Petitcodiac River Campaign
Encyclopedia
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 Campaign
. Benoni Danks
and Joseph Gorham's Rangers
carried out the operation.
According to one historian, the level of Acadian suffering greatly increased in the late summer of 1758. Along with campaigns in Cape Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
and surrounding area), the Gulf of St. Lawrence
and the St. John River Campaign
, the British targeted the Petitcodiac River.
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 and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. During the French and Indian 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.
The first wave of these deportations
began in 1755 with the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
. Many Acadians fled those operations to present-day New Brunswick
and the French colony of Ile Saint-Jean, now known as Prince Edward Island
.
After capturing Louisbourg
on Ile Royal (present-day Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
) in 1758, Acadians left Ile St. Jean for present-day New Brunswick. At this time the second wave of the Expulsion began from Ile Saint Jean and Cape Breton and continued in earnest in New Brunswick. According to one historian, this wave of operations was more brutal and considerably more devastating than the first.
The Petitcodiac is situated between two smaller rivers – the Shepody River (off Shepody Bay
) and the Memramcook river
(the three bodies of water were often called "Trois-Rivières" by its inhabitants.) Weeks after the Expulsion began with the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755)
, the British forces raided villages at Chipoudy
and Petitcodiac
(Hillsborough, New Brunswick
). As well, on November 17, 1755, George Scott took seven hundred troops and attacked twenty houses at Memramcook (Dorchester, New Brunswick
). They arrested the Acadians that remained and killed two hundred head of livestock. Even after these raids, Acadians returned to these villages and the numbers grew as the deportation from peninsula Nova Scotia continued, followed by the deportation of present-day Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton.
On September 10, 1757, Captain John Knox of the Forty-third Regiment was ordered to take part in a 800 man joint force of rangers and regulars to march against Chipoudy, which seemed to be the originating point for the Acadian and Mi’kmaq raids on Chignecto. Almost seven months later, on March 28, 1758, Gorham’s Rangers raided Chipoudy and found only women and children; the men had left for Fort Cumberland, where they attacked a schooner. The Rangers were shocked at how fast the community had re-built after the previous raid.
’ Rangers along with fifty-five men advanced up the Petitcodiac River, suspecting that this was where the Acadian and Mi’kmaq raids originated. They made contact with 40 Acadians but were unable to catch them.
On July 1, 1758, Danks himself began to pursue the Acadians. 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. (While the French paid Mi'kmaq for British scalps, the British paid New England Rangers
for Mi'kmaq scalps.)
November 12, 1758, Danks’ Rangers sailed up the river and returned the next day with four men and twelve women and children as prisoners. The prisoners notified Danks about the location of Joseph Broussard's home (present day Boundary Creek). Danks’ company sailed immediately up the Petitodiac to attack Broussard’s home. By the time Danks arrived the house was vacant. Danks killed the livestock and burned the fields and village.
The Rangers returned to the river. Captain Silvanus Cobb continued to ferry Rangers up and down the river to destroy the houses and crops over two nights, November 13–14. On November 14, Acadian resistance appeared early in the morning. Two of Danks' Rangers were missing, presumably killed. The Rangers overwhelmed the Acadians once Danks' reinforcement of a platoon of Rangers arrived. The Rangers took a dozen women and children hostage. Joseph Gorham reported that he had burned over a hundred homes and Danks reported he destroyed twenty three buildings.
The Rangers then returned to Fort Frederick at the mouth of the St. John River with the prisoners.
, a region that Preble and Pownall were prepared to sweep in early 1759.
A part of the regulars under Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Rollo
arrested and deported Acadians in the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign
.
Major General Amherst dispatched Brigadier James Wolfe
to the northeast along the coast in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758)
. He sent Wolfe with three entire regiments and seven ships of the line to destroy Acadian fields and settlements. After Wolfe had left the area, the 1760 Battle of Restigouche
led to the capture of several hundred Acadians at Boishébert's refugee camp at Petit-Rochelle.
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...
, to deport the Acadians that either lived along the Petitcodiac River
Petitcodiac River
The Petitcodiac River is a Canadian river in south-eastern New Brunswick. The river runs about through the province's Westmorland, Albert, and Kings counties, draining a watershed area of about . The region around the river features valleys, ridges, and rolling hills, and is home to a diverse...
or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations, such as 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...
. Benoni Danks
Benoni 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.
According to one historian, the level of Acadian suffering greatly increased in the late summer of 1758. Along with campaigns in Cape Sable (present-day Port La Tour, Nova Scotia
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 surrounding area), 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...
and 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 British targeted the Petitcodiac River.
Historical context
The British Conquest of AcadiaSiege 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 and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. 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.
The first wave of these deportations
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...
began in 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...
. Many Acadians fled those operations to 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 the French colony of Ile Saint-Jean, now known as 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...
.
After capturing Louisbourg
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...
on Ile Royal (present-day Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
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....
) in 1758, Acadians left Ile St. Jean for present-day New Brunswick. At this time the second wave of the Expulsion began from Ile Saint Jean and Cape Breton and continued in earnest in New Brunswick. According to one historian, this wave of operations was more brutal and considerably more devastating than the first.
The Petitcodiac is situated between two smaller rivers – the Shepody River (off Shepody Bay
Shepody Bay
Shepody Bay is a 122 km² coastal wetland in New Brunswick, Canada. It was designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance on May 27, 1987, is a globally significant Important Bird Area, and is part of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network...
) and the Memramcook river
Memramcook, New Brunswick
Memramcook is a Canadian village in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. Located in south-eastern New Brunswick, the community is predominantly people of Acadian descent who speak the Chiac derivative of the French language....
(the three bodies of water were often called "Trois-Rivières" by its inhabitants.) Weeks after the Expulsion began 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...
, the British forces raided villages at Chipoudy
Chipoudy
Chipoudy was an Acadian village, founded in 1698 and completely destroyed in 1755.- Geography :The village was situated on the west side of Chipoudy Bay, at the foot of Caledonian Hills, in the region where the ground is low, the Chipoudy marshes. It was part of most of the region of Trois-Rivières...
and 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...
(Hillsborough, New Brunswick
Hillsborough, New Brunswick
Hillsborough is a village in Albert County in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It has a population of 1,292 . The village is situated on a hill overlooking the Petitcodiac River near Riverview, New Brunswick.- History :...
). As well, on November 17, 1755, George Scott took seven hundred troops and attacked twenty houses at Memramcook (Dorchester, New Brunswick
Dorchester, New Brunswick
Dorchester is a Canadian village and shire town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.It is located on the eastern side of the mouth of the lush Memramcook River valley near the river's discharge point into Shepody Bay...
). They arrested the Acadians that remained and killed two hundred head of livestock. Even after these raids, Acadians returned to these villages and the numbers grew as the deportation from peninsula Nova Scotia continued, followed by the deportation of present-day Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton.
On September 10, 1757, Captain John Knox of the Forty-third Regiment was ordered to take part in a 800 man joint force of rangers and regulars to march against Chipoudy, which seemed to be the originating point for the Acadian and Mi’kmaq raids on Chignecto. Almost seven months later, on March 28, 1758, Gorham’s Rangers raided Chipoudy and found only women and children; the men had left for Fort Cumberland, where they attacked a schooner. The Rangers were shocked at how fast the community had re-built after the previous raid.
The Campaign
In June 1758, Lieutenant Meech of 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....
’ Rangers along with fifty-five men advanced up the Petitcodiac River, suspecting that this was where the Acadian and Mi’kmaq raids originated. They made contact with 40 Acadians but were unable to catch them.
On July 1, 1758, Danks himself began to pursue the Acadians. 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. (While the French paid Mi'kmaq for British scalps, the British paid New England 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...
for Mi'kmaq scalps.)
November 12, 1758, Danks’ Rangers sailed up the river and returned the next day with four men and twelve women and children as prisoners. The prisoners notified Danks about the location of Joseph Broussard's home (present day Boundary Creek). Danks’ company sailed immediately up the Petitodiac to attack Broussard’s home. By the time Danks arrived the house was vacant. Danks killed the livestock and burned the fields and village.
The Rangers returned to the river. Captain Silvanus Cobb continued to ferry Rangers up and down the river to destroy the houses and crops over two nights, November 13–14. On November 14, Acadian resistance appeared early in the morning. Two of Danks' Rangers were missing, presumably killed. The Rangers overwhelmed the Acadians once Danks' reinforcement of a platoon of Rangers arrived. The Rangers took a dozen women and children hostage. Joseph Gorham reported that he had burned over a hundred homes and Danks reported he destroyed twenty three buildings.
The Rangers then returned to Fort Frederick at the mouth of the St. John River with the prisoners.
Aftermath
The Acadian refugees from the Petitcodiac River Campaign went to the Penobscot RiverPenobscot River
The Penobscot River is a river in the U.S. state of Maine. Including the river's West Branch and South Branch increases the Penobscot's length to , making it the second longest river system in Maine and the longest entirely in the state. Its drainage basin contains .It arises from four branches...
, a region that Preble and Pownall were prepared to sweep in early 1759.
A part of the regulars under Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Rollo
Andrew Rollo, 5th Lord Rollo
Andrew Rollo, 5th Lord Rollo, was a Scottish army commander in Canada and Dominica during the Seven Years' War, who led the British land forces in the capture of Dominica on June 6, 1761....
arrested and deported Acadians in 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...
.
Major General Amherst dispatched Brigadier 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...
to the northeast along the coast 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...
. He sent Wolfe with three entire regiments and seven ships of the line to destroy Acadian fields and settlements. After Wolfe had left the area, the 1760 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...
led to the capture of several hundred Acadians at Boishébert's refugee camp at Petit-Rochelle.
Secondary sources
- John Grenier. The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760. Oklahoma University Press. 2008. pp. 200–201
- John Faragher. Great and Nobel Scheme. Norton. 2005.
- Earle Lockerby. The Deportation of the Prince Edward Island Acadians. Nimbus Press. 2008.
- (fr) Paul Surette, Petcoudiac - Colonisation et destruction - 1731-1755, Moncton, Les Éditions d'Acadie, 1998, ISBN 2-7600-0150-4.