Great Upheaval
Encyclopedia
The Expulsion of the Acadians (also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, The Deportation, the Acadian Expulsion, Le Grand Dérangement) was the forced removal by the British of the Acadian
people from present day Canadian
Maritime provinces: Nova Scotia
, New Brunswick
, and Prince Edward Island
(an area also known as Acadie
). The Expulsion occurred during most of the French and Indian War
(1755–1763). The Expulsion started by the British deporting Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies
and then, after 1758, the British sent them to France. Approximately 11,500 Acadians were deported.
The British Conquest of Acadia
happened in 1710. The Treaty of Utrecht
was signed in 1713, and allowed the Acadians to keep their lands. Over the next forty-five years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. During this period, some Acadians participated in various militia
operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour
. The Acadian Expulsion was part of the military campaign that the New Englanders used to defeat New France. The British sought to eliminate any future military threat posed by the Acadians and to permanently cut the supply lines they provided to Louisbourg by deporting all Acadians from the area.
Without making distinctions between the Acadians who had been peaceful and those who rebelled against the occupation, the British
governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia
Council ordered them all expelled. In the first wave of the expulsion, Acadians were deported to other British colonies. During the second wave, they were deported to England
and France
(from where some Acadians migrated to Louisiana
). Many Acadians fled initially to Francophone colonies such as Canada, the unsettled Northern part of Acadia
, Isle Saint-Jean
and Isle Royale. During the second wave of the expulsion, many of these Acadians were either imprisoned or deported. The deportation led to the deaths of thousands of Acadians primarily by disease and drowning when ships were lost. One historian compared this event to a contemporary ethnic cleansing
, while other historians have suggested the event is comparable with other deportation
s in history.
The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
memorialized the historic event in his poem about the plight of the fictional character Evangeline
; it was widely popular and made the expulsion well known. Acadians who lived during the deportation include Noel Doiron
and Joseph Broussard
("Beausoleil"), who became icons.
. After the initial British Conquest of Acadia
, during Queen Anne's War
, Catholic Acadians remained the dominant population in Acadia for the next fifty years. Those from the Chignectou peninsula near present day New Brunswick, were most apt to help the French and the Canadiens. Those near Annapolis Royal did not. Thus, their allegiance to the British was determined largely by how close they lived to the capital. The closer the Acadians were to the French-dominated Fort Beauséjour
, the more their resistance to the British was evident.
There was a long history of the British threatening to remove the Acadians. As early as 1720, there was talk of deporting the Acadians. On December 28, 1720 in London
, the House of Lords
wrote: "It seems as though the French in Nova Scotia will never be good British subjects to her Majesty...This is why we believe that they should be expulsed as soon as the necessary forces, which will be sent to Nova Scotia, are ready." After the first Siege of Louisbourg (1745)
, the thousands of Acadians on Île-Royale were deported to France.
Other Acadians were adamantly opposed to any British rule. Various historians have observed that many Acadians were labeled "neutral" when they were not. The Acadians either ignored the demands for an unconditional oath or attempted to negotiate the terms by asking to be exempted from taking up arms against their former countrymen during any event of war between Britain and France.
During King George's War
, after the failure of the Duc d'Anville Expedition
to recapture Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia Governor Paul Mascarene
told Acadians to avoid all "deluding Hopes of Returning under the Dominion of France." One French officer noted that when the French troops withdrew from Annapolis Royal, the Acadians were alarmed and disappointed, feeling they were being abandoned to British retribution. After King George's War
in 1744, many English speakers began calling the Acadians "French neutral," and that label would remain in common use through the 1750s. Some British used the term sarcastically in derision. This stance led to the Acadians becoming known at times as the "neutral French". In 1749, Governor Cornwallis
again asked the Acadians to take the oath. Although unsuccessful, he took no drastic action against them. The following governor, Peregrine Hopson
, continued the conciliatory policy for the Acadians.
Prior to the expulsion, as an example of political resistance, many Acadians left
mainland Nova Scotia for other areas during Father Le Loutre's War
. From 1749–55, there was massive Acadian migration out of British-occupied mainland Nova Scotia and into French-occupied New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (not then known by those names), and Cape Breton. A prominant Acadian who transported Acadians to Ile St. Jean and Ile Royal was Joseph-Nicolas Gautier
. While some Acadians were forced to leave, for other Acadians leaving British-occupied territory for French-occupied territory was an act of resistance to the British occupation. On one occasion, when a British naval patrol intercepted Acadians in a vessel making their way to Ile St. Jean, an Acadian passenger said, "They chose rather to quit their lands and estates than possess them upon the terms propos'd by the English [sic] governor."
Another example of political resistance was the Acadian refusal to trade with the British. By 1754, they sent no Acadian produce to the Halifax market. When British merchants tried to buy directly from Acadians, they were refused. Acadians refused to supply Fort Edward
with any firewood. Lawrence saw the need to neutralize the Acadian military threat. To defeat Louisbourg, the British destroyed the base of supply by deporting the Acadians.
By the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians, there was already a long history of Acadian, Mi’kmaq and Maliseet resistance to the British occupation of Acadia – both politically and militarily. The Mi'kmaq and the Acadians were allies through their religious connection to Catholicism and through numerous inter-marriages. The Mi'kmaq held the military strength in Acadia even after the conquest of 1710. They primarily resisted the British occupation of Acadia and were joined in their efforts on numerous occasions by Acadians. The military conflicts involving New France
and its native allies against New England and its native allies involved the killing of men, women, children and infants on both sides of the conflict. This "frontier warfare" extended into Acadia during King George's War
with the arrival of the Rangers
from New England. Examples of Mi'kmaq, Acadians and Maliseet engaging in frontier warfare are their raids on Protestant British settlements of Dartmouth
and Lunenburg when they were first established. The escalation of such warfare contributed to the British decision to remove all Acadians, both combatants and non-combatants, from Acadia.
Before the British Conquest of Acadia
in 1710, Acadians fought against the British occupation. While many Acadians traded with the New England Protestants, they were reluctant to be ruled by them. During King William's War
, the crews of the very successful French privateer Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
were primarily Acadian. The Acadians resisted during the Raid on Chignecto (1696)
. During Queen Anne's War
, Mi’kmaq and Acadians resisted during the Raid on Grand Pré
, Piziquid and Chignecto
in 1704. Acadians joined French privateer Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
as crew members in his victories over many British vessels. The Acadians also assisted the French in protecting the capital in the Siege of Port Royal (1707)
and the final Conquest of Acadia
. The Acadians and Mi’kmaq were also successful in the Battle of Bloody Creek (1711).
During Dummer's War
, the Maliseet raided numerous vessels on the Bay of Fundy while the Mi'kmaq engaged in the Raid on Canso, Nova Scotia
(1723). In the latter engagement, the Mi'kmaq were aided by Acadians. During King George's War
, Abbe Jean-Louis Le Loutre
led many efforts which involved both Acadians and Mi’kmaq to recapture the capital, such as the Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744). During the Siege, French officer Marin had taken British prisoners and stopped with them further up the bay at Cobequid. While they were at Cobequid, an Acadian said that the French soldiers should have "left their [the British] carcasses behind and brought their skins." Le Loutre was joined by prominent Acadian resistance leader Joseph Broussard
(Beausoleil). Broussard and other Acadians were involved in supporting the French soldiers in the Battle of Grand Pré
.
During Father Le Loutre’s War, the conflict continued. The Mi'kmaq attacked New England Rangers in the Siege of Grand Pre
and Battle at St. Croix
. Upon the founding of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
, Broussard and the Mi'kmaq conducted numerous raids of the village, such as the one in 1751, to try to stop the British colonists' migration into Nova Scotia. (Similarly, during the French and Indian War
, Mi’kmaq, Acadians and Maliseet also engaged in numerous raids on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
to stop the migration, including one in 1756. Le Loutre and Broussard also worked together to resist the British occupation of Chignecto
(1750) and then later fought together with Acadians in the Battle of Beausejour (1755). During the summer of 1750, Father Le Loutre had his Mi’kmaq warriors burn the church and all the Acadian homes at Beaubassin
. He did this to force them to migrate towards Fort Beauséjour
. The British finding nothing but ruins in Beaubassin, erected Fort Lawrence
where the church once stood. (As early as the summer of 1751, La Valiere reported, approximately 250 Acadians had already enrolled in the local militia at Fort Beauséjour.) Father Le Loutre's War had done much to create the condition of total war; British civilians had not been spared, and, as Lawrence saw it, Acadian civilians had provided intelligence, sanctuary, and logistical support while others fought in armed conflict.
When Charles Lawrence took over the post following Hopson’s return to England, he took a stronger stance. He was not only a government official but a military leader for the region. Lawrence came up with a military solution for the forty-five years of an unsettled British conquest of Acadia. The French and Indian War
(and Seven Years' War
in Europe) began in 1754. Lawrence's primary objectives in Acadia were to defeat the French fortifications at Beausejour and Louisbourg. The British saw many Acadians as a military threat in their allegiance to the French and Mi'kmaq. The British also wanted to interrupt the Acadian supply lines to Fortress Louisbourg, which, in turn, supplied the Mi'kmaq. According to Historian Stephen Patterson, more than any other single factor - including the massive assault that eventually forced the surrender of Louisbourg - the supply problem spelled doom to French power in the region. Lawrence realised he could cut off supplies to the French by deporting the Acadians.
during the French and Indian War
. The British ordered the expulsion of the Acadians after the Battle of Beausejour (1755). The Campaign started at Chignecto and then quickly moved to Grand Pre, Piziquid (Falmouth
/ Windsor, Nova Scotia
) and finally Annapolis Royal.
On November 17, 1755, during the Bay of Fundy Campaign at Chignecto, George Scott took 700 troops and attacked twenty houses at Memramcook. They arrested the Acadians who remained and killed two hundred head of livestock, to deprive the French of supplies. Many Acadians tried to escape the Expulsion by retreating to St. John and Petitcodiac rivers, and the Miramichi in New Brunswick. The British cleared the Acadians from these areas in the later campaigns of Petitcodiac River
, St. John River
, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence
in 1758.
and the surrounding area (a much larger area than simply Cape Sable Island). In April 1756, Major Preble and his New England troops, on their return to Boston, raided a settlement near Port La Tour
and captured 72 men, women and children.
In the late summer of 1758, Major Henry Fletcher led the 35th regiment and a company of Gorham's Rangers to Cape Sable. He cordoned off the cape and sent his men through it. One hundred Acadians and Father Jean Baptistee de Gray surrendered, while about 130 Acadians and seven Mi'kmaq escaped. The Acadian prisoners were taken to Georges Island in Halifax Harbour.
En route to the St. John River Campaign
in September 1758, Moncton sent Major Roger Morris, in command of two men-of-war and transport ships with 325 soldiers, to deport more Acadians. On October 28, his troops sent the women and children to Georges Island. The men were kept behind and forced to work with troops to destroy their village. On October 31, they were also sent to Halifax. In the spring of 1759, Joseph Gorham and his rangers arrived to take prisoner the remaining 151 Acadians. They reached Georges Island with them on June 29.
. Thousands of Acadians were deported from Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island
) and Ile Royale (Cape Breton). The Ile Saint-Jean Campaign resulted in the largest percentage of deaths of the Acadians deported. The highest single event total of fatalities during the Deportation occurred with the sinking of the Violet, with about 280 persons aboard, and the Duke William, with over 360 persons aboard. By the time the second wave of the expulsion had begun, the British had discarded their policy of relocating the Catholic, French-speaking colonists to the Thirteen Colonies
. They deported them directly to France. In 1758, hundreds of Ile Royale Acadians fled to one of Boishebert's refugee camps south of Baie des Chaleurs.
and Joseph Gorham's Rangers
carried out the operation.
Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger
Danks engaged in frontier warfare
against the Acadians. On July 1, 1758, Danks himself began to pursue the Acadians on the Petiticodiac. They arrived at present day Moncton
and Danks’ Rangers ambushed about thirty Acadians, who were led by Joseph Broussard
(Beausoleil). Many were driven into the river, three of them were killed and scalped, and others were captured. Broussard was seriously wounded. Danks reported that the scalps were Mi’kmaq and received payment for them. Thereafter, he went down in local lore as “one of the most reckless and brutal” of the Rangers.
led a force of 1150 British soldiers to destroy the Acadian settlements along the banks of the Saint John River until they reached the largest village of Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas (present day Fredericton, New Brunswick
) in February 1759. Monckton was accompanied by New England Rangers led by Joseph Goreham, Captain Benoni Danks, Moses Hazen
and George Scott. The British started at the bottom of the river with raiding Kennebecais and Managoueche (City of St. John), where the British built Fort Frederick. Then they moved up the river and raided Grimross (Gagetown, New Brunswick
), Jemseg
, and finally they reached Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas.
Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger
Lieutenant Hazen engaged in frontier warfare
against the Acadians in what has become known as the "Ste Anne's Massacre". On 18 February 1759, Lieutenant Hazen and about fifteen men arrived at Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas. The Rangers
pillaged and burned the village of 147 buildings, two Mass-houses, besides all the barns and stables. The Rangers burned a large store-house, and with a large quantity of hay, wheat, peas, oats, etc., killing 212 horses, about 5 head of cattle, a large number of hogs and so forth. They also burned the church (located just west of Old Government House, Fredericton).
As well, the rangers tortured and scalped six Acadians and took six prisoners. There is a written record of one of the Acadian survivors Joseph Godin-Bellefontaine. He reported that the Rangers restrained him and then massacred his family in front of him. There are other primary sources that support his assertions.
and the Gaspé Peninsula
coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
. Sir Charles Hardy
and Brigadier-General James Wolfe
commanded the naval and military forces, respectively. After the Siege of Louisbourg (1758)
, Wolfe and Hardy led a force of 1500 troops in nine vessels to the Gaspé Bay
arriving there on September 5. From there they dispatched troops to Miramichi Bay
(Sept. 12), Grande-Rivière, Quebec
and Pabos (Sept. 13), and Mont-Louis, Quebec (Sept. 14). Over the following weeks, Sir Charles Hardy took four sloops or schooners, destroyed about 200 fishing vessels, and took about 200 prisoners.
and the Restigouche River
. Boishébert had a refugee camp at Petit-Rochelle (which was located perhaps near present-day Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec
). The year after the Battle of Restigouche
, in late 1761, Captain Roderick Mackenzie and his force captured over 330 Acadians at Boishebert's camp.
in June 1762, the success galvanized both the Acadians and Natives. They began gathering in large numbers at various points throughout the province and behaving in a confident and, according to the British,"insolent fashion". Officials were especially alarmed when Natives concentrated close to the two principal towns in the province, Halifax and Lunenburg, where there were also large groups of Acadians. The government organized an expulsion of 1300 people, shipping them to Boston. The government of Massachusetts refused the Acadians permission to land and sent them back to Halifax.
Before the deportation, Acadian population was estimated at 14,000 Acadians. Most were deported. Some Acadians escaped to Quebec, or hid among the Mi'kmaq or in the countryside, to avoid deportation until the situation settled down.
led the Mi'kmaq
and the Acadians in a guerrilla war against the British. According to Louisbourg account books, by late 1756, the French had regularly dispensed supplies to 700 Natives. From 1756 to the fall of Louisbourg in 1758, the French made regular payments to Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope
and other natives for British scalps.
on the ship Pembroke rebelled against the British crew, took over the ship and sailed to land.
In December 1757, while cutting firewood near Fort Anne, John Weatherspoon was captured by Indians (presumably Mi'kmaq) and carried away to the mouth of the Miramichi River. From there he was eventually sold or traded to the French and taken to Quebec, where he was held until late in 1759 and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, when General Wolfe's forces prevailed.
About 50 or 60 Acadians who escaped the initial deportation are reported to have made their way to the Cape Sable region (which included south western Nova Scotia). From there, they participated in numerous raids on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
.
, killing thirteen British soldiers. After loading with what provisions they could carry, they set fire to the building.
(1755). In the spring of 1756, a wood-gathering party from Fort Monckton (former Fort Gaspareaux
), was ambushed and nine were scalped. In the April of 1757, after raiding Fort Edward, the same band of Acadian and Mi'kmaq partisans raided Fort Cumberland, killing and scalping two men and taking two prisoners. July 20, 1757 Mi'kmaq killed 23 and captured two of Gorham's rangers outside Fort Cumberland near present-day Jolicure, New Brunswick
. In March 1758, forty Acadian and Mi'kmaq attacked a schooner at Fort Cumberland and killed its master and two sailors. In the winter of 1759, the Mi'kmaq ambushed five British soldiers on patrol while they were crossing a bridge near Fort Cumberland. They were ritually scalped and their bodies mutilated as was common in frontier warfare
. During the night of 4 April 1759, using canoes, a force of Acadians and French captured the transport. At dawn they attacked the ship Moncton and chased it for five hours down the Bay of Fundy. Although the Moncton escaped, it’s crew suffered one killed and two wounded.
Others resisted during the St. John River Campaign
and the Petitcodiac River Campaign
.
(established 1754) because the number of Indian raids eventually prevented settlers from leaving their houses.
In near-by Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
, in the spring of 1759, there was another Mi'kmaq attack on Fort Clarence (located at the present day Dartmouth Refinery), in which five soldiers were killed.
with 400 soldiers, including Acadians which he led from Port Toulouse
. They marched to Fort St George (Thomaston, Maine
) and Munduncook (Friendship, Maine
). While the former siege was unsuccessful, in the latter raid on Munduncook, they wounded eight British settlers and killed others. This was Boishébert’s last Acadian expedition. From there, Boishebert and the Acadians went to Quebec and fought in the Battle of Quebec (1759).
settlement nine times over a three year period during the war. Boishebert ordered the first Raid on Lunenburg (1756). Following the raid of 1756, in 1757, there was a raid on Lunenburg in which six people from the Brissang family were killed. The following year, March 1758, there was a raid on the Lunenburg Peninsula at the Northwest Range (present-day Blockhouse, Nova Scotia
) when five people were killed from the Ochs and Roder families. By the end of May 1758, most of those on the Lunenburg Peninsula abandoned their farms and retreated to the protection of the fortifications around the town of Lunenburg, losing the season for sowing their grain. For those that did not leave their farms for the town, the number of raids intensified.
During the summer of 1758, there were four raids on the Lunenburg Peninsula. On 13 July 1758, one person on the LaHave River
at Dayspring
was killed and another seriously wounded by a member of the Labrador family. The next raid happened at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
on 24 August 1758, when eight Mi'kmaq attacked the family homes of Lay and Brant. While they killed three people in the raid, the Mi'kmaq were unsuccessful in taking their scalps, which was the common practice for payment from the French. Two days, later, two soldiers were killed in a raid on the blockhouse at LaHave, Nova Scotia. Almost two weeks later, on 11 September, a child was killed in a raid on the Northwest Range. Another raid happened on 27 March 1759, in which three members of the Oxner family were killed. The last raid happened on 20 April 1759. The Mi’kmaq killed four settlers at Lunenburg who were members of the Trippeau and Crighton families.
, led Mi’kmaq warriors from Louisbourg on three raids against Halifax
in 1757. In each raid, Gautier took prisoners or scalps or both. The last raid happened in September and Gautier went with four Mi’kmaq and killed and scalped two British men at the foot of Citadel Hill. (Pierre went on to participate in the Battle of Restigouche
.)
, where they lived in a section of Baltimore
that became known as French Town. The Irish Catholics were reported to have shown charity to the Acadians by taking some of the orphaned children into their homes.
Approximately 2,000 Acadians disembarked at Massachusetts. For four long winter months, they were not allowed to disembark on orders of the one who had given orders to deport them, William Shirley
. As consequence, half died of cold and starvation aboard the ships. Many of the children were taken away from their parents to be distributed to various families throughout Massachusetts. The government also arranged the adoption of orphaned children and provided subsidies for housing and food for a year.
accommodated 500 Acadians. Because they arrived unexpectedly, the Acadians had to remain in port on their vessels for several months. Likewise, Virginia
refused to accept the Acadians on grounds that no notice was given of their arrival. They were detained for some time at Williamsburg
, where hundreds died from disease and malnutrition. They were then sent to England
where they were held as prisoners until the Treaty of Paris
in 1763.
Under the leadership of Jacques Maurice Vigneau of Baie Verte
, the majority of the Acadians in Georgia received a passport from the governor Renyolds. Without such passports, travel between borders was not allowed. As soon as the Acadians bearing passports from Georgia reached the Carolinas, the colonies granted passports to the Acadians in their territories. Along with these papers, the Acadians were given two vessels. After running aground numerous times in the ships, some Acadians did make it back to the Bay of Fundy. Along the way, many were captured and imprisoned. Only 900 made it to Acadia, less than half who had begun the voyage.
Others also tried to return home. The South Carolina Gazette
reported that in February, about 30 Acadians fled the island to which they were confined and escaped their pursuers. Alexandre Broussard, brother of the famed resistance leader Joseph Broussard, dit Beausoleil, was among them. About a dozen are recorded to have returned to Acadia after an overland journey of 1,400 leagues. Such Acadians returning to the homeland were exceptions.
sank, as did the Violet and Ruby, in 1758 en route from Île St.-Jean to France. About 3,000 eventually gathered in France’s port cities; many went to Nantes
.
The Virginians sent other Acadians to Britain as prisoners of war. British officials distributed them to districts in segregated quarters in cities along the British coast. These prisoners were eventually repatriated to France. They said the area where they were held, which they called La Grand’ Ligne (the King’s Highway), yielded no harvest for two years. Following the Treaty of Paris 1763, many Acadians were repatriated to Belle-Île-en-Mer off the western coast of Brittany.
) to settle in Louisiana
, which was then a colony of Spain
. The British did not deport Acadians to Louisiana. The transfer of Louisiana to the Spanish government was done in 1762. Good relations between the two nations, and their common Catholic
religion resulted in many Acadians choosing to take oaths of allegiance to the Spanish government. Soon the Acadians comprised the largest ethnic group within Louisiana. Acadians settled, first in areas along the Mississippi River
, then later in the Atchafalaya Basin
and in the prairie lands to the west, a region later renamed Acadiana
. During the 19th century, as Acadians reestablished their culture, "Acadian" was elided locally into "Cajun
".
known as the French Shore.
As for the other Acadians, the British authorities scattered them in small groups along the shores of the Atlantic and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
. It was only in the 1930s with the arrival of the Acadian co-operative movements that the Acadians became less economically disadvantaged.
in 1697 when they occupied all of the English portion of Newfoundland during Pierre d'Iberville
's Avalon Peninsula Campaign
, burning every English settlement and exiling all the surviving English inhabitants. One historian compared the Acadian Exodus
to the retreating Russians burning their own lands before Napoleon's invasion
, while comparing the British actions to General Sherman's destroying everything in his path as his unchallenged army drove its powerful way across Georgia
in the American Civil War
. Another historian compared the deportation to the fate the of the United Empire Loyalists
, who were expelled from the United States
to present-day Canada
after the American Revolution
. Another deportation was the Highland Clearances
in Scotland between 1762 and 1886. Another parallel cited in North America was the relocation of the Cherokee
and other Native Americans from the South-East United States in the 1830s in the Indian Removal
.
Acadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
people from present day Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Maritime provinces: Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, and Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
(an area also known as Acadie
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
). The Expulsion occurred during most of the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
(1755–1763). The Expulsion started by the British deporting Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
and then, after 1758, the British sent them to France. Approximately 11,500 Acadians were deported.
The British Conquest of Acadia
Siege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
happened in 1710. The Treaty of Utrecht
Treaty of Utrecht
The Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed by the belligerents in the War of Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713...
was signed in 1713, and allowed the Acadians to keep their lands. Over the next forty-five years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. During this period, some Acadians participated in various militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour
Fort Beauséjour
Fort Beauséjour, was built during Father Le Loutre's War from 1751-1755; it is located at the Isthmus of Chignecto in present-day Aulac, New Brunswick, Canada...
. The Acadian Expulsion was part of the military campaign that the New Englanders used to defeat New France. The British sought to eliminate any future military threat posed by the Acadians and to permanently cut the supply lines they provided to Louisbourg by deporting all Acadians from the area.
Without making distinctions between the Acadians who had been peaceful and those who rebelled against the occupation, the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
Council ordered them all expelled. In the first wave of the expulsion, Acadians were deported to other British colonies. During the second wave, they were deported to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(from where some Acadians migrated to Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
). Many Acadians fled initially to Francophone colonies such as Canada, the unsettled Northern part of Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
, Isle Saint-Jean
Isle Saint-Jean
After 1713, France engaged in a reaffirmation of its territory in Acadia. Besides the construction of Louisbourg, France was resolved in organizing a colony on Isle Saint-Jean After 1713, France engaged in a reaffirmation of its territory in Acadia. Besides the construction of Louisbourg, France...
and Isle Royale. During the second wave of the expulsion, many of these Acadians were either imprisoned or deported. The deportation led to the deaths of thousands of Acadians primarily by disease and drowning when ships were lost. One historian compared this event to a contemporary ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
, while other historians have suggested the event is comparable with other deportation
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
s in history.
The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
memorialized the historic event in his poem about the plight of the fictional character Evangeline
Evangeline
Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem published in 1847 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.The idea for the poem came from...
; it was widely popular and made the expulsion well known. Acadians who lived during the deportation include Noel Doiron
Noel Doiron
Noel Doiron was a leader of the Acadians, renown for the decisions he made during the Deportation of the Acadians. Doiron was deported on a vessel named the Duke William . The sinking of the Duke William was one of the worst marine disasters in Canadian history...
and Joseph Broussard
Joseph Broussard
Joseph Gaurhept Broussard , also known as Beausoleil, was a leader of the Acadian people in Acadia; later Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Broussard organized a resistance movement against the forced Expulsion of the Acadians...
("Beausoleil"), who became icons.
Historical context
The Acadian removal occurred during the French and Indian WarFrench and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
. After the initial British Conquest of Acadia
Siege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
, during Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
, Catholic Acadians remained the dominant population in Acadia for the next fifty years. Those from the Chignectou peninsula near present day New Brunswick, were most apt to help the French and the Canadiens. Those near Annapolis Royal did not. Thus, their allegiance to the British was determined largely by how close they lived to the capital. The closer the Acadians were to the French-dominated Fort Beauséjour
Fort Beauséjour
Fort Beauséjour, was built during Father Le Loutre's War from 1751-1755; it is located at the Isthmus of Chignecto in present-day Aulac, New Brunswick, Canada...
, the more their resistance to the British was evident.
There was a long history of the British threatening to remove the Acadians. As early as 1720, there was talk of deporting the Acadians. On December 28, 1720 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
wrote: "It seems as though the French in Nova Scotia will never be good British subjects to her Majesty...This is why we believe that they should be expulsed as soon as the necessary forces, which will be sent to Nova Scotia, are ready." After the first Siege of Louisbourg (1745)
Siege of Louisbourg (1745)
The Siege of Louisbourg took place in 1745 when a New England colonial force aided by a British fleet captured Louisbourg, the capital of the French province of Île-Royale during the War of the Austrian Succession, known as King George's War in the British colonies.Although the Fortress of...
, the thousands of Acadians on Île-Royale were deported to France.
Acadian political resistance
After the British officially gained control of Acadia in 1713, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of loyalty to become British subjects. Instead, they negotiated a conditional oath that promised neutrality. Many Acadians might have signed an unconditional oath to the British monarchy had the circumstances been better, while other Acadians did not sign because they were anti-British. The Acadians who might have signed the oath had numerous reasons for refusal: The difficulty was partly religious, as the British monarch was the head of the (Protestant) Church of England and the Acadians were Catholic. They worried that signing the oath might commit male Acadians to fight against France during wartime. Third, they were concerned that signing the oath would be perceived by their Mi'kmaq neighbours as acknowledging the British claim to Acadia rather than that of the Mi'kmaq. To be seen as allies of the British might have put Acadian villages at risk of attack from Mi'kmaq.Other Acadians were adamantly opposed to any British rule. Various historians have observed that many Acadians were labeled "neutral" when they were not. The Acadians either ignored the demands for an unconditional oath or attempted to negotiate the terms by asking to be exempted from taking up arms against their former countrymen during any event of war between Britain and France.
During King George's War
King George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
, after the failure of the Duc d'Anville Expedition
Duc d'Anville Expedition
The Duc d'Anville Expedition was sent from France to recapture peninsular Acadia . The expedition was the largest military force ever to set sail for the New World prior to the American Revolution. The effort to take the Nova Scotian capital, Annapolis Royal was also supported on land by a force...
to recapture Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia Governor Paul Mascarene
Paul Mascarene
Paul Mascarene was a Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia from 1740 to 1749. He had an extensive military career throughout his life, during the events of British and French conflict that led to the Seven Years' War.-Biography:...
told Acadians to avoid all "deluding Hopes of Returning under the Dominion of France." One French officer noted that when the French troops withdrew from Annapolis Royal, the Acadians were alarmed and disappointed, feeling they were being abandoned to British retribution. After King George's War
King George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
in 1744, many English speakers began calling the Acadians "French neutral," and that label would remain in common use through the 1750s. Some British used the term sarcastically in derision. This stance led to the Acadians becoming known at times as the "neutral French". In 1749, Governor Cornwallis
Edward Cornwallis
Lieutenant General Edward Cornwallis was a British military officer who founded Halifax, Nova Scotia with 2500 settlers and later served as the Governor of Gibraltar.-Early life:...
again asked the Acadians to take the oath. Although unsuccessful, he took no drastic action against them. The following governor, Peregrine Hopson
Peregrine Hopson
Peregrine Thomas Hopson was a British army officer who saw extensive service during the Eighteenth Century and rose to the rank of Major General...
, continued the conciliatory policy for the Acadians.
Prior to the expulsion, as an example of political resistance, many Acadians left
Acadian Exodus
The Acadian Exodus happened during Father Le Loutre’s War and involved almost half of the total Acadian population of Nova Scotia deciding to relocate to French controlled territories...
mainland Nova Scotia for other areas during Father Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre’s War , also known as the Indian War, the Micmac War and the Anglo-Micmac War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the British and New England colonists were led by British Officer Charles...
. From 1749–55, there was massive Acadian migration out of British-occupied mainland Nova Scotia and into French-occupied New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (not then known by those names), and Cape Breton. A prominant Acadian who transported Acadians to Ile St. Jean and Ile Royal was Joseph-Nicolas Gautier
Joseph-Nicolas Gautier
Joseph-Nicolas Gautier dit Bellair, Joseph-Nicolas Gautier dit Bellair, Joseph-Nicolas Gautier dit Bellair, (b. 1689 at Rochefort, France, d. 1752 at Port-La-Joie (Fort Amherst, P.E.I.) was a merchant trader and a leader of the Acadian militia who participated in war efforts against the British...
. While some Acadians were forced to leave, for other Acadians leaving British-occupied territory for French-occupied territory was an act of resistance to the British occupation. On one occasion, when a British naval patrol intercepted Acadians in a vessel making their way to Ile St. Jean, an Acadian passenger said, "They chose rather to quit their lands and estates than possess them upon the terms propos'd by the English [sic] governor."
Another example of political resistance was the Acadian refusal to trade with the British. By 1754, they sent no Acadian produce to the Halifax market. When British merchants tried to buy directly from Acadians, they were refused. Acadians refused to supply Fort Edward
Fort Edward (Nova Scotia)
Fort Edward is a National Historic Site in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada and was built during Father Le Loutre's War. The fort was created to help prevent the Acadian Exodus from the region...
with any firewood. Lawrence saw the need to neutralize the Acadian military threat. To defeat Louisbourg, the British destroyed the base of supply by deporting the Acadians.
Acadian and Native armed resistance
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
and its native allies against New England and its native allies involved the killing of men, women, children and infants on both sides of the conflict. This "frontier warfare" extended into Acadia during King George's War
King George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
with the arrival of the Rangers
United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School...
from New England. Examples of Mi'kmaq, Acadians and Maliseet engaging in frontier warfare are their raids on Protestant British settlements of Dartmouth
Raid on Dartmouth (1751)
The Raid on Dartmouth occurred during Father Le Loutre’s War on May 13, 1751 when an Acadian and Mi’kmaq militia from Chignecto, under the command of Acadian Joseph Broussard, raided Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, destroying the town and killing twenty British villagers...
and Lunenburg when they were first established. The escalation of such warfare contributed to the British decision to remove all Acadians, both combatants and non-combatants, from Acadia.
Before the British Conquest of Acadia
Siege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
in 1710, Acadians fought against the British occupation. While many Acadians traded with the New England Protestants, they were reluctant to be ruled by them. During King William's War
King William's War
The first of the French and Indian Wars, King William's War was the name used in the English colonies in America to refer to the North American theater of the Nine Years' War...
, the crews of the very successful French privateer Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste was a French privateer famous for the success he had against New England merchant shipping and fishing interests. Baptiste's crew members were primarily Acadians....
were primarily Acadian. The Acadians resisted during the Raid on Chignecto (1696)
Raid on Chignecto (1696)
The Raid on Chignecto occurred during King Williams War when New England forces from Boston attacked the Isthmus of Chignecto, Acadia in present-day Nova Scotia. The raid was in retaliation for the French and Indian Siege of Pemaquid at present day Bristol, Maine. In the English Province of...
. During Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
, Mi’kmaq and Acadians resisted during the Raid on Grand Pré
Raid on Grand Pre
The Raid on Grand Pré was the major action of a raiding expedition conducted by New England militia Colonel Benjamin Church against French Acadia in June 1704, during Queen Anne's War...
, Piziquid and Chignecto
Isthmus of Chignecto
The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia which connects the Nova Scotia peninsula with North America....
in 1704. Acadians joined French privateer Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste
Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste was a French privateer famous for the success he had against New England merchant shipping and fishing interests. Baptiste's crew members were primarily Acadians....
as crew members in his victories over many British vessels. The Acadians also assisted the French in protecting the capital in the Siege of Port Royal (1707)
Siege of Port Royal (1707)
The Siege of Port Royal in 1707 was two separate attempts by English colonists from New England to conquer Acadia by capturing its capital Port Royal during Queen Anne's War. Both attempts were made by colonial militia, and were led by men inexperienced in siege warfare...
and the final Conquest of Acadia
Siege of Port Royal (1710)
The Siege of Port Royal , also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal...
. The Acadians and Mi’kmaq were also successful in the Battle of Bloody Creek (1711).
During Dummer's War
Dummer's War
Dummer's War , also known as Lovewell's War, Father Rale's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the 4th Indian War or the Wabanaki-New England War of 1722–1725, was a series of battles between British settlers of the three northernmost British colonies of North America of the time and the...
, the Maliseet raided numerous vessels on the Bay of Fundy while the Mi'kmaq engaged in the Raid on Canso, Nova Scotia
Canso, Nova Scotia
For the headland, see Cape Canso.Canso is a small Canadian town in Guysborough County, on the north-eastern tip of mainland Nova Scotia, next to Chedabucto Bay. The area was established in 1604, along with Port Royal, Nova Scotia. The British construction of a fort in the village , was instrumental...
(1723). In the latter engagement, the Mi'kmaq were aided by Acadians. During King George's War
King George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
, Abbe Jean-Louis Le Loutre
Jean-Louis Le Loutre
Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre was a Catholic priest and missionary for the Paris Foreign Missions Society...
led many efforts which involved both Acadians and Mi’kmaq to recapture the capital, such as the Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744). During the Siege, French officer Marin had taken British prisoners and stopped with them further up the bay at Cobequid. While they were at Cobequid, an Acadian said that the French soldiers should have "left their [the British] carcasses behind and brought their skins." Le Loutre was joined by prominent Acadian resistance leader Joseph Broussard
Joseph Broussard
Joseph Gaurhept Broussard , also known as Beausoleil, was a leader of the Acadian people in Acadia; later Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Broussard organized a resistance movement against the forced Expulsion of the Acadians...
(Beausoleil). Broussard and other Acadians were involved in supporting the French soldiers in the Battle of Grand Pré
Battle of Grand Pré
The Battle of Grand Pré, also known as the Battle of Minas, was a battle in King George's War that took place between British and French forces near present-day Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia in the winter of 1747 during the War of the Austrian Succession...
.
During Father Le Loutre’s War, the conflict continued. The Mi'kmaq attacked New England Rangers in the Siege of Grand Pre
Siege of Grand Pre
The Siege of Grand Pre happened during Father Le Loutre’s War and was fought between the British and a militia made up of Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, and Acadians. The siege happened at Fort Vieux Logis, Grand Pre...
and Battle at St. Croix
Battle at St. Croix
The Battle at St. Croix was fought during Father Le Loutre’s War between New England Rangers and Mi’kmaq at Battle Hill in the community of St. Croix, Nova Scotia. The battle lasted for three days in the spring of 1750.-Historical context:...
. Upon the founding of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth founded in 1750, is a community and planning area of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes after the large number of lakes located in the city.On April 1, 1996, the provincial...
, Broussard and the Mi'kmaq conducted numerous raids of the village, such as the one in 1751, to try to stop the British colonists' migration into Nova Scotia. (Similarly, during the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, Mi’kmaq, Acadians and Maliseet also engaged in numerous raids on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg , is a Canadian port town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.Situated on the province's South Shore, Lunenburg is located on a peninsula at the western side of Mahone Bay. The town is approximately 90 kilometres southwest of the county boundary with the Halifax Regional Municipality.The...
to stop the migration, including one in 1756. Le Loutre and Broussard also worked together to resist the British occupation of Chignecto
Isthmus of Chignecto
The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia which connects the Nova Scotia peninsula with North America....
(1750) and then later fought together with Acadians in the Battle of Beausejour (1755). During the summer of 1750, Father Le Loutre had his Mi’kmaq warriors burn the church and all the Acadian homes at Beaubassin
Beaubassin
Beaubassin was the first settlement on the Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia, which was Acadian. The area is now known as the Tantramar Marshes. Beaubassin was settled in 1672, the second Acadian village to be established after Port Royal. The village was one of the largest and most prosperous in...
. He did this to force them to migrate towards Fort Beauséjour
Fort Beauséjour
Fort Beauséjour, was built during Father Le Loutre's War from 1751-1755; it is located at the Isthmus of Chignecto in present-day Aulac, New Brunswick, Canada...
. The British finding nothing but ruins in Beaubassin, erected Fort Lawrence
Fort Lawrence
Fort Lawrence was a British fort built during Father Le Loutre's War and located on the Isthmus of Chignecto .-Father Le Loutre's War:...
where the church once stood. (As early as the summer of 1751, La Valiere reported, approximately 250 Acadians had already enrolled in the local militia at Fort Beauséjour.) Father Le Loutre's War had done much to create the condition of total war; British civilians had not been spared, and, as Lawrence saw it, Acadian civilians had provided intelligence, sanctuary, and logistical support while others fought in armed conflict.
When Charles Lawrence took over the post following Hopson’s return to England, he took a stronger stance. He was not only a government official but a military leader for the region. Lawrence came up with a military solution for the forty-five years of an unsettled British conquest of Acadia. The French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
(and Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
in Europe) began in 1754. Lawrence's primary objectives in Acadia were to defeat the French fortifications at Beausejour and Louisbourg. The British saw many Acadians as a military threat in their allegiance to the French and Mi'kmaq. The British also wanted to interrupt the Acadian supply lines to Fortress Louisbourg, which, in turn, supplied the Mi'kmaq. According to Historian Stephen Patterson, more than any other single factor - including the massive assault that eventually forced the surrender of Louisbourg - the supply problem spelled doom to French power in the region. Lawrence realised he could cut off supplies to the French by deporting the Acadians.
Bay of Fundy (1755)
The first wave of the expulsion began on August 10, 1755, with the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
The Bay of Fundy Campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when the British ordered the Expulsion of the Acadians from Acadia after the Battle of Beausejour . The Campaign started at Chignecto and then quickly moved to Grand Pré, Rivière-aux-Canards, Pisiguit, Cobequid, and finally Port...
during the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
. The British ordered the expulsion of the Acadians after the Battle of Beausejour (1755). The Campaign started at Chignecto and then quickly moved to Grand Pre, Piziquid (Falmouth
Falmouth, Nova Scotia
Falmouth, Nova Scotia is a village located along the Avon River in Hants County between Mount Denson and Windsor.Falmouth and area was known as Pisiguit by the Acadians. Having migrated from Port Royal, Nova Scotia, the Acadians were the first to settle in the area, around 1685...
/ Windsor, Nova Scotia
Windsor, Nova Scotia
Windsor is a town located in Hants County, Mainland Nova Scotia at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers. It is the largest community in western Hants County with a 2001 population of 3,779 and was at one time the shire town of the county. The region encompassing present day Windsor was...
) and finally Annapolis Royal.
On November 17, 1755, during the Bay of Fundy Campaign at Chignecto, George Scott took 700 troops and attacked twenty houses at Memramcook. They arrested the Acadians who remained and killed two hundred head of livestock, to deprive the French of supplies. Many Acadians tried to escape the Expulsion by retreating to St. John and Petitcodiac rivers, and the Miramichi in New Brunswick. The British cleared the Acadians from these areas in the later campaigns of Petitcodiac River
Petitcodiac River Campaign
The Petitcodiac River Campaign was a series of British military operations from June to November 1758, during the French and Indian War, to deport the Acadians that either lived along the Petitcodiac River or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations, such as the Ile Saint-Jean...
, St. John River
St. John River Campaign
The St. John River Campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when Colonel Robert Monckton led a force of 1150 British soldiers to destroy the Acadian settlements along the banks of the Saint John River until they reached the largest village of Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas in February 1759...
, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence
Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758)
The Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when British forces raided villages along present-day New Brunswick and the Gaspé Peninsula coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Sir Charles Hardy and Brigadier-General James Wolfe were in command of the naval and...
in 1758.
Cape Sable
Cape Sable included Port La TourPort La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Barrington Municipal District of Shelburne County.The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada erroneously assert that Fort Saint Louis is located at Port La Tour. The fort at Port La Tour was Fort Lomeron . ...
and the surrounding area (a much larger area than simply Cape Sable Island). In April 1756, Major Preble and his New England troops, on their return to Boston, raided a settlement near Port La Tour
Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
Port La Tour is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Barrington Municipal District of Shelburne County.The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada erroneously assert that Fort Saint Louis is located at Port La Tour. The fort at Port La Tour was Fort Lomeron . ...
and captured 72 men, women and children.
In the late summer of 1758, Major Henry Fletcher led the 35th regiment and a company of Gorham's Rangers to Cape Sable. He cordoned off the cape and sent his men through it. One hundred Acadians and Father Jean Baptistee de Gray surrendered, while about 130 Acadians and seven Mi'kmaq escaped. The Acadian prisoners were taken to Georges Island in Halifax Harbour.
En route to the St. John River Campaign
St. John River Campaign
The St. John River Campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when Colonel Robert Monckton led a force of 1150 British soldiers to destroy the Acadian settlements along the banks of the Saint John River until they reached the largest village of Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas in February 1759...
in September 1758, Moncton sent Major Roger Morris, in command of two men-of-war and transport ships with 325 soldiers, to deport more Acadians. On October 28, his troops sent the women and children to Georges Island. The men were kept behind and forced to work with troops to destroy their village. On October 31, they were also sent to Halifax. In the spring of 1759, Joseph Gorham and his rangers arrived to take prisoner the remaining 151 Acadians. They reached Georges Island with them on June 29.
Ile St. Jean and Ile Royale
The second wave of the Deportation began with the French defeat at the Siege of Louisbourg (1758)Siege of Louisbourg (1758)
The Siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal battle of the Seven Years' War in 1758 which ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada and led directly to the loss of Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of French North America the following year.-Background:The British government realized that with the...
. Thousands of Acadians were deported from Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
) and Ile Royale (Cape Breton). The Ile Saint-Jean Campaign resulted in the largest percentage of deaths of the Acadians deported. The highest single event total of fatalities during the Deportation occurred with the sinking of the Violet, with about 280 persons aboard, and the Duke William, with over 360 persons aboard. By the time the second wave of the expulsion had begun, the British had discarded their policy of relocating the Catholic, French-speaking colonists to the Thirteen Colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
. They deported them directly to France. In 1758, hundreds of Ile Royale Acadians fled to one of Boishebert's refugee camps south of Baie des Chaleurs.
Petitcodiac River Campaign
This was a series of British military operations from June to November 1758 to deport the Acadians who either lived along the river or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations, such as the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign. Benoni DanksBenoni Danks
Benoni Danks was a New England Ranger and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Cumberland County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1765 to 1770....
and Joseph Gorham's Rangers
United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School...
carried out the operation.
Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger
United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School...
Danks engaged in frontier warfare
Scalping
Scalping is the act of removing another person's scalp or a portion of their scalp, either from a dead body or from a living person. The initial purpose of scalping was to provide a trophy of battle or portable proof of a combatant's prowess in war...
against the Acadians. On July 1, 1758, Danks himself began to pursue the Acadians on the Petiticodiac. They arrived at present day Moncton
Moncton, New Brunswick
Moncton is a Canadian city, located in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. The city is situated in southeastern New Brunswick, within the Petitcodiac River Valley, and lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces...
and Danks’ Rangers ambushed about thirty Acadians, who were led by Joseph Broussard
Joseph Broussard
Joseph Gaurhept Broussard , also known as Beausoleil, was a leader of the Acadian people in Acadia; later Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Broussard organized a resistance movement against the forced Expulsion of the Acadians...
(Beausoleil). Many were driven into the river, three of them were killed and scalped, and others were captured. Broussard was seriously wounded. Danks reported that the scalps were Mi’kmaq and received payment for them. Thereafter, he went down in local lore as “one of the most reckless and brutal” of the Rangers.
St. John River Campaign
Colonel Robert MoncktonRobert Monckton
Robert Monckton was an officer of the British army and a colonial administrator in British North America. He had a distinguished military and political career, being second in command to General Wolfe at the battle of Quebec and subsequently being the Governor of New York State...
led a force of 1150 British soldiers to destroy the Acadian settlements along the banks of the Saint John River until they reached the largest village of Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas (present day Fredericton, New Brunswick
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Fredericton is the capital of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by virtue of the provincial parliament which sits there. An important cultural, artistic, and educational centre for the province, Fredericton is home to two universities and cultural institutions such as the Beaverbrook Art...
) in February 1759. Monckton was accompanied by New England Rangers led by Joseph Goreham, Captain Benoni Danks, Moses Hazen
Moses Hazen
Moses Hazen was a Brigadier General in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he saw action in the French and Indian War with Rogers' Rangers. His service included particularly brutal raids during the Expulsion of the Acadians and...
and George Scott. The British started at the bottom of the river with raiding Kennebecais and Managoueche (City of St. John), where the British built Fort Frederick. Then they moved up the river and raided Grimross (Gagetown, New Brunswick
Gagetown, New Brunswick
Gagetown is a Canadian village in Queens County, New Brunswick. It is situated on the west bank of the Saint John River and is the county's shire town.-Acadians:...
), Jemseg
Jemseg, New Brunswick
Jemseg is a Canadian rural community in Queens County, New Brunswick. It is located on the east bank of the Jemseg River along its short run from Grand Lake to the Saint John River...
, and finally they reached Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas.
Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger
United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School...
Lieutenant Hazen engaged in frontier warfare
Scalping
Scalping is the act of removing another person's scalp or a portion of their scalp, either from a dead body or from a living person. The initial purpose of scalping was to provide a trophy of battle or portable proof of a combatant's prowess in war...
against the Acadians in what has become known as the "Ste Anne's Massacre". On 18 February 1759, Lieutenant Hazen and about fifteen men arrived at Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas. The Rangers
United States Army Rangers
United States Army Rangers are elite members of the United States Army. Rangers have served in recognized U.S. Army Ranger units or have graduated from the U.S. Army's Ranger School...
pillaged and burned the village of 147 buildings, two Mass-houses, besides all the barns and stables. The Rangers burned a large store-house, and with a large quantity of hay, wheat, peas, oats, etc., killing 212 horses, about 5 head of cattle, a large number of hogs and so forth. They also burned the church (located just west of Old Government House, Fredericton).
As well, the rangers tortured and scalped six Acadians and took six prisoners. There is a written record of one of the Acadian survivors Joseph Godin-Bellefontaine. He reported that the Rangers restrained him and then massacred his family in front of him. There are other primary sources that support his assertions.
Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (also known as the Gaspee Expedition), British forces raided French villages along present-day New BrunswickNew Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
and the Gaspé Peninsula
Gaspé Peninsula
The Gaspésie , or Gaspé Peninsula or the Gaspé, is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, extending into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
Gulf of Saint Lawrence
The Gulf of Saint Lawrence , the world's largest estuary, is the outlet of North America's Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean...
. Sir Charles Hardy
Charles Hardy
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Hardy was a Royal Navy officer and colonial governor of New York.-Early career:Born at Portsmouth, the son of a vice admiral, Charles Hardy joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1731....
and Brigadier-General James Wolfe
James Wolfe
Major General James P. Wolfe was a British Army officer, known for his training reforms but remembered chiefly for his victory over the French in Canada...
commanded the naval and military forces, respectively. After the Siege of Louisbourg (1758)
Siege of Louisbourg (1758)
The Siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal battle of the Seven Years' War in 1758 which ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada and led directly to the loss of Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of French North America the following year.-Background:The British government realized that with the...
, Wolfe and Hardy led a force of 1500 troops in nine vessels to the Gaspé Bay
Gaspé Bay
Gaspé Bay is a bay located on the northeast coast of the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The town of Gaspé, Quebec lies on a part of its southern shore, while most of its northern shore is in Forillon National Park....
arriving there on September 5. From there they dispatched troops to Miramichi Bay
Miramichi Bay
Miramichi Bay is an estuary located on the west coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in New Brunswick, at the mouth of the Miramichi River. Miramichi Bay is separated into the "inner bay" and the "outer bay", with the division being a line of uninhabited barrier islands which are continually reshaped...
(Sept. 12), Grande-Rivière, Quebec
Grande-Rivière, Quebec
Grande-Rivière is a city in the Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of the province of Québec in Canada....
and Pabos (Sept. 13), and Mont-Louis, Quebec (Sept. 14). Over the following weeks, Sir Charles Hardy took four sloops or schooners, destroyed about 200 fishing vessels, and took about 200 prisoners.
Restigouche
The Acadians took refuge along the Baie des ChaleursChaleur Bay
frame| Satellite image of Chaleur Bay . Chaleur Bay is the large bay opening to the east;the [[Gaspé Peninsula]] appears to the north and the [[Gulf of St...
and the Restigouche River
Restigouche River
The Restigouche River is a river that flows across the northwestern part of the province of New Brunswick and the southeastern part of Quebec....
. Boishébert had a refugee camp at Petit-Rochelle (which was located perhaps near present-day Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec
Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec
Pointe-à-la-Croix is a town located on the Restigouche River in the Gaspésie region of eastern Quebec, Canada. The town is situated across from the city of Campbellton, New Brunswick. As of 2001, the town had a population of 1,513....
). The year after the Battle of Restigouche
Battle of Restigouche
The Battle of Restigouche was a naval battle fought during the French and Indian War on the Restigouche River between the British Royal Navy and the small flotilla of French Navy vessels. The French vessels had been sent to relieve New France after the fall of Quebec...
, in late 1761, Captain Roderick Mackenzie and his force captured over 330 Acadians at Boishebert's camp.
Halifax
After the French conquered Saint John's, NewfoundlandBattle of Signal Hill
The Battle of Signal Hill was a small skirmish, the last of the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War. The British under Lieutenant Colonel William Amherst forced the French to surrender St...
in June 1762, the success galvanized both the Acadians and Natives. They began gathering in large numbers at various points throughout the province and behaving in a confident and, according to the British,"insolent fashion". Officials were especially alarmed when Natives concentrated close to the two principal towns in the province, Halifax and Lunenburg, where there were also large groups of Acadians. The government organized an expulsion of 1300 people, shipping them to Boston. The government of Massachusetts refused the Acadians permission to land and sent them back to Halifax.
Before the deportation, Acadian population was estimated at 14,000 Acadians. Most were deported. Some Acadians escaped to Quebec, or hid among the Mi'kmaq or in the countryside, to avoid deportation until the situation settled down.
Acadian and Mi’kmaq resistance
During the expulsion, French Officer Charles Deschamps de BoishébertCharles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot
Charles Deschamps de Boishébert , was the leader of the Acadian resistance to the Expulsion of the Acadians. He settled and tried to protect Acadians refugees along the rivers of New Brunswick. Fort Boishebert is named after him...
led the Mi'kmaq
Mi'kmaq
The Míkmaq are a First Nations people, indigenous to the northeastern region of New England, Canada's Atlantic Provinces, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. The nation has a population of about 40,000 , of whom nearly 9,100 speak the Míkmaq language...
and the Acadians in a guerrilla war against the British. According to Louisbourg account books, by late 1756, the French had regularly dispensed supplies to 700 Natives. From 1756 to the fall of Louisbourg in 1758, the French made regular payments to Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope
Jean-Baptiste Cope
Jean Baptiste Cope was also known as Major Cope, a title he was likely given from the French military, the highest rank given to Mi’kmaq. Cope was the sakamaw of the Mi'kmaq people of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia...
and other natives for British scalps.
Annapolis (Fort Anne)
The Acadians and Mi’kmaq fought in the Annapolis region. They were victorious in the Battle of Bloody Creek (1757). Acadians being deported from Annapolis Royal, Nova ScotiaAnnapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
Annapolis Royal is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. Known as Port Royal until the Conquest of Acadia in 1710 by Britain, the town is the oldest continuous European settlement in North America, north of St...
on the ship Pembroke rebelled against the British crew, took over the ship and sailed to land.
In December 1757, while cutting firewood near Fort Anne, John Weatherspoon was captured by Indians (presumably Mi'kmaq) and carried away to the mouth of the Miramichi River. From there he was eventually sold or traded to the French and taken to Quebec, where he was held until late in 1759 and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, when General Wolfe's forces prevailed.
About 50 or 60 Acadians who escaped the initial deportation are reported to have made their way to the Cape Sable region (which included south western Nova Scotia). From there, they participated in numerous raids on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg , is a Canadian port town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.Situated on the province's South Shore, Lunenburg is located on a peninsula at the western side of Mahone Bay. The town is approximately 90 kilometres southwest of the county boundary with the Halifax Regional Municipality.The...
.
Piziquid (Fort Edward)
In the April of 1757, a band of Acadian and Mi'kmaq raided a warehouse near Fort EdwardFort Edward (Nova Scotia)
Fort Edward is a National Historic Site in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada and was built during Father Le Loutre's War. The fort was created to help prevent the Acadian Exodus from the region...
, killing thirteen British soldiers. After loading with what provisions they could carry, they set fire to the building.
Chignecto (Fort Cumberland)
The Acadians and Mi’kmaq also resisted in the Chignecto region. They were victorious in the Battle of PetitcodiacBattle of Petitcodiac
The Battle of Petitcodiac was fought during the Bay of Fundy Campaign of the French and Indian War. The battle was fought between the British colonial troops and Acadian resistance fighters led by French Officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert on September 4, 1755 at the Acadian village of...
(1755). In the spring of 1756, a wood-gathering party from Fort Monckton (former Fort Gaspareaux
Fort Gaspareaux
Fort Gaspareaux was a French fort at the head of Baie Verte near the mouth of the Gaspareaux River and just southeast of the modern village of Port Elgin, New Brunswick, Canada, on the Isthmus of Chignecto...
), was ambushed and nine were scalped. In the April of 1757, after raiding Fort Edward, the same band of Acadian and Mi'kmaq partisans raided Fort Cumberland, killing and scalping two men and taking two prisoners. July 20, 1757 Mi'kmaq killed 23 and captured two of Gorham's rangers outside Fort Cumberland near present-day Jolicure, New Brunswick
Jolicure, New Brunswick
Jolicure is a Canadian rural community in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Located in the Sackville Parish approximately 9 kilometres northeast of Sackville...
. In March 1758, forty Acadian and Mi'kmaq attacked a schooner at Fort Cumberland and killed its master and two sailors. In the winter of 1759, the Mi'kmaq ambushed five British soldiers on patrol while they were crossing a bridge near Fort Cumberland. They were ritually scalped and their bodies mutilated as was common in frontier warfare
Scalping
Scalping is the act of removing another person's scalp or a portion of their scalp, either from a dead body or from a living person. The initial purpose of scalping was to provide a trophy of battle or portable proof of a combatant's prowess in war...
. During the night of 4 April 1759, using canoes, a force of Acadians and French captured the transport. At dawn they attacked the ship Moncton and chased it for five hours down the Bay of Fundy. Although the Moncton escaped, it’s crew suffered one killed and two wounded.
Others resisted during the St. John River Campaign
St. John River Campaign
The St. John River Campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when Colonel Robert Monckton led a force of 1150 British soldiers to destroy the Acadian settlements along the banks of the Saint John River until they reached the largest village of Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas in February 1759...
and the Petitcodiac River Campaign
Petitcodiac River Campaign
The Petitcodiac River Campaign was a series of British military operations from June to November 1758, during the French and Indian War, to deport the Acadians that either lived along the Petitcodiac River or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations, such as the Ile Saint-Jean...
.
Lawrencetown
By June 1757, the settlers had to be withdrawn completely from the settlement of LawrencetownLawrencetown, Halifax County, Nova Scotia
Lawrencetown is a Canadian rural community in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality on Route 207. The settlement was established during Father Le Loutre's War.- History :...
(established 1754) because the number of Indian raids eventually prevented settlers from leaving their houses.
In near-by Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth founded in 1750, is a community and planning area of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes after the large number of lakes located in the city.On April 1, 1996, the provincial...
, in the spring of 1759, there was another Mi'kmaq attack on Fort Clarence (located at the present day Dartmouth Refinery), in which five soldiers were killed.
Maine
On 13 August 1758 Boishebert left Miramichi, New BrunswickMiramichi, New Brunswick
Miramichi is the largest city in northern New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated at the mouth of the Miramichi River where it enters Miramichi Bay...
with 400 soldiers, including Acadians which he led from Port Toulouse
St. Peter's, Nova Scotia
St. Peter's is a small incorporated village located on Cape Breton Island in Richmond County, Nova Scotia, Canada....
. They marched to Fort St George (Thomaston, Maine
Thomaston, Maine
Thomaston, Maine is a town on the coast of Maine the United States. The name may also refer to:*Thomaston , Maine, a census-designated place comprising the center of the town*South Thomaston, Maine, an adjacent town...
) and Munduncook (Friendship, Maine
Friendship, Maine
Friendship is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,204 at the 2000 census.-History:...
). While the former siege was unsuccessful, in the latter raid on Munduncook, they wounded eight British settlers and killed others. This was Boishébert’s last Acadian expedition. From there, Boishebert and the Acadians went to Quebec and fought in the Battle of Quebec (1759).
Lunenburg
The Acadians and Mi'kmaq raided the LunenburgLunenburg, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg , is a Canadian port town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.Situated on the province's South Shore, Lunenburg is located on a peninsula at the western side of Mahone Bay. The town is approximately 90 kilometres southwest of the county boundary with the Halifax Regional Municipality.The...
settlement nine times over a three year period during the war. Boishebert ordered the first Raid on Lunenburg (1756). Following the raid of 1756, in 1757, there was a raid on Lunenburg in which six people from the Brissang family were killed. The following year, March 1758, there was a raid on the Lunenburg Peninsula at the Northwest Range (present-day Blockhouse, Nova Scotia
Blockhouse, Nova Scotia
Blockhouse is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Lunenburg Municipal District in Lunenburg County .- History :...
) when five people were killed from the Ochs and Roder families. By the end of May 1758, most of those on the Lunenburg Peninsula abandoned their farms and retreated to the protection of the fortifications around the town of Lunenburg, losing the season for sowing their grain. For those that did not leave their farms for the town, the number of raids intensified.
During the summer of 1758, there were four raids on the Lunenburg Peninsula. On 13 July 1758, one person on the LaHave River
LaHave River
The LaHave River is a river in Nova Scotia, Canada, running from its source in Annapolis County to the Atlantic Ocean. Along its way, it splits the communities of LaHave and Riverport and bisects the town of Bridgewater flowing into the LaHave River estuary .The river and various spots in the area...
at Dayspring
Dayspring, Nova Scotia
Dayspring is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Lunenburg Municipal District in Lunenburg County. It is home to the traditional wooden shipyard, Snyders Shipbuilding, builders of Theodore Too, among many other vessels ....
was killed and another seriously wounded by a member of the Labrador family. The next raid happened at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Mahone Bay is a town located on the northwest shore of Mahone Bay along the South Shore of Nova Scotia in Lunenburg County.- History :...
on 24 August 1758, when eight Mi'kmaq attacked the family homes of Lay and Brant. While they killed three people in the raid, the Mi'kmaq were unsuccessful in taking their scalps, which was the common practice for payment from the French. Two days, later, two soldiers were killed in a raid on the blockhouse at LaHave, Nova Scotia. Almost two weeks later, on 11 September, a child was killed in a raid on the Northwest Range. Another raid happened on 27 March 1759, in which three members of the Oxner family were killed. The last raid happened on 20 April 1759. The Mi’kmaq killed four settlers at Lunenburg who were members of the Trippeau and Crighton families.
Halifax
Acadian Pierre Gautier, son of Joseph-Nicolas GautierJoseph-Nicolas Gautier
Joseph-Nicolas Gautier dit Bellair, Joseph-Nicolas Gautier dit Bellair, Joseph-Nicolas Gautier dit Bellair, (b. 1689 at Rochefort, France, d. 1752 at Port-La-Joie (Fort Amherst, P.E.I.) was a merchant trader and a leader of the Acadian militia who participated in war efforts against the British...
, led Mi’kmaq warriors from Louisbourg on three raids against Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
in 1757. In each raid, Gautier took prisoners or scalps or both. The last raid happened in September and Gautier went with four Mi’kmaq and killed and scalped two British men at the foot of Citadel Hill. (Pierre went on to participate in the Battle of Restigouche
Battle of Restigouche
The Battle of Restigouche was a naval battle fought during the French and Indian War on the Restigouche River between the British Royal Navy and the small flotilla of French Navy vessels. The French vessels had been sent to relieve New France after the fall of Quebec...
.)
Deportation destinations
In the first wave the Expulsion, most Acadian exiles were assigned to rural communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina. In general, they refused to stay where they were put; a large number migrated to the colonial port cities, where they gathered in isolated, impoverished French-speaking Catholic neighbourhoods, exactly the sort of communities Britain's colonial officials had hoped to discourage. More worrisome still, a number of Acadians threatened to make their way north to French-controlled regions, including the St. John River, Ile Royale, the coasts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Canada. Because the British believed their policy of sending the Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies had failed, during the second wave of the Expulsion, they deported the Acadians to France.Maryland
Approximately 1000 Acadians went to MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, where they lived in a section of Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
that became known as French Town. The Irish Catholics were reported to have shown charity to the Acadians by taking some of the orphaned children into their homes.
Massachusetts
| Colony | # of Exiles |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts Massachusetts The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010... |
2000 |
| Virginia Virginia The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there... |
1100 |
| Maryland Maryland Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east... |
1000 |
| Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately... |
700 |
| Pennsylvania Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... |
500 |
| North Carolina North Carolina North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte... |
500 |
| South Carolina South Carolina South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence... |
500 |
| Georgia Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788... |
400 |
| New York | 250 |
| TOTAL | 6950 |
| England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental... |
866 |
| France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
3,500 |
| TOTAL | 11, 316 |
Approximately 2,000 Acadians disembarked at Massachusetts. For four long winter months, they were not allowed to disembark on orders of the one who had given orders to deport them, William Shirley
William Shirley
William Shirley was a British colonial administrator who served twice as Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and as Governor of the Bahamas in the 1760s...
. As consequence, half died of cold and starvation aboard the ships. Many of the children were taken away from their parents to be distributed to various families throughout Massachusetts. The government also arranged the adoption of orphaned children and provided subsidies for housing and food for a year.
Connecticut
Connecticut prepared for the arrival of 700 Acadians. Like Maryland, the Connecticut legislature declared that “[the Acadians] be made welcome, helped and settled under the most advantageous conditions, or if they have to be sent away, measures be taken for their transfer.”Pennsylvania and Virginia
PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
accommodated 500 Acadians. Because they arrived unexpectedly, the Acadians had to remain in port on their vessels for several months. Likewise, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
refused to accept the Acadians on grounds that no notice was given of their arrival. They were detained for some time at Williamsburg
Williamsburg
Williamsburg may refer to:*Williamsburg, former name of Kernville , California*Williamsburg, Colorado*Williamsburg, Florida*Williamsburg, Dunwoody, Georgia*Williamsburg, Indiana*Williamsburg, Iowa*Williamsburg, Kansas*Williamsburg, Kentucky...
, where hundreds died from disease and malnutrition. They were then sent to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where they were held as prisoners until the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
in 1763.
Carolinas and Georgia
The Acadians who had offered the most resistance to the British - particularly those who were at Chignecto - were reported to have been sent the furthest south to the British colonies of the Carolinas and Georgia. About 1400 Acadians settled in these colonies. The Acadians were “subsidized” and put to work on plantations.Under the leadership of Jacques Maurice Vigneau of Baie Verte
Baie Verte
-Electoral districts:* Baie Verte , a provincial electoral district in Newfoundland and Labrador...
, the majority of the Acadians in Georgia received a passport from the governor Renyolds. Without such passports, travel between borders was not allowed. As soon as the Acadians bearing passports from Georgia reached the Carolinas, the colonies granted passports to the Acadians in their territories. Along with these papers, the Acadians were given two vessels. After running aground numerous times in the ships, some Acadians did make it back to the Bay of Fundy. Along the way, many were captured and imprisoned. Only 900 made it to Acadia, less than half who had begun the voyage.
Others also tried to return home. The South Carolina Gazette
South Carolina Gazette
The South Carolina Gazette was South Carolina's first successful newspaper. The paper began in 1732 under J. Whitemarsh in Charlestown . but within only 2 years he died of yellow fever. In 1734 another former printer with Benjamin Franklin, Lewis Timothy, revived the Gazette and ran it until...
reported that in February, about 30 Acadians fled the island to which they were confined and escaped their pursuers. Alexandre Broussard, brother of the famed resistance leader Joseph Broussard, dit Beausoleil, was among them. About a dozen are recorded to have returned to Acadia after an overland journey of 1,400 leagues. Such Acadians returning to the homeland were exceptions.
France and England
After the Siege of Louisbourg (1758), the British began to deport the Acadians directly to France rather than to the British colonies. Many deported to France never reached their destination. Three hundred and sixty died when the transport ship Duke WilliamDuke William (ship)
The Duke William, was a ship, a transport vessel from England, which was part of the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign during the French and Indian War. While the Duke William was transporting Acadians from Ile St Jean to France, the ship sank in the North Atlantic on December 13, 1758 with the loss of...
sank, as did the Violet and Ruby, in 1758 en route from Île St.-Jean to France. About 3,000 eventually gathered in France’s port cities; many went to Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
.
The Virginians sent other Acadians to Britain as prisoners of war. British officials distributed them to districts in segregated quarters in cities along the British coast. These prisoners were eventually repatriated to France. They said the area where they were held, which they called La Grand’ Ligne (the King’s Highway), yielded no harvest for two years. Following the Treaty of Paris 1763, many Acadians were repatriated to Belle-Île-en-Mer off the western coast of Brittany.
Louisiana
Many Acadians left France (under the influence of Henri Peyroux de la CoudreniereHenri Peyroux de la Coudreniere
Henri Peyroux, de la Coudreniere , was a French politician and author who is perhaps best known for his scheme to transport the exiled Acadians from France to Louisiana, from which the people known as Cajuns are descended....
) to settle in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, which was then a colony of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The British did not deport Acadians to Louisiana. The transfer of Louisiana to the Spanish government was done in 1762. Good relations between the two nations, and their common Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
religion resulted in many Acadians choosing to take oaths of allegiance to the Spanish government. Soon the Acadians comprised the largest ethnic group within Louisiana. Acadians settled, first in areas along the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, then later in the Atchafalaya Basin
Atchafalaya Basin
The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp, is the largest swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico converge. The river stretches from near Simmesport in the north...
and in the prairie lands to the west, a region later renamed Acadiana
Acadiana
Acadiana, or The Heart of Acadiana, is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that is home to a large Francophone population. Of the 64 parishes that make up Louisiana, 22 named parishes and other parishes of similar cultural environment, make up the intrastate...
. During the 19th century, as Acadians reestablished their culture, "Acadian" was elided locally into "Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
".
Aftermath of the Seven Years War
Of the 12,000 or so Acadians deported, several thousands died either of drowning aboard ill fated ships, starvation, illness, and misery. Of the 60,000 French sailors captured by the British Royal Navy, 8,500 died prisoners aboard old British pontoons. In 1763, after the signing of the peace treaty, some Acadians returned to Nova Scotia. They quickly found out that they no longer owned land, it had been redistributed to Protestant settlers, and they were forced to live as fisherman on the west side of Nova ScotiaNova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
known as the French Shore.
As for the other Acadians, the British authorities scattered them in small groups along the shores of the Atlantic and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
Gulf of Saint Lawrence
The Gulf of Saint Lawrence , the world's largest estuary, is the outlet of North America's Great Lakes via the Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean...
. It was only in the 1930s with the arrival of the Acadian co-operative movements that the Acadians became less economically disadvantaged.
Historical comparisons
The Expulsion of the Acadians has been compared to many such military operations during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The French had carried out their own expulsion in NewfoundlandNewfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
in 1697 when they occupied all of the English portion of Newfoundland during Pierre d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1702 (probable)was a soldier, ship captain, explorer, colonial administrator, knight of...
's Avalon Peninsula Campaign
Avalon Peninsula Campaign
The Avalon Peninsula Campaign occurred during King Williams War when forces of New France, led by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, destroyed 23 English settlements along the coast of the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland in the span of three months...
, burning every English settlement and exiling all the surviving English inhabitants. One historian compared the Acadian Exodus
Acadian Exodus
The Acadian Exodus happened during Father Le Loutre’s War and involved almost half of the total Acadian population of Nova Scotia deciding to relocate to French controlled territories...
to the retreating Russians burning their own lands before Napoleon's invasion
French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia of 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe...
, while comparing the British actions to General Sherman's destroying everything in his path as his unchallenged army drove its powerful way across Georgia
Sherman's March to the Sea
Sherman's March to the Sea is the name commonly given to the Savannah Campaign conducted around Georgia from November 15, 1864 to December 21, 1864 by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army in the American Civil War...
in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Another historian compared the deportation to the fate the of the United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists
The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris...
, who were expelled from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to present-day Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
after the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. Another deportation was the Highland Clearances
Highland Clearances
The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...
in Scotland between 1762 and 1886. Another parallel cited in North America was the relocation of the Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
and other Native Americans from the South-East United States in the 1830s in the Indian Removal
Indian Removal
Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...
.
Commemorations
- American poet Henry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
published a long, narrative poem about the plight of the Acadians called EvangelineEvangelineEvangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem published in 1847 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.The idea for the poem came from...
in 1847. The Evangeline Oak is a tourist attraction in LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. - The song "Acadian DriftwoodAcadian Driftwood"Acadian Driftwood" is a song by The Band. It was the fourth track on the album Northern Lights - Southern Cross."Acadian Driftwood" is a portrayal of the troubled history of Nova Scotia and Acadia, the Great Upheaval...
", recorded in 1975 by The BandThe BandThe Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, portrays the Great Upheaval and the displacement of the Acadian people. - The author Antonine MailletAntonine MailletAntonine Maillet, is an Acadian novelist, playwright, and scholar. She was born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick and lives in Montreal, Quebec....
wrote a novel about the aftermath of the Great Upheaval, Pélagie-la-Charrette. The novel was awarded the Prix GoncourtPrix GoncourtThe Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
in 1979. - Grand-Pré Park, situated in present-day Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia is now a National Historic Site of Canada. It has been preserved as a living monument to the Expulsion, complete with a memorial church and a statue of EvangelineEvangelineEvangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem published in 1847 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.The idea for the poem came from...
, the subject and title of Henry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
's stirring poem on the experience. - In December 2003, Governor GeneralGovernor General of CanadaThe Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
Adrienne ClarksonAdrienne ClarksonAdrienne Louise Clarkson is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation....
, representing Canada's MonarchMonarchy in CanadaThe monarchy of Canada is the core of both Canada's federalism and its Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government and each provincial government...
, Queen Elizabeth II, declared the Crown's acknowledgement of (but did not apologise for) the Expulsion. She designated July 28 as "A Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval." This proclamation, often referred to as the Royal Proclamation of 2003Royal Proclamation of 2003The Royal Proclamation of 2003 — formally known as Proclamation Designating July 28 of Every Year as "A Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval", Commencing on July 28, 2005 — is a document issued by Queen Elizabeth II acknowledging the Grand Dérangement, England's expulsion of French-speaking...
, closed one of the longest open cases in the history of the British courtsCourts of England and WalesHer Majesty's Courts of Justice of England and Wales are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in England and Wales; they apply the law of England and Wales and are established under Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The United Kingdom does not have...
, initiated when the Acadian representatives first presented their grievances of forced dispossession of land, property and livestockLivestockLivestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
in 1760. - December 13, the day the Duke WilliamDuke William (ship)The Duke William, was a ship, a transport vessel from England, which was part of the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign during the French and Indian War. While the Duke William was transporting Acadians from Ile St Jean to France, the ship sank in the North Atlantic on December 13, 1758 with the loss of...
sank during the Expulsion, is commemorated every year as Acadian Remembrance Day. - There is a museum dedicated to Acadian history and culture, including detailed reconstruction of the Great Uprising, in the town of Bonaventure, QuebecBonaventure, QuebecBonaventure is a town on the Gaspé Peninsula in the Bonaventure Regional County Municipality of Quebec. It is located on Baie des Chaleurs near the mouth of the Bonaventure River...
.
See also
- Expulsion of the LoyalistsExpulsion of the LoyalistsDuring the American Revolution, those loyal to King George III of Great Britain came to be known as Loyalists. After Great Britain was defeated by the Americans and the French at Yorktown, Loyalists were regarded by the new Americans as traitors to the cause of Independence...
- France in the Seven Years WarFrance in the Seven Years WarFrance was one of the leading participants in the Seven Years' War which lasted between 1754 and 1763. France entered the war with hopes of achieving a lasting victory both in Europe against Prussia, Britain and their German Allies and across the globe against their major colonial rivals...
- Great Britain in the Seven Years WarGreat Britain in the Seven Years WarThe Kingdom of Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War which lasted between 1756 and 1763. Britain emerged from the war as the world's leading colonial power having gained a number of new territories at the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and established itself as the...
- TintamarreTintamarreTintamarre is an Acadian tradition of marching through one's community making noise with improvised instruments and other noisemakers, usually in celebration of National Acadian Day. The term originates from the Acadian French word meaning "clangour" or "din"...