Although all four fortifications constructed on Citadel Hill since 1749 are variously referred to as Fort George, only the third fort was officially named Fort George, by General Orders of October 20, 1798, after Prince Edward's father, King George III. The first two and the fourth and current fort, were simply called the Halifax Citadel. The Citadel is the fortified summit of Citadel Hill, a National Historic Site of Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The hill was first fortified in 1749, the year the town of Halifax was founded. Those fortifications on the hill were successively rebuilt to defend the town from various enemies. A series of four different defensive fortifications have occupied the summit of Citadel Hill. Construction and levelling resulted in the summit of the hill being dropped by ten to twelve metres. Whilst never attacked, the Citadel was long the keystone to the defence of the strategically important Halifax Harbour and its Royal Navy Dockyard.Today the fort is operated by Parks Canada as the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site of Canada and is restored to the Victorian period.The First CitadelFather Le Loutre's WarFirst established in 1749, as a counterbalance to the French stronghold of Louisbourg, which the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle returned to France, Halifax played a pivotal role over the next decade in the Anglo-French rivalry in the region. The various fortifications at Halifax were to protect the Protestant settlers against raids by the French, Acadians, and Wabanaki Confederacy in a conflict known to some historians as Father Le Loutre's War. The war began shortly after Edward Cornwallis arrived on June 21, 1749 to establish Halifax with 13 transports and a sloop of war carrying 1,176 settlers and their families. The Mi'kmaq felt that the British settlement at Halifax violated earlier treaties which were signed after Father Rale's War in 1726. On 11 September 1749, Cornwallis wrote to the Board of Trade:
"The Halifax Citadel and the grounds are open year-round. The available programs and services change with the season. Full programming is available from May to October. / La citadelle d’Halifax et le terrain de la citadelle sont ouverts à l’année. Les programmes et les services offerts varient selon les saisons. La programmation complète est offerte de mai à octobre."
