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* Francis Nicholson was the first British Governor of Nova Scotia. He received the appointment of Lieut. Governor of New England, under Sir Edmund Andros. in the year 1688. He was Governor of New York in 1689, and in the year following Lt. Governor of Virginia. In 1692 he was transferred to the government of Maryland, and in 1698 sent back to Virginia as Governor-in-Chief, at which time he held the rank of colonel in the army. He was in command of the expediton against Canada, which encamped at Lake Champlain in the year 1709, and. afterwards proceeded to England to give an account of the failure of that enterprize. He returned to Boston in the following year, and was appointed to the command of the expedition against Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal), which terminated in the surrender of that post to him by Subercase, the French commander, on 2d Octr., 1710. His forces consisted chiefly of four regiments of provincial troops, raised in New England, under Cols. Hobby, Whiting, and Walters. He returned to Boston after the capture of Port Royal, leaving a garrison there under Col. Vetch. He again proceeded to England to urge on Government the necessity or another attempt upon Canada. He carried with him on this occasion five chiefs of the Iroquois Nations, who were presented to Queen Anne. He organized the second expedition against Canada in 1711, which terminated so disastrously in the loss of Admiral Walker's fleet at the mouth of the River St. Lawrence, and had the command of the forces then collected at Lake George, destined to attack Montreal simultaneously with those under General Hill, which were to proceed up the River against Quebec. He became eventually Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in America, and a Lieutenant General.
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