Editing Citadel Hill (Fort George) (section)

===Second Citadel (1776–1795)===
[[File:Halifax from Fort Needham, ca. 1780.png|thumb|Depiction of Citadel Hill during the [[American Revolution]], viewed from Fort Needham, 1780.]]
The first major permanent fortification were completed on Citadel Hill during the American Revolution.<ref name="akins209"/> Built in 1776, the new fort on Citadel Hill was composed of multiple lines of overlapping earthen [[redan]]s backing a large outer palisade wall. At the center was a three-story octagonal blockhouse mounting a fourteen-gun battery and accommodating 100 troops. These works required that the hill be cut down by {{convert|40|ft|m|round=0.5|abbr=off|order=flip}}. The entire fortress mounted 72 guns.<ref>Piers, p. 16-17</ref> Citadel Hill and the associated harbour defence fortifications afforded the [[Royal Navy]] the most secure and strategic base in eastern North America from its [[Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax|Halifax Dockyard]] commanding the [[Great Circle Route]] to western Europe and gave Halifax the nickname "Warden of The North". The massive British military presence in Halifax focused through Citadel Hill and the Royal Navy's dockyard is thought to be one of the main reasons that Nova Scotia—the fourteenth British colony—remained loyal to the Crown throughout and after the [[American Revolutionary War]].

Neither French nor American forces attacked Citadel Hill during the American Revolution. But the garrison remained on guard because of the numerous rebel American [[privateer]] raids on villages around the province (such as the [[Raid on Lunenburg (1782)|Raid on Lunenburg]]), and the [[Naval battle off Halifax|naval battles off the shore of Halifax]].

By 1784 the fortification was in ruins except for the blockhouse.<ref name=NHS/> During the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], the British [[Commander-in-Chief, North America]], [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn|Prince Edward]], found the fortifications inadequate for the city's defence.<ref name=NHS/> Although plans for the Third Citadel were drafted in 1795, construction for the new fortification did not begin until 1796, after the Second Citadel was dismantled.<ref name=NHS/>