Sherbrooke is located on the eastern Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia at the head of the tide on the St. Mary's River which was called Saint Marie by the French trader La Giraudiere who went there to live from Canso about 1655, having rights to settle from the Company of New France and later from the Company of the West Indies(2). La Giraudiere built a house "at three leagues" above the entrance of the river "it being unnavigable higher for boats" on a site which is now at Sherbrooke. Nicolas Denys wrote that all "the buildings of La Giraudiere were enclosed by a fort of four little bastions, the whole made of great pickets or stakes. There were two pieces of brass canon and some swivel-guns, the whole in a good state of defence".
A clearing was made around the fort, where wheat was grown, but the soil was too sandy for good crops. La Giraudiere devoted his attention to hunting and fishing, particularly the salmon fishery, and trading furs. Denys remarked on the large number of Indians who gathered "because of the hunting, which is good in the interior of the country, where there are mountains all abounding in Moose."(3) Mrs. Harriet Cunningham Hart, historian of Guysborough County, said that "the French supplied the Indians with nets and spears for the salmon fishery in the river and in the Glenelg Lakes."(4)
This was an unsettled period in our province's history, when Acadia or Nova Scotia was a battleground between French and English, and also between the French D'Aulnay Charnisay and Charles LaTour. Peaceful traders, such as Nicolas Denys, suffered from raids byD'Aulnay's creditors. In the summer of 1669, while La Giraudiere was in France and Huret was in charge, an English force came along the coast. This may have been some piratical excursion from New England, but probably it was part of the force which Thomas Temple, the English Governor, had sent in the late autumn of 1668 to expel Le Borgne de Bellisle from Port Royal. Temple disputed the terms of the Treaty of Breda, and claimed that Port Royal and Sainte Marie were outside the limits of Acadia.(5)
Near Sainte Marie the English met a Frenchman called La Montagne, who was living in a log cabin on the coast, and trading furs with captains of fishing vessels for powder, lead, brandy, and other goods. La Montagne had once worked for Nicolas Denys at St. Pierre, and had been enticed away by La Giraudiere. La Montagne had a grudge against La Giraudiere because he felt La Giraudiere had failed to keep his promises. He offered to guide the English to Fort Sainte Marie, where Huret was in command. La Montagne led them through the woods close to the fort. Nicolas Denys, with whom Huret and his crew later sought shelter at Nepisiguit (now Bathurst, New Brunswick) described the attack thus:
La Montagne... went on a scouting tour, and found that the French were at dinner with the gate open. He informed the English who made a run to enter the fort. As they were rushing forward, a man came out by chance, and having perceived them, he closed the gates, and called "To Arms". But the English gained the embrasures, through which they passed their guns; they took aim at the first who came out from the buildings, and then at another, and held them thus besieged. They worked to force an entrance, and threatened to kill all who would not give themselves up, which indeed they did. The English, being masters [of the place], bound the French whom some guarded while the remainder plundered and loaded everything on their vessel. Having set fire to the fort, the English took them on board, and gave them a boat to go where they could.(6)
The Nova Scotian of July 13, 1825 printed the following description of the ruins of the French fort: "there being within the present town plot of Sherbrooke, the foundation of a large building, apparently a store and dwelling house, which has been raised several feet above the surface of the intervals on which they were erected; and on their front to the water, a bank has been thrown up either for defence against the ice of the river, or to guard against the Indians or some other enemy. At a little distance from this, is the site of a blacksmith's forge, and another small building, which have also a bank thrown up in front; a great number of iron spikes, old tomahawks, hoes, files and other old iron were found here, and the marks of several charcoal pits, some of them at a considerable distance from the forge, are evidence that a good deal of that article has been used. Fragments of French Burr and millstones were also found; and in levelling a part of the large foundation for the street, a gun about four feet long and 2 inch calibre was dug up. It was made of iron bars, welded together lengthwise, and hooped with iron hoops. A large tree had grown on the site of the building first mentioned, which would indicate that at least a century must have elapsed since the establishment was broken up; but who the colonists were, or what become of them, is wholly unknown."
When Professor Canong was preparing the edition of Denys for the Champlain Society about 1907, Mrs. A. D. McDonald, the postmistress of Sherbrooke, informed him that "the fort site is well known, a few hundred yards below the village, close beside the steamboat wharf; it is clear of buildings, and crossed by a public road; a few years ago foundations-stones could be seen; the first settlers, between 1790 and 1800, found the old gates of this fort still standing. Inside of it an old canon made of iron bars hopped together with iron, and other relics, were obtained. It is also said there was a stockade at Elys Cove, some four miles down the river. This is of interest, for the reason that on DuVal's map of 1677 and some others, two forts are marked on this river, a Fort Sainte Marie on the upper part of the river, and Fort Saint Charles below it."(7)