the next several decades, three different fortifications were built on the hill overlooking Halifax Harbor: All were made of wood and earth, and due to constant manpower issues, they took a long time to complete, and were mostly neglected once completed. Fortunately for Britain, the only attacks made on the city were by somewhat ragtag Acadians and Indians who wanted their Acadia back (the establishment of the city of Halifax broke treaties the British had made with the Mi'kmaq in 1726)...had France or the fledgling United States made a serious effort to take the marvelous harbor in the late 18th century, there would have been little there to stop them.

off the coast of Maine, having boarded as passengers. The sympathizers intended to use the Chesapeake as a blockade runner, defying the blockade that the US Navy had imposed on Confederate shipping in and out of Halifax Harbor.

The US Navy set off in hot pursuit, shortly catching up with the Chesapeake and escorting it back to Halifax, where the ship was impounded by the British Admiralty, and the ringleader of the fracas was helped to escape by the Confederacy's unofficial consul in Halifax (the Confederacy wasn't officially recognized by Britain, but the rebs did a great deal of business with the merchants of Halifax, thus an unofficial consul). Outrage! Saber rattling! Had Halifax Citadel not stood in its menacing fashion atop the hill, the United States Navy may well have started shooting at Halifaxian things right then 'n' there. As it was, the whole thing was chalked up as an act of piracy and generally ignored in an official capacity.

The 78th Regiment of Foot was a Scottish infantry regiment that was raised in 1793 to help bludgeon the French for their interminable warrishness. The 78th served the British crown with distinction in the Netherlands, South Africa, India and Persia and then, most likely absolutely exhausted, were shipped to Halifax in 1869 to take up residence at the Citadel. The regiment marched and bagpiped about Halifax most gloriously until it departed in 1871.

The five colonies that made up British North America united into a single country (it may have been called "Canada") in 1867. The merchants of Halifax resisted this, as Nova Scotia was doing very well financially as a relatively independent British colony, but the other, lamer colonies (Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick) outvoted Nova Scotia and Canada became a nation. Britain kept troops in Canada until 1906, and the Royal Navy retained control of Halifax Harbor until 1910.

Empire busily erected in a great many threatened parts of its dominion all over the world in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

By the end of the 19th century the Martello Tower had become nothing more than a big fat motionless target for increasingly accurate naval guns...as had indeed Halifax Citadel. Big ole batteries were needed to house the ever huger guns that were needed to fend off naval adversaries, so Fort McNab was built from 1888 to 1892. Up through the First (1914-1918) and Second (1939-1945) World Wars, Halifax Citadel was mostly used as a command center, overseeing the activities of its many better-armed satellite fortifications.