Battle of Restigouche | |||||||
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Part of the French and Indian War | |||||||
Illustration of Le Machault dismasted | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Great Britain | France Mi'kmaq militia Acadian militia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
John Byron | Francois de Giraudais | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
3 ships of the line 2 frigates | 1 frigate 5 merchant ships | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
20 killed and wounded | 30 killed and wounded Contents | ||||||
Official name | Battle of the Restigouche National Historic Site of Canada | ||||||
Designated | 1924 |
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Military history of the Acadians | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Restigouche was a naval battle fought in 1760 during the Seven Years' War (known as the French and Indian War in the United States) on the Restigouche River between the British Royal Navy and the small flotilla of vessels of the French Navy, Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq militias. [1] The loss of the French vessels, which had been sent to support and resupply the troops in New France after the fall of Quebec, marked the end of any serious attempt by France to keep hold of their colonies in North America. [2] [3] The battle was the last major engagement of the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias before the Burying of the Hatchet Ceremony between the Mi'kmaq and the British.
Quebec had fallen to the British in September 1759, at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, but French forces remained in New France in large numbers. Supplies were important because France ran their colonies and military such that the colonies were wholly dependent on products and manufacturing of the motherland. Several appeals to the French government for reinforcements met with indifference or neglect, partly because the French navy had been smashed at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November 1759.
On April 10, 1760, the frigate Le Machault under Lieutenant Francois La Giraudais sailed from Bordeaux with five merchant ships carrying 2,000 casks of provisions and 400 troops. Francois-Gabriel D'Angeac commanded reinforcement troops because of his familiarity with the area. [4]
On April 11, during the outward journey, the ships in the flotilla were forced to disperse in order to run the British blockade off France. Two merchant vessels were seized, and two weeks later another ran aground in the Azores. The three remaining vessels rendezvoused in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on 15 May, only to find that a British fleet had already arrived in Quebec. Seeking a safe harbour, they sailed for Chaleur Bay and anchored in the estuary of the Restigouche River near the Mi'kmaq settlement of Listuguj on 18 May. [5] Here they enlisted the help of the locals and some Acadien refugees in exchange for feeding and arming them.
In the meantime, a force of Royal Navy ships under Captain John Byron sailed from Louisbourg to intercept the French flotilla. [6] They arrived in Chaleur Bay on June 22, blockading any attempt by La Giraudais to escape. He responded by sailing further upriver where the deeper draft British ships would have difficulty following. There he turned Le Machault broadside, scuttled some schooners as a barrier and placed a battery of cannon ashore to strengthen his position.
On October 26, 1759, after the fall of Quebec, the French priests who had been an integral part of the leadership of the Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq militia began to negotiate for peace. [7] Father Manach accepted in the name of the Acadians at Richibucto (N.B.) and Baie des Ouines (Bay du Vin) the peace proposals put forward by "Commandant Henry [Alexander?] Schomberg" Father Maillard and Joseph-Charles Germain also agreed to local capitulations. [8] These initiatives were severely criticised by French officer at Restigouche Jean-François Bourdon de Dombourg. He prepared a file on the missionaries, whom he accused of treason. The Battle of Resitgouche was one of the few battles the Acadians and Mi'kmaq undertook without the sanction of the French priests.
An Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq (Mi'gmaq) militia, totalling 1,500 fighters, organized in the Battle of Restigouche. The Acadians arrived in about 20 schooners and small boats. Along with the French, they continued up the river to draw the British fleet closer to the Acadian community of Pointe-à-la-Batterie, where they were ready to launch a surprise attack on the British. The Acadians sunk a number of their vessels to create a blockade, upon which the Acadian and Mi'kmaq fired at the ships. On June 27, the British succeeded in manoeuvring just beyond the chain of sunken ships. (One of the British ships, HMS Norwich, was almost lost) Once the British were in the range of the battery, they fired on the battery. This skirmish lasted all night and was repeated with various breaks from June 28 to July 3, when the British overwhelmed Pointe-à-la-Batterie, burning 150 to 200 buildings which made up the Acadian village.
The militias retreated and re-grouped with Le Machault. They sunk more schooners to create another blockade and created two new batteries, one on the North shore at Pointe de la Mission (today Listuguj, Quebec), [9] and one on the South shore at Pointe aux Sauvages (today Campbellton, New Brunswick). They created a blockade with schooners at Pointe aux Sauvages.
On July 7, Byron spent the day getting rid of the battery at Pointe aux Sauvages and later returned to the task of destroying Le Machault. By the morning of July 8, Scarborough and Repulse were in the range of the blockade and face to face with Le Machault. The British made two attempts to defeat the batteries and the militias held out. On the third attempt, they were successful. [10]
Despite La Giraudais' positioning, Byron was able to negotiate the shallower waters and on July 3, confronted the French defensive line. At close range and in calm winds, the battle commenced. Despite being outgunned, the French inflicted heavy damage on the British before Byron succeeded in silencing the shore batteries. Le Machault and the merchant ships Bienfaisant and Marquis-de-Malauze [11] then withdrew further upriver with the British in pursuit. For the next several days the two forces engaged in a running battle, but La Giraudais recognized that he could not win a battle of attrition and on July 8 he had Le Machault and Bienfaisant scuttled to prevent the capture of their cargo (Marquis-de-Malauze was spared due to the prisoners that she contained in her hold). The remaining French force then withdrew to the shore and the safety of Listuguj while Byron returned to Louisbourg.
The Battle of the Restigouche ended with all the French ships and most of the Acadians' boats sunk, but the British were not successful in landing because of the number of muskets on shore. The Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq had made their last stand here and survived. In spite of this, many Acadian settlers were forced out and settled elsewhere, [12] and by the next year the Mi'kmaq and other local First Nations had made treaties promising peace and trade with Britain, to the exclusion of French influence. [8]
The loss of important provisions hastened the fall of New France. Without outside support and surrounded by three separate British forces, Montreal fell on September 8. La Giraudais finally surrendered on October 29, six days after hearing the news of the capitulation. Byron later commanded the British fleet that was defeated at the Battle of Grenada in 1779, as well as becoming governor of Newfoundland.
Today, the site of the battle is a National Historic Site of Canada known as Battle of the Restigouche National Historic Site. [13] [14] [15] An interpretive centre located in Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec features artifacts recovered from the site, displays and a film about the battle, and a 1:32 scale model of the 18th century frigate Le Machault. [16] [17] In the summer, costumed interpreters portray the Acadians, Micmaq, sailors and French soldiers who participated in the 1760 battle.
The Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation is a Mi'gmaq First Nations band government with a registered population (2022) of 4,248 members, most of whom are of Mi'kmaq ancestry. The name Listuguj, is the origin for the name of the Restigouche River, as well as other nearby places also carrying the name Restigouche. Listuguj is also used as a name for one of the Míkmaq orthographies. Its southern border is adjacent to Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec.
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.
Atholville is a community in Restigouche County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023 but is now part of the city of Campbellton.
Charles Deschamps de Boishébert was a member of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine and was a significant leader of the Acadian militia's resistance to the Expulsion of the Acadians. He settled and tried to protect Acadians refugees along the rivers of New Brunswick. At Beaubears National Park on Beaubears Island, New Brunswick he settled refugee Acadians during the Expulsion of the Acadians.
Pointe-à-la-Croix is a municipality located on the Restigouche River in the Gaspésie region of eastern Quebec, Canada. It is situated across from the city of Campbellton, New Brunswick.
Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre was a Catholic priest and missionary for the Paris Foreign Missions Society. Le Loutre became the leader of the French forces and the Acadian and Mi'kmaq militias during King George's War and Father Le Loutre's War in the eighteenth-century struggle for power between the French, Acadians, and Miꞌkmaq against the British over Acadia.
The Battle of Petitcodiac was an engagement which occurred during the Bay of Fundy campaign of the French and Indian War. The battle was fought between the British colonial forces from Massachusetts and Acadian militiamen led by French officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot on September 4, 1755. It took place at the Acadian village of Village-des-Blanchard on the Petitcodiac River.
The Duc d'Anville expedition was sent from France to recapture Louisbourg and take peninsular Acadia. The expedition was the largest military force ever to set sail for the New World prior to the American Revolutionary War. This effort was the fourth and final French attempt to regain the Nova Scotian capital, Annapolis Royal, during King George's War. The Expedition was also supported on land by a force from Quebec under the command of Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay. Along with recapturing Acadia from the British, d'Anville was ordered to "consign Boston to flames, ravage New England and waste the British West Indies." News of the expedition spread fear throughout New York and New England.
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. Monckton was accompanied by Captain George Scott as well as New England Rangers led by Joseph Goreham, Captain Benoni Danks, as well as William Stark and Moses Hazen, both of Rogers' Rangers.
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 military forces respectively. After the siege of Louisbourg, Wolfe and Hardy led a force of 1,500 troops in nine vessels to the Gaspé Bay arriving there on September 5. From there they dispatched troops to Miramichi Bay, Grande-Rivière, Quebec and Pabos, and Mont-Louis, Quebec. Over the following weeks, Sir Charles Hardy took 4 sloops or schooners, destroyed about 200 fishing vessels and took about two hundred prisoners.
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.
Fort Menagoueche was a French fort at the mouth of the St. John River, New Brunswick, Canada. French Officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot and Ignace-Philippe Aubert de Gaspé built the fort during Father Le Loutre's War and eventually burned it themselves as the French retreated after losing the Battle of Beausejour. It was reconstructed as Fort Frederick by the British.
The Battle at Chignecto happened during Father Le Loutre's War when Charles Lawrence, in command of the 45th Regiment of Foot and the 47th Regiment, John Gorham in command of the Rangers and Captain John Rous in command of the navy, fought against the French monarchists at Chignecto. 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.
The Battle at Port-la-Joye was a battle in King George's War that took place with British against French troops and Mi'kmaq militia on the banks of present-day Hillsborough River, Prince Edward Island in the summer of 1746. French officer Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay sent French and Mi'kmaq forces to Port-la-Joye where they surprised and defeated a force of 200 Massachusetts militia in two British naval vessels that were gathering provisions for recently captured Louisbourg.
Nova Scotia is a Canadian province located in Canada's Maritimes. The region was initially occupied by Mi'kmaq. The colonial history of Nova Scotia includes the present-day Maritime Provinces and the northern part of Maine, all of which were at one time part of Nova Scotia. In 1763, Cape Breton Island and St. John's Island became part of Nova Scotia. In 1769, St. John's Island became a separate colony. Nova Scotia included present-day New Brunswick until that province was established in 1784. During the first 150 years of European settlement, the colony was primarily made up of Catholic Acadians, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq. During the last 75 years of this time period, there were six colonial wars that took place in Nova Scotia. After agreeing to several peace treaties, the long period of warfare ended with the Halifax Treaties (1761) and two years later, when the British defeated the French in North America (1763). During those wars, the Acadians, Mi'kmaq and Maliseet from the region fought to protect the border of Acadia from New England. They fought the war on two fronts: the southern border of Acadia, which New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine, and in Nova Scotia, which involved preventing New Englanders from taking the capital of Acadia, Port Royal and establishing themselves at Canso.
Joseph Dupont Duvivier was an Acadian-born military leader of the French.
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.
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.
The Ile Saint-Jean campaign was a series of military operations in fall 1758, during the Seven Years' War, to deport the Acadians who either lived on Ile Saint-Jean or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations.
Maison Busteed, a.k.a.Bordeaux House, was a house in Quebec, the oldest within the geographical boundaries of Gaspésie. It was situated within the unceded territories of Listuguj Miꞌgmaq First Nation on the banks of the Restigouche River. The house, wooden and built in a British style, burnt down on May 31, 2020. As of June 2020, the fire was being investigated as arson.