Skip to main content

Garrison Orders for Louisbourg and Gibraltar : 1727-1749.

Call Number:
HIL-MICL FC LMR .G7A7G3
Category:
Military
Creator:
Great Britain. Army.
Material Description:
1 microfilm textual records 35 mm
Background:

Located on Isle Royale (Cape Breton Island), Louisbourg was established in 1713 and became the capital and major settlement on the Island. It was the largest fortress in New France and a key military stronghold which allowed France to control access to the St. Lawrence River and the lucrative North Atlantic cod fishery. However, it was seen as an economic threat by New England colonists. When the War of the Austrian succession erupted in 1745 between France and England, the Governor of Massachusetts raised a force, and with the added support of an English naval contingent, captured the fortress. Most of the inhabitants were sent to France, and Louisbourg was garrisoned by New England and then British troops until 1749. To the chagrin of the New Englanders, only three years later the town was restored to the French by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It flourished for the next decade until the British captured it in 1758 and demolished the fortress walls.

Gibraltar is a peninsula on Spain's southern coast at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Gibraltar has been a British dependency since 1704 when British troops captured the Rock during the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain officially ceded Gibraltar to the British under terms of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Since the early 1700s, the British have used Gibraltar to keep enemy ships from entering or leaving the Mediterranean Sea. Gibraltar became a British garrison and in 1820 was declared a colony.

Contents:

This collection contains Garrison Orders of Louisbourg, 3 November 1746 - 12 July 1749; Regimental Orders for an Unknown Outpost, 22 October 1740 - 18 June 1745; as well as General Orders of the Garrison of Gibraltar, 2 February 1727 - October 1747.

Originals:

The original records are held by the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Archival Ref. No.:
Scottish Record Office, GD 21.
Finding Aids:

An alphabetical subject index is found after the Louisbourg Garrison Orders, and again after the Regimental Orders from an Unknown Outpost.

Notes:
The coverage dates on the film for the Garrison Orders of Gibraltar are misleading.
Related Records:
Forms part of the collection, Cunninghame of Thorntoun.