Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/110

Charnisay's death, in 1650, we are left in doubt as to whether he occupied his old fort or the new one which Charnisay had built. When he sold out his rights in Acadia to Temple and Crowne, a few years later, he probably retained his residence in one of the forts while the English occupied the other. The fort in which he resided would likely be named Fort LaTour, whether it was the original Fort LaTour or not, and this may account for Fort LaTour being placed on the east side of the harbor in some maps. LaTour died in 1666 and soon after his death Acadia was restored to France under the terms of the treaty of Breda. No mention is made of Fort LaTour in connection with the surrender of the various Acadian forts to the French, and therefore we may infer that this fort, in 1670, had become a ruin. Probably, however, Fort LaTour was the one occupied by De Marson or Soulanges, who from 1670 to 1678 commanded on the St. John river under the Governor of Acadia. When Villebon proposed to remove his garrison from Fort Nashwaak to Fort LaTour, in 1697, he found that the old fort was in fairly good condition, and he restored it and improved it. Three or four years later it was abandoned and the French garrison removed to Port Royal. It was, however, occupied by the French after the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, and when the French were driven away from the St. John river, three years later, it was occupied by an English garrison and restored or rebuilt. The fort on the west side, therefore, notwithstanding some defects incident to its situation, was always preferred to the one on the east side. Indeed our knowledge of the latter is so slight that there are really some doubts as to whether there ever was a fort on the east side. The selection of the west side site by LaTour, by Villebon and by the English, is the best answer that could be given to Dr. Ganong's criticisms,