Battle at Chignecto

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Battle at Chignecto
Part of Father Le Loutre's War
GovernorOfNovaScotiaCharlesLawrence.jpg
Charles Lawrence
DateSeptember 3, 1750
Location 45°55′00″N64°09′57″W / 45.916639°N 64.165806°W / 45.916639; -64.165806
Result British victory
Belligerents
Mi'kmaq militia
Acadian militia
Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg Great Britain
Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg British America
Commanders and leaders
Jean-Louis Le Loutre
Louis de La Corne
Louis Le Neuf de la Valiere
Joseph Broussard (Beausoliel)
Chief Étienne Bâtard
Father Charles Germain [1]
Charles Lawrence
John Gorham
Captain John Rous
Silvanus Cobb
Horatio Gates
Captain William Clapham
Colonel Peregrine Lascelles
John Salusbury
Hugh Warburton [2]
Joseph Gorham
Joshua Winslow
John Brewse (wounded) [3]
Captain William Rickson [4]
Francis Bartelo  
Henry Grace  (POW) [5] [6]
Strength
300 Mi'kmaq and Acadian militia 700 British regulars and New England Rangers
Casualties and losses
7-8 Mi'kmaq [7] 20 killed; [8] 3 killed, 12 missing [9]

The Battle at Chignecto happened during Father Le Loutre's War when Charles Lawrence, in command of the 45th Regiment of Foot (Hugh Warburton's regiment) and the 47th Regiment (Peregrine Lascelles' regiment), John Gorham in command of the Rangers and Captain John Rous in command of the navy, fought against the French monarchists at Chignecto. [10] This battle was the first attempt by the British to occupy the head of the Bay of Fundy since the disastrous Battle of Grand Pré three years earlier. They fought against a militia made up of Mi'kmaq and Acadians led by Jean-Louis Le Loutre and Joseph Broussard (Beausoliel). The battle happened at Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia on 3 September 1750.

Contents

Background

Despite the British conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. By the time Cornwallis had arrived in Halifax, there was a long history of the Wabanaki Confederacy (which included the Mi'kmaq) launching raids on British colonial settlements along the New England/ Acadia border in Maine (See the Northeast Coast Campaigns 1688, 1703, 1723, 1724, 1745, 1746, 1747). [11] [12] [13]

To prevent the establishment of British colonial settlements in the region, Mi'kmaq launched raids on present-day Shelburne (1715) and Canso (1720). A generation later, Father Le Loutre's War began when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports on June 21, 1749. [14]

Within 18 months of establishing Halifax, the British also took firm control of peninsula Nova Scotia by building fortifications in all the major Acadian communities: present-day Windsor (Fort Edward); Grand Pre (Fort Vieux Logis) and Chignecto (Fort Lawrence). (A British fort already existed at the other major Acadian centre of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Cobequid remained without a fort.) After the raid in Dartmouth in 1749, on October 2, 1749, Cornwallis created an extirpation proclamation to stop the raids. The Siege of Grand Pre was the first recorded conflict in the region after the raid on Dartmouth.

Battle

On 23 April, Lawrence was unsuccessful in getting a base at Chignecto because Le Loutre led 70 Mi'kmaq and 30 Acadians in burning the village of Beaubassin, preventing Lawrence from using its supplies to establish a fort. [15] [16] (According to the historian Frank Patterson, the Acadians at Cobequid also burned their homes as they retreated from the British to Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia in 1754. [17] ) Lawrence retreated, but he returned in September 1750.

On September 3, 1750 Captain John Rous, Lawrence and Gorham led over 700 men (including the 40th, 45th and 47th Regiments) to Chignecto, where Mi'kmaq and Acadians opposed their landing. [18] They had thrown up a breastwork from behind which they opposed the landing. They killed twenty British, who in turn killed several Mi'kmaq. The Mi'kmaq and Acadians killed Captain Francis Bartelo in the Battle at Chignecto. [19] [20] Le Loutre's militia eventually withdrew to Beausejour, burning the rest of the Acadians' crops and houses as they went. [21]

Aftermath

On 15 October (N.S.) a group of Micmacs disguised as French officers called a member of the Nova Scotia Council Edward How to a conference. This trap, organized by Étienne Bâtard, gave him the opportunity to wound How seriously, and How died five or six days later, according to Captain La Vallière (probably Louis Leneuf de La Vallière), the only eye-witness. [22] After the battle, the British built Fort Lawrence at Chignecto and the Mi'kmaq people and Acadians continued with numerous raids on Dartmouth and Halifax.

Related Research Articles

The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that connects the Nova Scotia peninsula with North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Lawrence (British Army officer)</span> British Army officer

Brigadier-General Charles Lawrence was a British military officer who, as lieutenant governor and subsequently governor of Nova Scotia, is perhaps best known for overseeing the Expulsion of the Acadians and settling the New England Planters in Nova Scotia. He was born in Plymouth, England, and died in Halifax, Nova Scotia. According to historian Elizabeth Griffiths, Lawrence was seen as a "competent", "efficient" officer with a "service record that had earned him fairly rapid promotion, a person of considerable administrative talent who was trusted by both Cornwallis and Hopson." He is buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Church (Halifax).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Lawrence (Nova Scotia)</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Gaspareaux</span>

Fort Gaspareaux was a French fort at the head of Baie Verte near the mouth of the Gaspareaux River and just southeast of the modern community of Strait Shores, New Brunswick, Canada, on the Isthmus of Chignecto. It was built during Father Le Loutre's War and is now a National Historic Site of Canada overlooking the Northumberland Strait.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Edward (Nova Scotia)</span>

Fort Edward is a National Historic Site of Canada in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and was built during Father Le Loutre's War (1749-1755). The British built the fort to help prevent the Acadian Exodus from the region. The Fort is most famous for the role it played both in the Expulsion of the Acadians (1755) and in protecting Halifax, Nova Scotia from a land assault in the American Revolution. While much of Fort Edward has been destroyed, including the officers' quarters and barracks, the blockhouse that remains is the oldest extant in North America. A cairn was later added to the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrencetown, Halifax County, Nova Scotia</span>

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The Battle at St. Croix was fought during Father Le Loutre's War between Gorham's Rangers and Mi'kmaq at Battle Hill in the community of St. Croix, Nova Scotia. The battle lasted from March 20–23, 1750.

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The Raid on Dartmouth occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on May 13, 1751, when a Mi'kmaq and Acadian militia from Chignecto, under the command of Acadian Joseph Broussard, raided Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, destroying the town and killing twenty British villagers and wounding British regulars. The town was protected by a blockhouse on Blockhouse Hill with William Clapham's Rangers and British regulars from the 45th Regiment of Foot. This raid was one of seven Miꞌkmaq and Acadians would conduct against the town during the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Grand Pré</span> 1749 siege in Nova Scotia

The siege of Grand Pré happened during Father Le Loutre's War and was fought between the British and the Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadian militia. The siege happened at Fort Vieux Logis, Grand-Pré. The native and Acadia militia laid siege to Fort Vieux Logis for a week in November 1749. One historian states that the intent of the siege was to help facilitate the Acadian Exodus from the region.

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Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia.c On one side of the conflict, the British and New England colonists were led by British officer Charles Lawrence and New England Ranger John Gorham. On the other side, Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre led the Mi'kmaq and the Acadia militia in guerrilla warfare against settlers and British forces. At the outbreak of the war there were an estimated 2500 Mi'kmaq and 12,000 Acadians in the region.

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The Acadian Exodus happened during Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) and involved almost half of the total Acadian population of Nova Scotia deciding to relocate to French controlled territories. The three primary destinations were: the west side of the Mesagoueche River in the Chignecto region, Isle Saint-Jean and Île-Royale. The leader of the Exodus was Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre, whom the British gave the code name "Moses". Le Loutre acted in conjunction with Governor of New France, Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière, who encouraged the Acadian migration. A prominent Acadian who transported Acadians to Ile St. Jean and Ile Royal was Joseph-Nicolas Gautier. The overall upheaval of the early 1750s in Nova Scotia was unprecedented. Present-day Atlantic Canada witnessed more population movements, more fortification construction, and more troop allocations than ever before in the region. The greatest immigration of the Acadians between 1749 and 1755 took place in 1750. Primarily due to natural disasters and British raids, the Exodus proved to be unsustainable when Acadians tried to develop communities in the French territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Vieux Logis</span> British fort in present-day Canada

Fort Vieux Logis was a small British frontier fort built at present-day Hortonville, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1749, during Father Le Loutre's War (1749). Ranger John Gorham moved a blockhouse he erected in Annapolis Royal in 1744 to the site of Vieux Logis. The fort was in use until 1754. The British rebuilt the fort again during the French and Indian War and named it Fort Montague (1760).

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The Raid on Dartmouth (1749) occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on September 30, 1749 when a Mi'kmaw militia from Chignecto raided Major Ezekiel Gilman's sawmill at present-day Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, killing four workers and wounding two. This raid was one of seven the Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadians would conduct against the settlement during the war.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Sackville (Nova Scotia)</span>

Fort Sackville was a British fort in present-day Bedford, Nova Scotia. It was built during Father Le Loutre's War by British adjacent to present-day Scott Manor House, on a hill overlooking the Sackville River to help prevent French, Acadian and Mi'kmaq attacks on Halifax. The fort consisted of a blockhouse, a guard house, a barracks that housed 50 soldiers, and outbuildings, all encompassed by a palisade. Not far from the fort was a rifle range. The fort was named after George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of the Mi'kmaq</span> Militias of Mikmaq

The military history of the Mi'kmaq consisted primarily of Mi'kmaq warriors (smáknisk) who participated in wars against the English independently as well as in coordination with the Acadian militia and French royal forces. The Mi'kmaq militias remained an effective force for over 75 years before the Halifax Treaties were signed (1760–1761). In the nineteenth century, the Mi'kmaq "boasted" that, in their contest with the British, the Mi'kmaq "killed more men than they lost". In 1753, Charles Morris stated that the Mi'kmaq have the advantage of "no settlement or place of abode, but wandering from place to place in unknown and, therefore, inaccessible woods, is so great that it has hitherto rendered all attempts to surprise them ineffectual". Leadership on both sides of the conflict employed standard colonial warfare, which included scalping non-combatants. After some engagements against the British during the American Revolutionary War, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century, while the Mi'kmaq people used diplomatic efforts to have the local authorities honour the treaties. After confederation, Mi'kmaq warriors eventually joined Canada's war efforts in World War I and World War II. The most well-known colonial leaders of these militias were Chief (Sakamaw) Jean-Baptiste Cope and Chief Étienne Bâtard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of the Acadians</span>

The military history of the Acadians consisted primarily of militias made up of Acadian settlers who participated in wars against the English in coordination with the Wabanaki Confederacy and French royal forces. A number of Acadians provided military intelligence, sanctuary, and logistical support to the various resistance movements against British rule in Acadia, while other Acadians remained neutral in the contest between the Franco–Wabanaki Confederacy forces and the British. The Acadian militias managed to maintain an effective resistance movement for more than 75 years and through six wars before their eventual demise. According to Acadian historian Maurice Basque, the story of Evangeline continues to influence historic accounts of the expulsion, emphasising Acadians who remained neutral and de-emphasising those who joined resistance movements. While Acadian militias were briefly active during the American Revolutionary War, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century. After confederation, Acadians eventually joined the Canadian War efforts in World War I and World War II. The most well-known colonial leaders of these militias were Joseph Broussard and Joseph-Nicolas Gautier.

Captain Francis Bartelo (?-1750) was a ranger who served under Edward Cornwallis during Father Le Loutre's War. Bartelo may have served with the Free Companies at Flanders during the war. Bartelo arrived in Halifax on the Merry Jacks with Cornwallis expedition. In February 1750, Bartelo successfully arrested Priest Jacque Girrard and a number of Acadians who participated in the Siege of Grand Pre. After the Battle at St. Croix, he also arrested the Acadians who killed Cornwallis' messenger. In March 1750, Cornwallis wrote, "Gorham is no officer at all; Capt. Bartelo, I can confided in as a good officer, and an honest man." In April, Bartelo was appointed the commander of all the independent companies in Nova Scotia. In September, Cornwallis gave command of Gilman's rangers to Captain Bartelo. He was the commander at Fort Sackville in August 1750, when he served as second in command at the Battle at Chignecto. On August 26 Salusbury recorded that the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias killed him in the battle. 35 Mi'kmaq and Acadians ambushed Ranger Captain Francis Bartelo, killing him and six of his men while taking seven others captive. The Mi'kmaq conducted ritual torture of the captives throughout the night, which had a chilling effect on the New Englanders.

References

Endnotes

  1. Johnson, Micheline D. (1979). "Germain, Charles". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  2. "A history of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie". 1865.
  3. Sutherland, Maxwell (1979). "Brewse, John". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  4. "Wolfe in Scotland in the '45 and from 1749 to 1753". 1928.
  5. The history of the life and sufferings of Henry Grace, of Basingstoke in the county of Southampton. Being a narrative of the hardships he underwent during several years captivity among the savages in North America, ... Written by himself
  6. DiAngelis, Heather Nicole (2011). "Determining Reliability in Indian Captivity Narratives". William & Mary .
  7. Minutes of Board of Trade. 9 Nov. 1750
  8. p. 10
  9. Winslow's journal
  10. Salsbury's journal re: Gates
  11. Scott, Tod (2016). "Mi'kmaw Armed Resistance to British Expansion in Northern New England (1676–1761)". Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society . 19: 1–18.
  12. Reid, John G.; Baker, Emerson W. (2008). "Amerindian Power in the Early Modern Northeast: A Reappraisal". Essays on Northeastern North America, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. University of Toronto Press. pp. 129–152. doi:10.3138/9781442688032. ISBN   978-0-8020-9137-6. JSTOR   10.3138/9781442688032.12.
  13. Grenier (2008), pp. 154–155.
  14. Grenier (2008); Thomas Beamish Akins. History of Halifax, Brookhouse Press. 1895. (2002 edition). p 7
  15. M de la Valiere Journal 15 September 1751
  16. Gentleman's Magazine Vol 20 July 1750 p. 295
  17. Frank Harris Patterson. History of Tatamagouche, Halifax: Royal Print & Litho., 1917 (also Mika, Belleville: 1973), p. 19
  18. London Magazine, 1750, p. 291
  19. Thomas Beamish Akins. History of Halifax, Brookhouse Press. 1895. (2002 edition). p 19; Griffiths (2005) , p. 391
  20. p. 160
  21. Grenier (2008), p. 159.
  22. Johnson, Micheline D. (1974). "Bâtard, Étienne". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. III (1741–1770) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.

Primary sources

Literature cited