Jean-Louis Le Loutre
Encyclopedia
Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre (September 26, 1709 – September 30, 1772) was a Catholic
priest and missionary
for the Paris Foreign Missions Society
. In the eighteenth-century struggle for power between the French, Acadians and Mi'kmaq against the British over Acadia
and Nova Scotia
, Le Loutre became the leader of the French forces and the Acadian/ Mi'kmaq militias during King George's War
and Father Le Loutre’s War.
, France
in Brittany
. In 1730, the young Le Loutre entered the Séminaire du Saint-Esprit in Paris
; both his parents had already died. After completing his training, Le Loutre transferred to the Séminaire des Missions Étrangères (Seminary of Foreign Missions) in March 1737, as he intended to serve the church abroad. Most of the priests associated with the Paris Foreign Missions Society
were assigned as missionaries to Asia, particularly during the nineteenth century, but Le Loutre was assigned to eastern Canada and the Mi'kmaq
, an Algonquian
-speaking people.
When Le Loutre arrived at mainland Nova Scotia
in 1738, the area had been under the rule of the primarily Protestant British for almost thirty years. The British were settled mostly in the capital Annapolis Royal
, while Catholic Acadians and the native Mi'kmaq
occupied the rest of the region. The mainland portion of Acadia (present-day New Brunswick
), and Île-Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island
) remained under French control. Prior to the conquest of 1710
, the New England colonists had been raiding, pillaging, burning and taking prisoners from Acadian communities for the previous hundred years. The French Canadian colonists and their Indian allies similarly raided New England communities, and both sides made money from the ransom of captives. The Indians adopted some captives, especially younger children, some of whom stayed with the tribes for the rest of their lives.
In 1738 the French had no formal military presence at mainland Nova Scotia. The Acadians had refused for 30 years to sign a loyalty oath to the British Crown, but without French military support, the settlers were unable to give more support to French efforts to recapture Nova Scotia. Le Loutre became an informal military agent and joined with the local Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias to oppose the British Protestant domination of Acadia.
soon after and arrived in Louisbourg that autumn, along with others who would settle there. He was to replace Abbé de Saint-Vincent, a missionary to the Mi'kmaq and live in Shubenacadie
. Before doing so, Le Loutre spent time at Malagawatch, Île-Royale (now known as Merigomish, Nova Scotia
) to learn the Mi'kmaq language. He worked with Pierre Maillard
to develop a written form of the Mi'kmaq language, which belonged to the Algonquian
family. On September 22, 1738, Le Loutre left for Shubenacadie, where he ministered the Mi'kmaq at Mission St. Anne.
(1744), was orchestrated with François Dupont Duvivier and was unsuccessful. The following year, Louisburg fell
for the first time to a force of New Englanders. The authorities in Quebec
immediately gave Le Loutre instructions that made him a military leader, whereby the French government could work with the Mi'kmaq militia in Acadia.
(1746). With Louisbourg captured by the British, Le Loutre became the liaison between the Acadian settlers and French expeditions by land and sea. The authorities directed him to receive the expedition at Baie de Chibouctou (present-day Halifax, Nova Scotia). Le Loutre was virtually the only person to know the signals to identify the ships of the fleet. He had to coordinate the operations of the naval force with those of the army of Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Roch de Ramezay, sent to retake Acadia by capturing Annapolis Royal early in June 1746. Ramezay and his detachment arrived at Beaubassin
(near present-day Amherst, Nova Scotia
) in July, when only two frigates of the French squadron had reached Baie de Chibouctou. Without seeking the agreement of the two captains, Le Loutre wrote to Ramezay suggesting an attack be made on Annapolis Royal without the full expedition; but his advice was not acted upon. They waited over two months for the expedition to arrive; slowed by contrary winds and ravaged by disease, the expedition returned home.
After the failed expedition, Le Loutre returned to France. While in France, he made two attempts during the war to return to Acadia. On both occasions he was imprisoned by the English. In 1749, after the war, he finally returned.
During King George's War, Le Loutre was joined in resisting the British by an important Acadian militia leader, Joseph Broussard
.
.
When Le Loutre arrived at Beauséjour, France and England were disputing the ownership of present-day New Brunswick. A year after they established Halifax (1749), the British built forts in the major Acadian communities: Fort Edward
(at Piziquid), Fort Vieux Logis
at Grand Pré
and Fort Lawrence
(at Beaubassin
). The British were also interested in building forts in the various Acadian communities to control the local populations.
Defeated at Beaubassin, Lawrence went to Piziquid where he built Fort Edward
; he forced the Acadians to destroy their church and replaced it with the British fort. Lawrence eventually returned to the area of Beaubassin to build Fort Lawrence
. He encountered continued resistance there, with the Mi'kmaq and Acadians dug in before Lawrence's return to defend the remains of the village. Le Loutre was joined again by the Acadian militia leader Broussard. They were eventually overwhelmed by force, and the New Englanders erected Fort Lawrence at Beaubassin.
In the spring of 1751, the French countered by building Fort Beauséjour
. Le Loutre saved the bell from Notre Dame d'Assumption Church in Beaubassin and put it into the cathedral he had built beside Fort Beauséjour. In 1752 he proposed a plan to the French court to destroy Fort Lawrence and return Beaubassin to the Mi'kmaq and Acadians.
Both New England and New France military officials made allies of the aboriginal tribes in their struggles for control. The aboriginal allies also engaged independently in warfare against the colonists and opposing tribes, without their English or French allies. Often aboriginal allies fought on their own while the imperial powers tried to conceal their involvement in such initiatives, to prevent igniting large-scale warfare between England and France.
Le Loutre wrote to the minister of the Marine:
The Acadian militia leader Broussard led the Raid on Dartmouth (1751)
; it became known among the British as the "Dartmouth Massacre" (1751). He also led the Raid on Halifax, during which Mi'kmaq killed the gardener of Governor Edward Cornwallis. The raids were successful in containing British settlement to the only places they could fortify, Halifax
(1749) and Lunenburg
(1753).
Edward Cornwallis
, the governor of Nova Scotia, ordered the executions of Le Loutre and participating Mi'kmaq. He offered rewards for their scalps. He also ordered the Acadians to stay in the Cobequid (which was against Le Loutre's direction), for Cornwallis feared their gathering strength in present-day New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. He also tried to interrupt their support of Louisburg.
The Cobequid Acadians wrote to the people in Beaubassin about British soldiers who,
Despite Cornwallis' threats, most Acadians in the Cobequid followed Le Loutre. The priest tried to establish new communities, but found it difficult to supply the new settlers, the Mi'qmaq, and the garrisons at Fort Beauséjour and Île Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island
) with food and other necessities. Finding the living conditions deplorable at New Brunwick and Prince Edward Island, he made repeated appeals in 1752 for aid from the authorities in Quebec
. He returned to France to seek funds, which he gained in 1753 from the courts, for the purpose of building dykes in Acadia. Protecting low-lying lands from the tides would enable their use as pasture for cattle and developed with cultivation for crops, so the Acadians could escape the risk of starvation. Granted additional monies, Le Loutre sailed back to Acadia with other missionaries in 1753.
fought to control North America, the French government appointed Le Loutre vicar-general of Acadia. He directed Acadians from Minas and Port Royal to assist in building a cathedral at Beauséjour. It was an exact replica of the original Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral
in Paris. A month after the cathedral was completed, the British attacked
. Upon the imminent fall of Fort Beauséjour, Le Loutre burned the cathedral to the ground to prevent its falling into the hands of the British. He had the bell removed and saved. Not only were such cast bells expensive, but to save it was a symbolic act of hope for rebuilding, as he had brought the bell from the church at Beaubassin when that village was burned. This defeat was the catalyst for the Deportation of the Acadians. The cathedral bell is held at the Fort Beauséjour National Historic Site.
Aware of his risk, Le Loutre escaped to Quebec through the woods. In the late summer, he returned to Louisbourg and sailed to France. His ship was seized by the British in September, and Le Loutre was taken prisoner and held in Elizabeth Castle
, Jersey
. He was imprisoned for eight years, until after the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763)
that ended the Seven Years War.
After that, he tried to help Acadians deported to France to settle in areas such as Morlaix
, Saint-Malo
, and Poitou
. On a trip to Poitou to show Acadians the land, Le Loutre died at Nantes
on September 30, 1772. He was buried the following day at the Church of St. Leonard, Nantes. Le Loutre willed his worldly possessions to the displaced Acadians.
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"...
priest and missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
for the Paris Foreign Missions Society
Paris Foreign Missions Society
The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious order, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons dedicated to missionary work in foreign lands....
. In the eighteenth-century struggle for power between the French, Acadians and Mi'kmaq against the British over 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...
and 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...
, Le Loutre became the leader of the French forces and the Acadian/ Mi'kmaq militias 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...
and Father Le Loutre’s War.
Historical context
He was born in 1709 to Jean-Maurice Le Loutre Després, a paper maker, and Catherine Huet, the daughter of a paper maker, in the parish of Saint-Matthieu in MorlaixMorlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
, 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...
in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. In 1730, the young Le Loutre entered the Séminaire du Saint-Esprit in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; both his parents had already died. After completing his training, Le Loutre transferred to the Séminaire des Missions Étrangères (Seminary of Foreign Missions) in March 1737, as he intended to serve the church abroad. Most of the priests associated with the Paris Foreign Missions Society
Paris Foreign Missions Society
The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious order, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons dedicated to missionary work in foreign lands....
were assigned as missionaries to Asia, particularly during the nineteenth century, but Le Loutre was assigned to eastern Canada and 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...
, an Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
-speaking people.
When Le Loutre arrived at mainland 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...
in 1738, the area had been under the rule of the primarily Protestant British for almost thirty years. The British were settled mostly in the capital 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...
, while Catholic Acadians and the native 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...
occupied the rest of the region. The mainland portion of Acadia (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 Île-Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
) remained under French control. Prior to the conquest of 1710
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 New England colonists had been raiding, pillaging, burning and taking prisoners from Acadian communities for the previous hundred years. The French Canadian colonists and their Indian allies similarly raided New England communities, and both sides made money from the ransom of captives. The Indians adopted some captives, especially younger children, some of whom stayed with the tribes for the rest of their lives.
In 1738 the French had no formal military presence at mainland Nova Scotia. The Acadians had refused for 30 years to sign a loyalty oath to the British Crown, but without French military support, the settlers were unable to give more support to French efforts to recapture Nova Scotia. Le Loutre became an informal military agent and joined with the local Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias to oppose the British Protestant domination of Acadia.
Île Royal
Le Loutre sailed for AcadiaAcadia
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...
soon after and arrived in Louisbourg that autumn, along with others who would settle there. He was to replace Abbé de Saint-Vincent, a missionary to the Mi'kmaq and live in Shubenacadie
Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia
Shubenacadie is a community located in Hants County, in central Nova Scotia, Canada. As of 2006, the population was 2,074.In the Micmac language, Shubenacadie means "abounding in ground nuts" or "place where the red potato Shubenacadie (['ʃuːbə'nækədiː]) is a community located in Hants County, in...
. Before doing so, Le Loutre spent time at Malagawatch, Île-Royale (now known as Merigomish, Nova Scotia
Merigomish, Nova Scotia
Merigomish is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Pictou County .-References:*...
) to learn the Mi'kmaq language. He worked with Pierre Maillard
Pierre Maillard
Abbé Pierre Antoine Simon Maillard was a French-born Roman Catholic priest. He is noted for his contributions to the creation of a written language for the Mi'kmaq indigenous people of Île Royale, Cape Breton Island, Canada....
to develop a written form of the Mi'kmaq language, which belonged to the Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
family. On September 22, 1738, Le Loutre left for Shubenacadie, where he ministered the Mi'kmaq at Mission St. Anne.
Raid on Annapolis Royal
During King Georges War, the neutrality of Le Loutre and the Acadians was tested. By the end of the war, most British officials who had been sympathetic toward the Acadians concluded that they and Le Loutre were supportive of the French Catholic position. Le Loutre was involved in two raids on the British at Annapolis Royal. The first Siege of Fort AnneSiege of Fort Anne
The Siege of Annapolis Royal in 1744 involved two of four attempts by the French, along with their Acadian and native allies, to regain the capital of Nova Scotia/Acadia, Annapolis Royal, during King George's War....
(1744), was orchestrated with François Dupont Duvivier and was unsuccessful. The following year, Louisburg fell
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...
for the first time to a force of New Englanders. The authorities in Quebec
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
immediately gave Le Loutre instructions that made him a military leader, whereby the French government could work with the Mi'kmaq militia in Acadia.
Duc d'Anville Expedition
The second siege on Annapolis Royal was organized with Ramezay and the ill-fated Duc d'Anville ExpeditionDuc 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...
(1746). With Louisbourg captured by the British, Le Loutre became the liaison between the Acadian settlers and French expeditions by land and sea. The authorities directed him to receive the expedition at Baie de Chibouctou (present-day Halifax, Nova Scotia). Le Loutre was virtually the only person to know the signals to identify the ships of the fleet. He had to coordinate the operations of the naval force with those of the army of Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Roch de Ramezay, sent to retake Acadia by capturing Annapolis Royal early in June 1746. Ramezay and his detachment arrived 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...
(near present-day Amherst, Nova Scotia
Amherst, Nova Scotia
Amherst is a Canadian town in northwestern Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.Located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, Amherst is strategically situated on the eastern boundary of the Tantramar Marshes 3 kilometres east of the interprovincial border with New...
) in July, when only two frigates of the French squadron had reached Baie de Chibouctou. Without seeking the agreement of the two captains, Le Loutre wrote to Ramezay suggesting an attack be made on Annapolis Royal without the full expedition; but his advice was not acted upon. They waited over two months for the expedition to arrive; slowed by contrary winds and ravaged by disease, the expedition returned home.
After the failed expedition, Le Loutre returned to France. While in France, he made two attempts during the war to return to Acadia. On both occasions he was imprisoned by the English. In 1749, after the war, he finally returned.
During King George's War, Le Loutre was joined in resisting the British by an important Acadian militia 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...
.
Father Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre’s War began when the British began to establish Protestant settlers in Nova Scotia by founding Halifax. Le Loutre moved his base of operation from Shubenacadie to Pointe-à-Beauséjour on the Isthmus of ChignectoIsthmus 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....
.
When Le Loutre arrived at Beauséjour, France and England were disputing the ownership of present-day New Brunswick. A year after they established Halifax (1749), the British built forts in the major Acadian communities: 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...
(at Piziquid), Fort Vieux Logis
Fort Vieux Logis
The site of Fort Vieux Logis is in present-day Hortonville, 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. The site of the fort is on the field where the Acadian Cross and the New England Planters monument...
at 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...
and 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:...
(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...
). The British were also interested in building forts in the various Acadian communities to control the local populations.
Battle at Chignecto (1750)
Le Loutre led the resistance to the British building forts in the Acadian villages. Le Loutre and the French were established at Beauséjour, just opposite Beaubassin. Charles Lawrence first tried to establish control over Beauséjour and then at Beaubassin early in 1750, but his forces were repelled by Le Loutre, the Mi'kmaq and Acadians. To prevent Lawrence from establishing a fort at Beaubassin and to move Acadians to French-controlled territory, Le Loutre had Beaubassin burned.Defeated at Beaubassin, Lawrence went to Piziquid where he built 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...
; he forced the Acadians to destroy their church and replaced it with the British fort. Lawrence eventually returned to the area of Beaubassin to build 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:...
. He encountered continued resistance there, with the Mi'kmaq and Acadians dug in before Lawrence's return to defend the remains of the village. Le Loutre was joined again by the Acadian militia leader Broussard. They were eventually overwhelmed by force, and the New Englanders erected Fort Lawrence at Beaubassin.
In the spring of 1751, the French countered by building 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...
. Le Loutre saved the bell from Notre Dame d'Assumption Church in Beaubassin and put it into the cathedral he had built beside Fort Beauséjour. In 1752 he proposed a plan to the French court to destroy Fort Lawrence and return Beaubassin to the Mi'kmaq and Acadians.
Raid on Dartmouth (1751)
Le Loutre worked with the Mi'kmaq to harass British settlers and prevent the expansion of Protestant settlements. He paid £1,800 for 18 British scalps. As with most military operations, Le Loutre maintained discipline by threatening excommunication of the Acadians who did not heed his warnings of the Protestant occupation.Both New England and New France military officials made allies of the aboriginal tribes in their struggles for control. The aboriginal allies also engaged independently in warfare against the colonists and opposing tribes, without their English or French allies. Often aboriginal allies fought on their own while the imperial powers tried to conceal their involvement in such initiatives, to prevent igniting large-scale warfare between England and France.
Le Loutre wrote to the minister of the Marine:
“As we cannot openly oppose the English ventures, I think that we cannot do better than to incite the Mi'kmaq to continue warring on the English; my plan is to persuade the Mi'kmaq to send word to the English that they will not permit new settlements to be made in Acadia. …I shall do my best to make it look to the English as if this plan comes from the Mi'kmaq and that I have no part in it.”
The Acadian militia leader Broussard led the Raid on Dartmouth (1751)
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...
; it became known among the British as the "Dartmouth Massacre" (1751). He also led the Raid on Halifax, during which Mi'kmaq killed the gardener of Governor Edward Cornwallis. The raids were successful in containing British settlement to the only places they could fortify, 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...
(1749) and Lunenburg
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...
(1753).
Edward 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:...
, the governor of Nova Scotia, ordered the executions of Le Loutre and participating Mi'kmaq. He offered rewards for their scalps. He also ordered the Acadians to stay in the Cobequid (which was against Le Loutre's direction), for Cornwallis feared their gathering strength in present-day New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. He also tried to interrupt their support of Louisburg.
Acadian exodus (1750–52)
With the founding of Halifax and the Protestant occupation of Nova Scotia intensifying, Le Loutre led the Acadians who lived in the Cobequid region of mainland Nova Scotia to Catholic-occupied New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Cornwallis tried to prevent the Acadians from leaving through threats and intimidation.The Cobequid Acadians wrote to the people in Beaubassin about British soldiers who,
... came furtively during the night to take our pastor [Girard] and our four deputies .... [A British officer] read the orders by which he was authorized to seize all the muskets in our houses, thereby reducing us to the condition of the IrishIrish peopleThe Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
.... Thus we see ourselves on the brink of destruction, liable to be captured and transported to the English islands and to lose our religion.
Despite Cornwallis' threats, most Acadians in the Cobequid followed Le Loutre. The priest tried to establish new communities, but found it difficult to supply the new settlers, the Mi'qmaq, and the garrisons at Fort Beauséjour and Île Saint-Jean (now 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...
) with food and other necessities. Finding the living conditions deplorable at New Brunwick and Prince Edward Island, he made repeated appeals in 1752 for aid from the authorities in Quebec
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. He returned to France to seek funds, which he gained in 1753 from the courts, for the purpose of building dykes in Acadia. Protecting low-lying lands from the tides would enable their use as pasture for cattle and developed with cultivation for crops, so the Acadians could escape the risk of starvation. Granted additional monies, Le Loutre sailed back to Acadia with other missionaries in 1753.
Battle of Fort Beauséjour (1755)
At the outbreak in 1754 of the last of the French and Indian WarsFrench and Indian Wars
The French and Indian Wars is a name used in the United States for a series of conflicts lasting 74 years in North America that represented colonial events related to the European dynastic wars...
fought to control North America, the French government appointed Le Loutre vicar-general of Acadia. He directed Acadians from Minas and Port Royal to assist in building a cathedral at Beauséjour. It was an exact replica of the original Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral
Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral
The Cathedral-minor basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec , located at 20, rue de Buade, Quebec City, Quebec, is the primate church of Canada and seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec, the oldest see in the New World north of Mexico.It is also the parish church of the oldest parish in North...
in Paris. A month after the cathedral was completed, the British attacked
Battle of Fort Beauséjour
The Battle of Fort Beauséjour was fought on the Isthmus of Chignecto and marked the end of Father Le Loutre’s War andthe opening of a British offensive in the French and Indian War, which would eventually lead to the end the French Empire in North America...
. Upon the imminent fall of Fort Beauséjour, Le Loutre burned the cathedral to the ground to prevent its falling into the hands of the British. He had the bell removed and saved. Not only were such cast bells expensive, but to save it was a symbolic act of hope for rebuilding, as he had brought the bell from the church at Beaubassin when that village was burned. This defeat was the catalyst for the Deportation of the Acadians. The cathedral bell is held at the Fort Beauséjour National Historic Site.
Imprisonment
Elizabeth Castle
Elizabeth Castle is a castle in Saint Helier, Jersey. Construction was started in the 16th century when the power of cannon meant that the existing stronghold at Mont Orgueil was insufficient to defend the Island and the port of St. Helier was vulnerable to attack by ships armed with...
, Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
. He was imprisoned for eight years, until after the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763)
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...
that ended the Seven Years War.
After that, he tried to help Acadians deported to France to settle in areas such as Morlaix
Morlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
, Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine.-Demographics:The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season...
, and Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
. On a trip to Poitou to show Acadians the land, Le Loutre died at 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....
on September 30, 1772. He was buried the following day at the Church of St. Leonard, Nantes. Le Loutre willed his worldly possessions to the displaced Acadians.
External links
- "Jean-Louis Le Loutre", Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- History of Nova Scotia - Abbé Le Loutre, BluPete
- "Abbe Jean-Louis Le Loutre", Daniel Paul Website, Mi'kmaq Account