]
In accordance with this Colonel Monckton was instructed
to prepare for an expedition against Beausejour and St
John in the spring of 1755. He was given for the purpose
a letter of unlimited credit on Boston; and every regiment
in Nova Scotia was brought up to the strength of one
thousand men. By May the expedition was ready. Monckton,
with two thousand troops, embarked at Annapolis Royal,
and by June 1 the expedition was at Chignecto. In the
meantime Vergor, the French commandant at Beausejour,
had not been passive. He had strengthened his defences,
had summoned the inhabitants of the surrounding districts
to his help, had mounted cannon in a blockhouse defending
the passage of the river, and had thrown up a strong
breastwork of timber along the shore. On June 3 the
British landed. They had little difficulty in driving
the French from their entrenchments. The inhabitants had
no heart in the work of defence; and the French, unable
to make a stand, threw their cannon into the river and
burned the blockhouse and other buildings.
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