Governor Cornwallis' first dispatch to England, after arriving at Chebucto, was sent via Boston, and bears the date 22nd June, the day after his arrival. In this letter he says: "The coasts are as rich as ever they have been represented; we caught fish every day since we came, within 50 leagues of the coast. The harbour itself is full of fish of all kinds. All the officers agree the harbour is the finest they have ever seen. The country is one continued wood; no clear spot is to be seen or heard of. I have been on shore in several places. The underwood is only young trees, so that with difficulty one is able to make his way anywhere." "D'Anville's Fleet have only cut wood for present use; they cleared no ground, but encamped their men on the beach. I have seen but few brooks, nor as yet have found the navigable river that has been talked of. There are a few French families on the east side of the bay, about three leagues off. Some have been on board."
Governor Mascarine having received Cornwallis' letter on the 26th, on the following day, ordered Captain Davis to make ready his galley and go round to Chebucto with fresh provisions. Mascarine was waiting the arrival of the new Governor at Annapolis, as appears by his letters to Governor Hopson on the 14th and 26th June, in which he says: "Get ready supplies for the new Captain General who will be here, but the fleet will be at Chebucto." The "Snow Fair Lady" arrived shortly after the Sphinx, and was dispatched to Annapolis to afford Mr. Mascarine the means of transporting his council and part of his garrison to Chebucto. On the 26th, the "Fair Lady" was in the harbour of Annapolis ready to receive Governor Mascarine and suite. On the 27th, the transport began to make their appearance off the harbour of Chebucto, and by the 1st July, they had all arrived. As their passage had been extremely good, and none of them had in the least suffered, the Governor found himself in a position to afford vessels to Colonel Hopson the moment the settlers should be put on shore.8 Accordingly having countermanded the order to Boston for transports, he dispatched to Louisburg the ship "Brotherhood" on the 1st July, and on the 5th, the "London," "Wilmington," "Winchelsea," and "Merry Jacks." On the 8th he received from Louisburg, copies of letters from Governor Shirley of Boston, to Governor Mascarine, giving an account of the French having commenced a fort at the mouth of the River St. John, and on the following day sent Captain Rouse in the "Albany" and a small sloop to attend her, with orders to the commanding officer at Annapolis to furnish him with troops if required, and to proceed immediately to the River St. John, Governor Shirley having previously sent the ship "Boston" to Annapolis for the same service, there to await orders. It appears that the French had fitted out an expedition, under M. Ramey, for this purpose, a short time before the arrival of Cornwallis, and the vessel with ammunition, arms and provisions, bound to St. John River, had passed Malagash Bay a few days before the arrival of the "Sphinx" there; but having put into Port Mouton on her way, the information of their designs was communicated to the authorities of Annapolis.
Governor Mascarine having arrived with several of his Council on the 12th, the following day Governor Cornwallis opened his commission and took the oaths of office in their presence, and on Friday, the 14th July, the Civil Government was organized, and Colonel Paul Mascarine, Captain Edward How, Captain John Gorham, Benjamin Green, John Salsbury and Hugh Davidson were sworn in Councillors9 on board the "Beaufort" Transport, and the Commission and Royal Instructions were then read. "The formation of the Board was announced to the people by a general salute from the ships in the harbour and the day was devoted to festivity and amusement." The four first gentlemen named in the Council were officers from Annapolis; Mr. Green was from Massachusetts, and had been with General Hopson at Louisburg, and the two latter were of His Excellency's suite; Mr. Davidson acted as Secretary.
Early in the month of July, a spot for the settlement was pitched upon near Point Pleasant,10 then called Sandwich Point, and people were employed in cutting down the trees; but the want of sufficient depth of water in front, its great exposure to south-east gales and other inconveniences being discovered, it was abandoned for a more eligible situation to the northward, commanding a prospect of the whole harbour and on an easy ascent with bold anchorage close to the shore. Here Mr. Bruce the engineer, and Captain Morris the surveyor, were ordered to lay out the town, which was surveyed, the plan completed and the lots appropriated to their respective owners by the 14th September. The town was laid out in squares or blocks of 320 by 120 feet deep, the streets being 55 feet11 in width. Each block contained 16 town lots, forty feet front by sixty deep, and the whole was afterwards divided into five divisions or wards, called Callendar's, Galland's, Ewer's, Collier's and Foreman's divisions, after the names of the persons who were appointed Captains of Militia, each ward being large enough to supply one company.
Buckingham Street was the north and Salter Street the south limit, and the whole was surrounded by a strong palisade of pickets with block houses or log forts at convenient distances. Foreman's new division was afterwards added as far as the present Jacob Street. The north and south suburbs were surveyed about the same time, but the German lots in the north were not laid off till the year following.
Great difficulty was at first experienced in the erection of dwellings; the European settlers being totally unacquainted with the method of constructing wooden buildings. Frames and other materials for building were, however, soon brought from Massachusetts, and before the cold weather set in a number of comfortable dwellings were erected. Provisions and other necessary supplies were regularly served out in the camp, and every exertion on the part of the Governor made to render the settlers comfortable before the approach of winter. Several transports were detained and housed over to accommodate those settlers whose houses were not complete, and the canvas tent and log hut were soon abandoned for more convenient and comfortable accommodations.
I have, says Governor Cornwallis, in his letter of the 20th August, contracted for frames and materials for barracks and officers' lodgings from Boston. Boards are very high owing to the drought. I have got none under £4 per thousand, and shall be obliged to furnish a vast number to help the people to get under cover, and have sent an officer on purpose to Boston to obtain them at a fair price. Many houses are begun and huts and log houses already up for more than half a mile on each side the town.
Tradition says that on clearing the ground for settlement a number of dead bodies were discovered among the trees, partly covered by the underwood, supposed to have been soldiers of the Duke D'Anville's expedition which put into Chebucto Harbor in 1746,12 but the Governor in his letter does not mention the facts.
During the winter months the people were kept actively employed in cutting pickets for fences and wood for fuel, and for erecting new buildings. Mechanics were placed at the head of working parties to direct their labours, and by a judicious division of the people into small parties the more laborious portion of the work was executed with uncommon dispatch. Mills were also erected at the expense of Government for sawing lumber, and a mill master appointed with a salary, and every facility held out to enable those settlers, who had not yet been accommodated, to complete their dwellings on the approach of spring. The Governor in his letter of 27th July, describes the site of the Town as very advantageous. He says: "It has all the conveniences I could wish except a fresh water river.13 Nothing is easier