 The regiment was raised at Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia by General Richard Philipps as the Richard Philipps's Regiment of Foot in August 1717 out of independent companies stationed in North America and the West Indies.Prior to Father Rale's War, the Mi'kmaq resisted the establishment of a British fort at Canso, Nova Scotia by raiding the fishing station in 1720.Phillips sent a company of the 40th, under the command of Major Lawrence Armstrong, to take up garrison of a small fort in Canso built by the New England fishermen.