The Great Republic by the Master Historians The Expulsion of the Acadians byBancroft, Hubert H.
[The year of the conflicts last described was marked by another event of great
importance, and one which has aroused more feeling than any other circumstance
of the war. This was the removal of the French settlers from Acadia, and their
dispersion through the English settlements. This event has been treated mainly
from the stand-point of sentiment, the cruelty of the deportation strongly dwelt
on, and the action of the English regarded as indefensible. A calmer and fuller
review of the circumstances gives a new face to the situation, and shows that
the English action, though it proved of little utility, had much warrant in the
circumstances of the case. We extract an account of this deportation from
Hannay's valuable "History of Acadia."
It was preceded by certain military events which need to be outlined. About the
last of May, 1755, Colonel Monckton sailed from Boston, with three thousand
troops, with the design of reducing the French settlements on the Bay of Fundy,
which were considered as encroachments on the English province of Nova Scotia.
This province, the Acadia of a former period, had been taken by the English in
1710, and was ceded to the English government by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713.
The French, however, had steadily encroached upon the peninsula, and had
strengthened themselves by forts on its New Brunswick border, from which a
hostile influence disseminated itself through the French population of the
peninsula. Monckton's expedition was successful in reducing these forts. A
block-house on Chignecto Bay was first carried by assault, and then Fort
Beausejour, a strong post on the neck of the peninsula, was invested, and taken
after a four days' siege. Fort Gaspereau, on Green Bay, was next captured, after
which the French abandoned their post on the St. John's River. As the hostility
of the Acadians to British rule continued unabated, and as their presence
endangered the security of the province, it was resolved to remove them and
endeavor to replace them by settlers loyal to the British government. The
circumstances of this removal we append in the words of Mr. Hannay.]
The English, after a possession of Acadia which lasted nearly forty years, had
not succeeded in founding a single English settlement or adding to the English-
speaking population of the province. The French Acadians, on the other hand, had
gone on increasing and spreading themselves over the land. They were strong and
formidable, not only by reason of their number, but because of their knowledge
of wood-craft, of the management of canoes, and of many other accomplishments
which are essential to those who would live in a forest country, and which were
almost indispensable qualifications for soldiers in such a land as Acadia. All
that the English had to show for their thirty-nine years' occupation of the
country were the fortifications of Annapolis and a ruined fishing-station at
Canso. All the substantial gains of that time belonged to France, for the
Acadians were nearly three times as numerous as when Port Royal fell, and they
were quite as devoted to the interests of France as their fathers had been.
Acadia in 1749 was as much a French colony as it had been forty years before.
The only difference was that the English were at the expense of maintaining a
garrison instead of the French, and that they sometimes issued orders to the
inhabitants, which the latter very seldom chose to obey.
[Of the various schemes to give Acadia an English population all proved
failures, except that of 1749, in which a large colony was established at a
point hitherto unoccupied, where a town rapidly arose from which has sprung the
present city of Halifax. The Acadians, however, steadily refused to take the
oath of allegiance to Great Britain, and, while professing to be neutral between
the English and the French, secretly abetted the latter. Three hundred of them
were found in Fort Beausejour when captured, and their hostility to the English
was pronounced.]
The event for which the year 1755 will be ever memorable in the history of this
continent was not the capture of Beausejour, nor the defeat of Braddock. These
were results which occurred in the ordinary course of warfare, and which grew
naturally out of the struggle which England and France were waging in America.
Our interest in them is merely the interest of patriotism; we feel no sympathy
for the individual soldier who lays down his life for his country, for it is the
business of the soldier to fight and to die, and to some a death on the field of
battle which is lighted by the sun of victory seems the happiest death of all.
The event which gives the year 1755 a sad pre-eminence over its fellows -- the
expulsion of the Acadians -- was an occurrence of a very different character.
The sufferers were men who were, or ought to have been, non-combatants, and in
the common ruin which overtook them their wives and children were involved. The
breaking up of their domestic hearths, their severance from their property, the
privations they endured when driven among strangers, and the numberless ills
which overtook them as the result of their first misfortune, have an interest
for the people of every nation, for they appeal to our common humanity. It seems
at the first view of the case an outrage on that humanity and a grievous wrong
that such an occurrence as the expulsion of the Acadians should have taken place
merely from political motives. The misfortunes and sufferings of the Acadians
stand out prominently, and appeal to every eye; a great poet has sung of their
sorrows; (Longfellow, in "Evangeline.") innumerable writers of books have
referred to their expulsion in terms of condemnation; and so the matter has
grown until it came to be almost a settled opinion that the expulsion of the
Acadians was something which could not be justified, and of which its authors
should have been ashamed. That is the view which one historian of Nova Scotia
gives of the affair. Perhaps those who examine the whole matter impartially, in
the light of all the facts, will come to the conclusion that it would have been
a real cause for shame had the Acadians been permitted longer to misuse the
clemency of the government, to plot against British power, and to obstruct the
settlement of the province by loyal subjects.
One statement has been very industriously circulated by French writers with a
view to throw odium on the transaction. They say that the Acadians were expelled
"because the greedy English colonists looked upon their fair farms with covetous
eyes," and that the government was influenced by these persons. A more flagrant
untruth never was told. . . . None of the lands of the Acadians were settled by
the English until several years after the French were expelled, and not until
most of the lands had gone back to a state of nature in consequence of the
breaking of the dikes. . . . Five years elapsed after the expulsion before the
noble diked lands of Grand Pre were occupied by English settlers, and the lands
of Annapolis were not occupied by the English until nine or ten years after the
French had left them. . . . From motives of economy, if for no other reason, it
was considered highly desirable that the Acadians should remain on their lands,
in order that they might supply the garrisons with provisions at a fair price,
and so reduce the cost of maintaining them. It was also felt that the French, if
they could be induced to become loyal subjects, would be a great source of
strength to the colony, from their knowledge of wood-craft and from their
friendly relations with the Indians. It was, therefore, on no pretext that this
desire to keep the French in the province -- which is attested by more than
forty years of forbearance -- was succeeded by a determination to remove them
from it. . . . It must be remembered that in 1755 England was entering on a
great war with France, which, although it ended disastrously for the latter
power, certainly commenced with the balance of advantage in her favor. In such a
death-struggle, it was evident that there was no room for half-way measures, and
that a weak policy would almost certainly be fatal to British power. Ever since
the treaty of Utrecht, a period of more than forty years, the Acadians had lived
on their lands without complying with the terms on which they were to be
permitted to retain them, which was to become British subjects. Although the
soil upon which they lived was British territory, they claimed to be regarded as
"Neutrals," not liable to be called upon to bear arms either for or against the
English. Their neutrality, however, did not prevent them from aiding the French
to the utmost of their power and throwing every possible embarrassment in the
way of the English. It did not prevent many of them from joining with the
Indians in attacks on the garrison at Annapolis and on other English fortified
posts in Acadia. It did not prevent them from carrying their cattle and grain to
Louisburg, Beausejour, and the river St. John, instead of to Halifax and
Annapolis, when England and France were at war. It did not prevent them from
maintaining a constant correspondence with the enemies of England, or from
acting the part of spies on the English and keeping Vergor at Beausejour
informed of the exact state of their garrisons from time to time. It did not
prevent them from being on friendly terms with the savages, who beset the
English so closely that an English settler could scarcely venture beyond his
barn, or an English soldier beyond musket-shot of his fort, for fear of being
killed and scalped.
[The Acadians seem to have been badly advised. No interference was attempted
with their religion, yet some of their priests acted as political agents of
France, used all their influence to keep alive hostility to the English, and
induced many of the inhabitants to emigrate from the province. Several thousand
Acadians in all thus emigrated, fourteen hundred of whom, led by a French
officer, remained on the borders of the province, armed, and reinforced by a
large body of Indians. This fact made the authorities more persistent in their
efforts to force the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance, and induced
them to adopt measures to disarm them. Acadian deputies soon after came to
Halifax, demanding that their guns should be restored, but persistently refusing
to take the oath "to be faithful and loyal to his majesty George Second." Other
negotiations ensued, but the deputies were determined to take no oath except one
with a reservation that they should not be obliged to take up arms. Governor
Lawrence insisted that they should become full British subjects, or they could
not be permitted to remain in the country, declaring that they had always
secretly aided the Indians, and many of them openly taken up arms against the
British. To this they replied that they were determined, one and all, to quit
their lands rather than take any other oath than that they had already taken.
On Monday, the 28th of July, the final memorial of the inhabitants was received.
They all firmly refused to take the unconditional oath of allegiance to the
British government. In consequence, it was decided to expel them from the
province.]
The determination to remove the Acadians having been taken, it only remained to
make such arrangements as seemed necessary to carry out the object effectually.
The council decided that, in order to prevent them from returning and again
molesting the English settlers, they should be distributed amongst the colonies
from Massachusetts to Virginia. On the 31st July, Governor Lawrence wrote to
Colonel Monckton, stating the determination of the government with reference to
the Acadians, and informing him that as those about the isthmus had been found
in arms, and were therefore entitled to no favor from the government, it was
determined to begin with them first. He was informed that orders had been given
to send a sufficient number of transports up the bay to take the Acadians of
that district on board. Monckton was ordered to keep the measure secret until he
could get the men into his power, so that he could detain them until the
transports arrived. He was directed to secure their shallops, boats, and canoes,
and to see that none of their cattle was driven away, they being forfeited to
the crown. He was told that the inhabitants were not to be allowed to carry away
anything but their ready money and household furniture. He likewise received
explicit directions as to the supply of provisions for the inhabitants while on
the voyage.
Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow, who was commanding the troops at Mines, received
instructions relative to the removal of the Acadians in that district, dated the
11th August. He was told to collect the inhabitants together, and place them on
board the transports, of which there would be a number sufficient to transport
two thousand persons, five hundred of whom were to be sent to North Carolina,
one thousand to Virginia, and five hundred to Maryland. After the people were
shipped he was ordered to march overland to Annapolis with a strong detachment
to assist Major Handfield in removing the inhabitants of that river. Handfield's
instructions were similar to those of Winslow, and he was informed that vessels
sufficient to transport one thousand persons would be sent to Annapolis. Of
these, three hundred were to be sent to Philadelphia, two hundred to New York,
three hundred to Connecticut, and two hundred to Boston.
[Each master of a transport bore a circular letter from Governor Lawrence to the
governor of the province to which he was destined, giving his reasons for this
extreme measure. These reasons were those already given, that the Acadians had
persistently refused to take the oath prescribed by treaty forty years before,
that their claim of neutrality was a false one, that they had continually
furnished the French and Indians with intelligence, provisions, and aid in
annoying the English, that part of them had acted treacherously and part had
broken into armed rebellion, that to drive them into Canada would but strengthen
the enemy, and that the step taken was indispensably necessary to the security
of the colony.]
The work of removing the Acadians met with no success at Chignecto, where the
population was large and comparatively warlike. Boishebert, after being driven
from the St. John, had betaken himself to Shediac, and from there he directed
the movements of the Acadians of the isthmus. When the English tried to collect
the inhabitants for the purpose of removing them, they found that they had fled
to the shelter of the woods, and when they attempted to follow them they were
met by the most determined resistance. On the 2d September, Major Frye was sent
with two hundred men from the garrison at Fort Cumberland [formerly Fort
Beausejour] to burn the villages of Shepody, Petitcodiac, and Memramcook. At
Shepody they burnt one hundred and eighty-one buildings, but found no
inhabitants, except twenty-three women and children, whom they sent on board the
vessel they had with them. They sailed up the Petitcodiac River on the following
day and burnt the buildings on both sides of it for miles. At length the vessel
was brought to anchor, and fifty men were sent on shore to burn the chapel and
some other buildings near it, when suddenly they were attacked by three hundred
French and Indians under Boishebert and compelled to retreat with a loss of
twenty-three men killed and wounded, including Dr. March, who was killed, and
Lieutenant Billings, dangerously wounded. Boishebert was found to be too strong
to be attacked even with the aid of the main body of troops under Major Frye, so
the party had to return to Fort Cumberland, after having destroyed in all two
hundred and fifty-three buildings and a large quantity of wheat and flax.
At Mines Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow succeeded in accomplishing his unpleasant
duty without resistance. On the 2d September he issued an order to the
inhabitants of the districts of Grand Pre, Mines, River Canard, and vicinity,
commanding all the males from ten years upward to attend at the church in Grand
Pre on the following Friday, the 5th September, to hear what his majesty had
authorized him to communicate to them. The inhabitants attended in obedience to
this summons to the number of upwards of four hundred, and were informed by
Winslow that, in consequence of their disobedience, their lands and tenements,
cattle, live-stock, and all their effects, except their money and household
goods, were forfeited to the crown, and they themselves were to be removed from
the province. He told them, however, that he would take in the vessels with them
as large a portion of their household effects as could be carried, and that
families would not be separated, but conveyed in the same vessel. Finally, he
told them that they should remain prisoners at the church until the time came
for them to embark. At Piziquid, Captain Murray collected the male inhabitants
in the same way to the number of nearly two hundred, and kept them in
confinement. Considering the situation in which they were placed, they
manifested but little emotion, and offered no resistance worthy of the name. The
task of getting so many families together, and embarking them with their
household effects, proved tedious, but finally it was accomplished, and the
inhabitants of Mines and Piziquid, to the number of more than nineteen hundred
persons, were got on board the transports, and carried away from their homes in
Acadia to lands of which they knew nothing, and where their presence was not
desired.
At Annapolis many families took the alarm when the transports arrived, and fled
to the woods for safety, and much difficulty was experience din collecting them.
Hunger finally compelled most of them to surrender themselves, and upwards of
eleven hundred were placed on board the vessels and sent away. One vessel with
two hundred and twenty-six Acadians on board was seized by them in the Bay of
Fundy, and taken into St. John, and the passengers she carried were not
afterwards recaptured. The total number removed from Acadia in 1755 was some-
what in excess of three thousand souls. Some of them were taken to
Massachusetts, some to Pennsylvania, some to Virginia, some to Maryland, some to
North and South Carolina, and some even to the British West Indies, Wherever
they were taken they became for the time a public charge upon the colony, and
were the occasion of much correspondence between the governments which were
obliged to maintain them and that of Nova Scotia. Many of those who went to
Georgia and South Carolina hired small vessels and set out to return to Acadia,
and the governors of those colonies were very glad to facilitate their movements
northward by giving them passes to voyage along their coasts. Several hundred of
those who landed in Virginia were sent by the government of that colony to
England, where they remained for seven years, finally taking the oath of
allegiance, and many of them returning to Acadia. A number of these people went
from Virginia to the French West Indies, where they died in large numbers. The
great bulk of the Acadians, however, finally succeeded in returning to the land
of their birth. Some got back in the course of a few months, others did not
succeed in returning until many years had elapsed, yet they succeeded,
nevertheless, and the ultimate loss of population by their enforced emigration
in 1755 was much less than would be supposed.
[It must be admitted that the preceding narrative is, to a considerable extent,
a case of special pleading, by a writer determined to put the best face on a bad
matter. The deportation of a whole people, against their consent, of which there
are many cases in history, is necessarily attended with hardship and suffering
which only the most extreme need can justify. It cannot fairly be said that this
need existed in the case of the Acadians. Though some of them were actively
hostile to the English, the bulk of the people were quiet, industrious, and
inoffensive, and the extent of their crime was that they refused to take an oath
that would oblige them to bear arms against their countrymen. The expulsion was
one of those instances in which, it being difficult to distinguish between the
sheep and the wolves, they are made to suffer together. The position of the
English was an awkward one, and their action, though it occasioned much
suffering and proved of no special utility, had much good argument in its favor.
The resistance of the Acadians continued for twelve years longer, and not till
1767 did any considerable number of them consent to take the oath of allegiance
required, though the whole country had long been English. Many of them had
emigrated to the French West Indies. Of these a considerable number returned,
disgusted with the government of those islands, and fully ready to take the
oath. Others, who were surrounded by English colonies, did likewise. Each
family, on doing so, received a grant of land from the government, and soon
there arose an eagerness to take the oath of allegiance to England equal to the
former determination to resist it.]
