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Deportation of the Acadians from Fie St.-Jean, 1758

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Deportation of the Acadians from Fie St.-Jean, 1758 Deportation of the Acadians from fie St.-Jean, 1758 jy3!Slg^iA«««>^ By Earle Lockerby eportation is a defining event in but immigration from Acadia over more deportation has appeared during the D Acadian history and has played than three decades gave an increasingly last 70 years. a profound role in shaping the Acadian Acadian complexion to the colony. By identity. The first deportation occurred 1758 a large portion of lie St-Jean's pop- in 1755 and involved 6,000 to 7,000 ulation was comprised of those who had End of an Era Acadians from the shores of the Bay moved from Acadia prior to the deporta- of Fundy in Nova Scotia and adjacent tion of 1755 or shortly thereafter. The fate of lie St.-Jean was sealed on areas. This event has largely overshad- The historiography of Acadian depor- 26 July 1758 when Governor Augustin owed an equally traumatic and tragic tation that has developed over the past deBoschenryde Drucour surrendered deportation three years later in Prince two centuries is extensive and, like the the fortress at Louisbourg, following Edward Island, then known as lie St.- events themselves, shaped by contest- weeks of bombardment by British forc- Jean. [Throughout the French regime ing perspectives. The deportation of es. Louisbourg had been the seat of the British generally referred to the 1755 has attracted the interest of many government not only for lie Royale, Island as St. John's Island or occasional- historians, some of whom have been (now Cape Breton) but also for lie St- ly as Isle St. John's.] Though lie St.-Jean partisan and controversial. That of 1758 Jean. Within days the British conquer- was a colony of France and Acadia was has been the subject of comparatively ors began to repatriate French nation- a colony of Britain,* to a large degree little historical attention. Research of als (mostly military and administrative these two deportations affected one peo- primary documentation relating to the personnel and some of the townspeople ple. Most of lie St-Jean's original set- deportation from lie St-Jean appears at Louisbourg) and to deport all others tlers in 1720 came directly from France, to have been confined to three or four from lie Royale and lie St.-Jean. On historians writing during the late 19th 8 August Lt. Col. Andrew Rollo was France ceded Acadia to Great Britain in 1713 as and early 20th centuries and has been ordered by the commander of British part of the Treaty of Utrecht. The British treated somewhat shallow and fragmentary. forces, Major General Jeffery Amherst, their new subjects quite generously at first, grant- In one or two cases the resulting work to proceed from Louisbourg to lie St- ing rights to language, religion and culture which is tinged with nationalistic overtones many citizens of the British Isles themselves which reflect the background of the were denied. It was only later that problems authors, a trait not uncommon among developed between Britain and its Acadian sub- "British Soldier" and "Acadian Settler", jects which ultimately led to their expulsion. historians of that era. Surprisingly, little or no new information on the Island's by David A. Webber. 17 Jean and arrange for the capitulation to rescind the deportation order — a England with other officers and military of its small French garrison. All of the request that was denied. personnel aboard HMS York. The civil- settlers and the garrison there were On 31 August the four transports ian population, probably all removed to be taken to Louisbourg where they and schooner headed off to Louisbourg from the shores of the Hillsborough would be transshipped to France. under convoy of the Hind, commanded River, were placed aboard a large trans- Under the convoy of the 24-gun HMS by Capt. Robert Bond. Of the 692 pas- port named Mary. Hind, a schooner and four transports sengers, approximately 130 are believed — King of Prussia, Bristol, Dunbar and to have been military and administrative Catherine — set out on 10 August for personnel and their families. In a letter Operation Expanded Port Lajoie, site of lie St.-Jean's garrison to the French minister responsible for and administrative headquarters. The colonization, Villejouin wrote that 4,000 Within a short time of arriving on lie St- vessels carried not only 500 soldiers settlers remained on the Island. Jean, Rollo learned that the Island's pop- but also materials for the construction The convoy arrived at Louisbourg ulation had been grossly underestimat- of a new fort at Port Lajoie which would on 4 September. Military personnel ed by British authorities at Louisbourg be christened Fort Amherst. Several were transferred to other vessels for who had apparently not been given emissaries of Drucour were sent with the trip to England as prisoners of war. accurate information by Drucour or the Hind to inform those on the Island Administrative personnel, their families his subordinates. Instead of finding an of the terms of capitulation and of the and other civilians were destined for anticipated 400 to 500 inhabitants, Rollo requirement to surrender. On 17 August France. Villejouin himself was sent to soon realized that he would need to the flotilla sailed into the harbour. The transport almost ten times this number. commander of the garrison, Gabriel The Hind's arrival Louisbourg alerted Rousseau de Villejouin, had been aware authorities there to the need for more for some days that Louisbourg had transports. On 8 September Admiral capitulated and that British vessels Edward Boscawen wrote in his journal would be on their way to Port Lajoie. that h e "order'd 13 Transports to be sup- He surrendered without firing a shot. plied with two months provisions... for 3450 French Prisoners to be received on board them at the Isle St. Johns." Three Arrests Begin days later he wrote that he ordered 14 transports to be convoyed by the The French garrison and administra- Hind to lie St.-Jean, to take aboard tive officials were among the first to be all the remaining French prisoners taken into custody. The first civilian and to proceed to St. Malo. The 14 prisoners, from along the Northeast vessels named by Boscawen were: (or Hillsborough River), were brought Briton, Duke William, John and Samuel, down on 19 August, along with "three Mathias, Neptune, Parnassus, Patience, 6 Pounders" — cannons removed from Restoration, Ruby, Supply, Tamerlane, a French gun emplacement at Battery Three Sisters, Violet and Yarmouth. Point where Miller's Creek joins the From the smallest {Restoration) to the Hillsborough River near modern-day largest {Duke William) they varied in Frenchfort. During the next week burden from 177 to 400 tons. schooner-loads of inhabitants from as The Hind, 14 transports, an unnamed far away as the head of the river were schooner and a snow set out from brought t o the waiting transports. While Louisbourg on 14 September but soon prisoners were being taken, work on encountered difficult weather. Squalls a new fort, directed by Lt. William and the grounding of one of the trans- Spry, was being undertaken by 150 ports delayed the flotilla's arrival at men, including two foremen, ten car- Port Lajoie until 3 October. Meanwhile penters, four masons, nine sodlayers it was decided that still more transports and two carters. Also during this time, were needed, and on 18 September two priests, Pierre Cassiet of the parish Boscawen ordered the Richard and of Saint-Louis-du-Nord-Est (centered Mary, Scarborough and Mary (not the in present-day Scotchfort) and Jean vessel of this name previously men- Biscarat of Saint-Pierre-du-Nord (St. tioned) to proceed to Port Lajoie and Peters Harbour) were allowed to travel place themselves under the command to Louisbourg to plead with officials of Capt. Bond. Throughout October Rollo's soldiers rounded up residents from along the Hillsborough River and its tributaries, 'Trench Soldier", by David A. Webber other rivers emptying into what is now French military personnel were sent to Charlottetown Harbour, the eastern England as prisoners of war. The tiny shores of Hillsborough Bay —in par- garrison surrendered without a fight. ticular the parish of Pointe-Prime which 18 was centered near the present Provincial the remaining transports, laden with her and set out for France at an earlier Park on Orwell Bay — and from the hapless, dejected deportees, were to set date. The vessels destined to France Pinette area. On the north shore inhab- sail for France. Squalls encountered in needed no armed escort since they itants were gathered up in the areas of the Strait drove ashore Tamerlane and sailed under flags of truce. In any Tracadie Bay, Savage Bay and St. Peters Parnassus. The Tamerlane was refloat- event those which left Port Lajoie Bay. While this occurred, crews of the ed but the Parnassus was declared a with the Hind departed Nova Scotia's Hind and the transports wooded and wreck. In addition, the Richard and Chedabucto Bay for France sometime watered their vessels and laid in sup- Mary, which was carrying British sol- in late November. Battered by pro- plies of beef taken from the inhabitants diers, struck a submerged rock near lie longed periods of exceedingly stormy — all needed in quantity by the trans- Madame and quickly sank. Fortunately, weather, not all succeeded in reaching ports for the long voyage to France. no lives were lost in any of these mis- European shores. The sinking of the Not all inhabitants submitted to haps. The Parnassus' passengers were Duke William and Violet with the loss British orders to turn themselves in. put aboard other transports bound for of almost all aboard, as these vessels Rollo informed Boscawen that "num- France and another of these vessels neared the English Channel, is one bers have fled to Canada and carried was diverted to Louisbourg with the aspect of the deportation which is rela- off great quantities of cattle by means stranded soldiers.
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