Archeologists in Quebec City have discovered the first fortifications built in 1693 to protect New France from a major attack, in what is considered the first reinforced palisade of that era. 'From the mouth of my cannons'Pintal said it took 500 people to build the wooden structure that stood nearly four metres high, anchored in a trench and filled with sand. That palisade was in place during the Battle of Quebec and the six-day siege of the city in October 1690. Josué Dubois Berthelot de Beaucours, a French military engineer, drew out the plans for the wooden fortifications built in 1693-94, designed to protect the colony from heavy artillery and cannon balls. Decades later, under the growing threat of a British invasion, the French troops built the existing stone fortifications in 1745, a few dozen metres back from Beaucours' palisade.

Source: CBC News November 06, 2018 16:42 UTC