Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
Encyclopedia
The Bay of Fundy Campaign occurred 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...

 when the British ordered the Expulsion of the Acadians from 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...

 after the Battle of Beausejour (1755). The Campaign started at 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....

 and then quickly moved to Grand Pré
Grand Pre, Nova Scotia
Grand-Pré is a Canadian rural community in Kings County, Nova Scotia. Its French name translates to "Great Meadow" and the community lies at the eastern edge of the Annapolis Valley several kilometres east of the town of Wolfville on a peninsula jutting into the Minas Basin, framed by the Gaspereau...

, Rivière-aux-Canards
Rivière-aux-Canards
Many rivers diversified in the Minas Basin. One was called rivière aux Canards, meaning river of the ducks. It was on this river that a parish was established in 1670 by the name of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rivière-aux-Canards, later, Rivière-aux-Canards in short form...

, Pisiguit
Pisiguit
In the Minas Basin of Acadia, which is now Nova Scotia, the settlement of Grand-Pré grew eastward towards the Pisiquid River. This settlement became known as Pisiguit or . Pisiguit came from the Mi'kmaq term Pesaquid, meaning "Junction of Waters". It became so large that it was viewed as...

, Cobequid
Cobequid
The old name Cobequid was derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Wagobagitk" meaning "the bay runs far up", in reference to the area surrounding the easternmost inlet of the Minas Basin, a body of water called Cobequid Bay....

, and finally Port Royal
Port Royal, Nova Scotia
Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...

.

Historical context

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. Over the next forty-five years the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. During this time period Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British, such as the raids on Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
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...

. The Acadians also 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...

. 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 sought both to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia.
Prior to the expulsion, the British retrieved the Acadians weapons and boats in the Bay of Fundy region and arrested their deputies and priests.

Campaign

Chignecto

After the fall of 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...

 (1755), the first wave of the expulsion of the Acadians began in the region 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....

. Under the direction of Colonel Robert Monckton
Robert 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...

, on August 10, Lieutenant-Colonel John Winslow seized four hundred unsuspecting men who were at Fort Cumberland (formerly 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...

). He also imprisoned 86 Acadians within Fort Lawrence. The number of prisoners was one third the men of the region, many of the others fled the region. The prisoners were kept in the fort until transports arrived to deport them. The wives and children joined them upon departure.

Almost a month after the expulsion began, on September 2, Boishebert
Charles 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...

 organized the Mi’kmaq and Acadian resistance in the region and soundly defeated the British forces in the Battle of Petitcodiac
Battle 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...

. Almost one month later, on October 1, the Acadian prisoners at 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:...

 escaped. 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) was one of the escapees.

On October 13, a convoy of eight transports, carrying on board approximately 1782 prisoners, left Chignecto Basin escorted by three British men–of–war. The Acadians of Chignecto were considered the most rebellious. As a result, they were sent the furthest from Acadia to South Carolina and Georgia. Upon leaving, Monckton began burning the Acadian villages to prevent the Acadians return.

On November 15, 1755, British officer John Thomas burned the village of Tentatmar (Sackville, New Brunswick
Sackville, New Brunswick
Sackville is a Canadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Mount Allison University is located in the town...

),destroying in the process the church and ninety-seven other buildings.

Cobequid

On August 15, under orders from Monckton, Captain Thomas Lewis, Abijah Willard and 250 troops began to destroy two villages in Cobequid: Tatamagouche
Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia
Tatamagouche is a Canadian village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia.Tatamagouche is situated on the Northumberland Strait 50 kilometers north of Truro and 50 kilometres west of Pictou. The village is located along the south side of Tatamagouche Bay at the mouths of the French and Waugh Rivers...

 and Remsheg (present-day Wallace, Nova Scotia
Wallace, Nova Scotia
Wallace is a Canadian rural community in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.Originally called Remsheg, meaning "the place between" in the Mi'kmaq language. The homes of the Acadians who lived in the village were burned as part of the Bay of Fundy Campaign during the French and Indian War...

). The British chose to destroy these villages first in the expulsion because they were the gateway Acadians used to provide cattle and produce to Louisbourg. Toward this end, Willard assembled the men of Tatamagouche in an Acadian home. He ensured all the guns in the village were confiscated and then notified the Acadian men that they were being taken prisoner. Willard immediately began to destroy the shipments of Acadian cattle and produce that were on vessels to be sent to Louisbourg. On August 16, Lewis burned twelve homes and the chapel. Willard continued to burn four houses and several barns in the early morning of August 17.

Captain Lewis went with 40 men to Remsheg where he captured three families and burned several buildings. Lewis returned to Fort Cumberland on August 26 with the Acadian male prisoners. The fate of the women and children of the region is unknown.

On September 11, Captain Lewis was sent from Fort Cumberland to destroy the rest of the Cobequid, a region which included present-day Truro, Nova Scotia
Truro, Nova Scotia
-Education:Truro has one high school, Cobequid Educational Centre. Post-secondary options include a campus of the Nova Scotia Community College, as well as the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in the neighboring town of Bible Hill.- Sports :...

 and stretched around to Petite Rivier (Walton, Nova Scotia
Walton, Nova Scotia
Walton is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipal District of East Hants, which is in Hants County, Nova Scotia. The community is named after James Walton Nutting ....

) on the south shore of the Cobequid Bay
Cobequid Bay
Cobequid Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy and the easternmost part of the Minas Basin, located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The bay was carved by rivers flowing into the eastern end of the Bay of Fundy....

 and Five Islands, Nova Scotia
Five Islands, Nova Scotia
Five Islands is a rural community in Colchester County Nova Scotia with a population of 300 located on the north shore of the Minas Basin, home of the highest tides in the world...

 on the north shore. Lewis discovered that the rest of Cobequid was vacant. Most of those in the region, such as 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...

, had already vacated their farms over the previous five years and made their way to Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island). From September 23-29th, Lewis laid waste to the countryside with fire.

Grand Pré

Eight days after Acadians were imprisoned at Chignecto, Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow
John Winslow (British army officer)
Major-General John Winslow , descendant of Pilgrim Edward Winslow, was an officer during the French and Indian War....

 arrived in Grand-Pré with 315 troops on August 18, 1755. Winslow took up headquarters in the church. The 418 Acadian males (age 10 and older) of the area were ordered inside the church Saint-Charles-des-Mines on September 5, where they were unexpectedly imprisoned for five weeks. Winslow informed them that all but their personal goods were to be forfeited to the Crown and that they and their families were to be deported as soon as ships arrived to take them away. The wives were ordered to feed and clothe both the prisoners and the troops. Six days after the initial imprisonment, because of fears of Acadian rebellion, Winslow moved 230 prisoners on board ships to await deportation.
On October 13, more than 2000 Acadians had been loaded on to five transports. Upon leaving, Winslow began burning the Acadian villages to prevent their return. He recorded that he burned 276 barns, 255 homes, 11 mills and one mass house in the villages surrounding Grand Pré.

Piziquid

At exactly the same time as Winslow read the expulsion orders in Grand Pré; September 5 at 15:00 hrs, Captain Alexander Murray read the order to the 183 Acadian males he had imprisoned at Fort Edward (Nova Scotia)
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...

. On October 20, 920 Acadians from Piziquid were loaded on to four transports. Unlike the neighbouring community of Grand Pre, the buildings at Pisiquid were not destroyed by fire. As a result, when the New England Planters arrived, many houses and barns still stood there.

In the April of 1757, a band of Acadian and Mi'kmaq raided a warehouse near 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...

, killing thirteen British soldiers and, after taking what provisions they could carry, setting fire to the building. A few days later, the same militia also raided Fort Cumberland
Fort Cumberland
Fort Cumberland can refer to:*Fort Cumberland *Fort Cumberland also known as Fort Beauséjour*Fort Cumberland Fort Cumberland is located in Cucumber Land, Cumber is short for Cucumber. Fort Cumberland was founded by Johnson Merrell, a moonshiner in 1687...

.

While prisoners, the Acadians were made to assist the New England Planters with establishing their farmlands. When the war finished, rather than stay and work as subordinates, the Acadians settled with their compatriots in present day 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 Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

Annapolis Royal

At Annapolis Royal
Annapolis 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...

 Major John Handfield was responsible to expel the Acadians. The expulsion was slow to advance in this region, but finally on Dec 8, 1664 Acadians were disembarked in seven vessels escorted by a man-of-war. About three hundred Acadians are reported to have escaped deportation.

Of the ships departing on December 8, 32 Acadian families (225 prisoners) on board the British ship Pembroke, bound for North Carolina, seized control of the vessel. On February 8, 1756, the Acadians had sailed up the Saint John River as far as they could. The Acadians disembarked and burned their ship. A group of Maliseet met them and directed them up stream, where they joined an expanding Acadian community. The Maliseet took them to one of Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot
Charles 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...

's refugee camps for the fleeing Acadians, which was at Beaubears Island
Beaubears Island
Beaubears Island is an island at the confluence of the Northwest Miramichi and Southwest Miramichi Rivers near Miramichi, New Brunswick. The island is most famous for being the site of an Acadian refugee camp during the French and Indian War. The camp was under the command of leader of the Acadian...

.

Some Acadian families further up the Annapolis River
Annapolis River
The Annapolis River is a Canadian river located in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley.-Geography:Measuring 120 kilometres in length, the river flows southwest through the western part of the valley from its source in Caribou Bog near the villages of Aylesford and Berwick in western Kings County, to...

 fled to forests on the North Mountain
North Mountain (Nova Scotia)
North Mountain is a narrow southwest-northeast trending volcanic mountain range on the mainland portion of southwestern Nova Scotia, stretching from Brier Island to Cape Split...

 near Morden, Nova Scotia
Morden, Nova Scotia
Morden is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Kings County. The community was first known as "French Cross" after a cross marking Acadian refugees who fled the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755...

. Many died in the winter that followed until a Mi'kmaw band helped survivors escape in the spring across the Bay of Fundy
Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...

 to Refugee Cove at Cape Chignecto
Cape Chignecto Provincial Park
Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is a Canadian provincial park located in Nova Scotia. A wilderness park, it derives its name from Cape Chignecto, a prominent headland which divides the Bay of Fundy with Chignecto Bay to the north and the Minas Channel leading to the Minas Basin to the east...

 and from there to the interior of New Brunswick.

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...

.

Aftermath

By the end of the Campaign, more than seven thousand Acadians were deported to the New England States. The French, Native and Acadians would conduct a Guerrilla War against the British over the next four years, such as the raids on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The second wave of the expulsion began 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...

. The British would then engage in 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...

, 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...

, the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign
Ile Saint-Jean Campaign
The Ile Saint-Jean Campaign was a series of military operations in fall 1758, during the French and Indian War, to deport the Acadians that either lived on Ile Saint-Jean or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations...

, and the removal of Acadians in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758)
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...

.
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