In retaliation for the role of locals who supported the siege, numerous homes and farms were destroyed, and Patriot sympathizers were driven out of the area.

The successful defense of Fort Cumberland preserved the territorial integrity of the British Maritime possessions, and Nova Scotia remained loyal throughout the war.

Nova Scotia was generally poorly defended in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, and unrest in the eastern regions provoked fears of an American-led uprising.

[9] As early as June 1775, Colonel Joseph Goreham had been ordered by General Thomas Gage to raise the Royal Fencible American Regiment of Foot[10] and natives in Nova Scotia for the defense of the province against Patriot activity.

[11] Arriving at the fort in the summer of 1776, Colonel Goreham and a garrison of 200 Loyalist[4] troops of the RFA did what they could to restore the premises to a defensible condition.

[13] Furthermore, the locals were generally sympathetic to the Patriot cause, and refused to assist in rehabilitating the fort, even trying to induce members of the garrison to defect.

He and John Allan, both of whom served in the provincial assembly, were the prime movers of Patriot activity in the area, which was one of several hotbeds of agitation in Nova Scotia.

Patriots in these communities were in contact with each other, and those of Cumberland and Maugerville were active in trying to interest nearby natives (Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq) in their cause.

Allan's work was made more difficult by the arrival of Colonel Goreham and his troops to refortify Fort Cumberland, and by the activities of Michael Francklin, a former Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and a vocal Loyalist.

Coincidentally, John Allan, who was working on a longer-term plan for military action, sailed from Campobello Island for Machias the same day.

The two parties met at sea, where Allan attempted to dissuade Eddy from his plan, informing him that the Mi'kmaq (the largest tribe in Nova Scotia) would not help him.

[20] From Campobello, Eddy sailed up the Saint John River to Maugerville, where 27 men were recruited, and then up to the Maliseet settlement at Aukpaque (just upriver from present-day Fredericton).

Goreham took no additional steps to protect Polly, and any attempts to get word of his predicament out were again delayed by his decision to await the return of scouts he had dispatched earlier.

Over the next few days, local militia arrived to raise the garrison's size to about 200, although this included individuals not effective for combat due to illness.

When the news reached Halifax through the efforts of Thomas Dixson, Lieutenant Governor Marriot Arbuthnot responded by dispatching orders on the 15th for any available ship based at Annapolis to go to Fort Edward in Windsor, to convoy troops to relieve the siege.

[36] Night attacks ordered by the council on November 22 and 23 succeeded in capturing and burning several buildings, but Goreham grimly held his ground, and the invaders were again repulsed.

Rather than retreat in the face of arriving relief, the rebels increased their guard; Goreham, with some intelligence about the size of the force opposing him, planned a sortie.

[38] Batt's men chased Eddy's, but bad weather and the lack of adequate footwear eventually caused him to call off the pursuit.

[42] The victory at Fort Cumberland strengthened the British presence in Nova Scotia, in part by driving Patriot sympathizers like Allan and Eddy out of the province, but also by cowing those that remained, often by requiring people to make pledges to the Crown.

[45] (Collier's action was in fact unnecessary; the Massachusetts Provincial Congress had in early August voted to disband forces recruited for Allan's expedition, because of the imminent threat posed by the army of General John Burgoyne in upstate New York.