Glimpses of the Past Part 13

In 1749 Charlevoix, the well known Jesuit historian, writes the French minister at Versailles not to delay the settlement of the boundaries, for the English, who are colonizing and fortifying Acadia, will soon be in a position to oppress their Indian allies, the Abenakis (Maliseets), if steps are not taken in season to prevent them and to guarantee to the Indians peaceable possession of their country, where it is necessary they should remain in order to defend it against the English, otherwise there would be nothing to hinder the English from penetrating as far as the French settlements nearest Quebec; besides where would the Abenakis go if they were obliged to abandon their country? "In short," Charlevoix adds, "it seems to me certain that if time is given the English to people Acadia before the limits are agreed on, they will not fail to appropriate all the territory they wish, and to secure possession by strong forts which will render them masters of all that part of New France south of Quebec; and if this should be done it will certainly follow that the Abenakis will join them, will abandon their religion, and our most faithful allies will become our most dangerous enemies."

Of all the leaders of the French in Acadia, none was more active and influential than the Abbe Le Loutre. But while his energy, ability and patriotism are undoubted, his conduct has been the subject of severe criticism not only on the part of his adversaries but of the French themselves. He did not escape the censure of the Bishop of Quebec for meddling to so great an extent in temporal affairs, but the Bishop's censure is mild compared to that of an anonymous historian, who writes: "Abbe Loutre, missionary of the Indians in Acadia, soon put all in fire and flame, and may be justly deemed the scourge and curse of this country. This wicked monster, this cruel and blood thirsty Priest, more inhumane and savage than the natural savages, with a murdering and slaughtering mind, instead of an Evangelick spirit, excited continually his Indians against the English. * * * All the French had the greatest horror and indignation at Le Loutre's barbarous actions; and I dare say if the Court of France had known them they would have been far from approving of them."

It is only fair to the Abbe Le Loutre to mention that the officer who criticizes him in this rude fashion was the Chevalier Johnston, an Englishman by birth and a puritan by religion and as such prejudiced against the French missionary. Johnston, however, served at Louisbourg on the side of France with great fidelity in the capacity of lieutenant, interpreter and engineer.

Father Germain, the missionary to the Indians and French on the St.

John, was a man of courage and of patriotic impulses. He deemed himself justified in making every possible effort to keep the English from gaining a foothold north of the Bay of Fundy, but it does not appear that he ever incited the Indians to indulge their savage instincts, or that he was guilty of the duplicity and barbarity that have been so freely laid to the charge of the Abbe Le Loutre. It is evident, moreover, that the Marquis de la Galissonniere and his aides were particularly anxious to retain the services of Germain. He had been twelve or fourteen years in charge of his mission on the St.

John, and during most of that time had labored single handed. Recently Father Loverja had come to stay with the Maliseets of Medoctec in consequence of their urgent request for a missionary, their village being eighteen leagues from Aukpaque, where Father Germain was stationed. Another missionary named Audren (or Andrein) had just arrived to replace Germain, who had been nominated superior of the house of Jesuits at Quebec. The Abbes de L'Isle-Dieu and Le Loutre endeavored to convince the French minister that it was very undesirable, under existing circ.u.mstances, that Germain should be removed, as he was valued and beloved by his people--French and Indians alike--and his services could not well be spared. There was no chaplain at the fort, lately re-established at the mouth of the river, and Loverja's age and infirmities would oblige him shortly to remove to Quebec. The two missionaries would then have sufficient occupation, especially as they would have frequently to repair on the one hand to Medoctec, and on the other to the garrison of Fort Menagoueche. In consequence of these strong objections to his retirement it was decided by Father Germain's superiors to allow him to remain at his mission.

The Abbe de L'Isle-Dieu wrote the French minister, early the next year, that there was neither priest nor chapel at Fort Menagoueche, and that a missionary was needed on the lower part of the river.

Father Germain had now for a long time been missionary to the Maliseets at Aukpaque (l'isle d'Ecouba) and having more than eighty families under his care found the fort too far removed to give due attention to the wants of the garrison.

The situation on the St. John at this time was not viewed with complacency by the authorities of Nova Scotia and New England. On the 18th October, 1753, Governor Hopson, of Nova Scotia, wrote the Lords of Trade and Plantations that he had been informed by Governor Shirley, of Ma.s.sachusetts, that since the arrival of a French missionary at the River St. John the conduct of the inhabitants had altered for the worse; the French had now 100 families settled on the river, had greatly strengthened the old fort at its mouth with guns and men, and had built a new one. Fort Boishebert, some miles up the river armed with twenty-four guns and garrisoned by 200 regulars. He also says a French frigate of thirty guns lay behind Partridge Island waiting for a cargo of furs, and that the French seemed to be entirely masters of the river.

It is not unlikely this statement is exaggerated, for the following summer Lieut.-Governor Lawrence says the French had at St. John only a small fort with three bad old guns, one officer and sixteen men; while of Indians there were 160 fighting men.

CHAPTER XII.

THE ACADIANS BECOME THE FOOTBALL OF FORTUNE.

As time went on the Acadians became impatient at the delay in settling the limits of Acadia. In vain they were annually told the boundaries would soon be determined, all negotiation proved fruitless. Those who had crossed the isthmus into what is now the County of Westmorland found themselves undecided as to their future course. Their inclination--a very natural one--seems to have been to return to the fields they had abandoned, but the Abbe Le Loutre urged them to remain under French rule as the only way of enjoying unmolested the privileges of their religion. For their encouragement and protection Fort Beausejour was erected.

In the month of January, 1754, Lieut.-Governor Lawrence informed the Lords of Trade that the French were hard at work making settlements on the St. John and were offering great inducements to the Acadians of the peninsula to join them. He could not prevent some families from going, but the greater part were too much attached to their lands to leave them. In the opinion of Lawrence it was absolutely necessary, for the development and control of Acadia as an English colony, that the forts of Beausejour and the mouth of the River St. John should be destroyed, and the French driven from the settlements they were establishing north of the Bay of Fundy. Although the Indians had committed no hostilities for two years, he believed no dependence could be placed on their quietude so long as the French were allowed to exercise their disturbing influence among them.

Lawrence now began to consult with the Governor of Ma.s.sachusetts, Sir William Shirley, about the removal of the Acadians from Chignecto and the River St. John. He proposed that two thousand troops should be raised in New England, which with the regular troops already in Nova Scotia would be sufficient for the business, the command of the expedition to be given to Colonel Robert Monckton. It was intended the expedition should sail from Boston about the 20th of April, but it was delayed more than a month awaiting the arrival of arms from England, and it was not until early in June that it arrived at Chignecto. To aid the expedition Captain Rous[32] was sent with a small squadron to the Bay of Fundy. The details of the seige of Fort Beausejour need not here be given, suffice it to say that after four days' bombardment the Sieur de Vergor was obliged, on the 16th June, to surrender to Colonel Monckton.

[32] Capt. John Rous in his early career commanded a Boston privateer. Having distinguished himself in several minor expeditions, he commanded the Ma.s.sachusetts galley "Shirley,"

of 24 guns, at the first seige of Louisbourg, and bore the news of the surrender to England, where as a reward for his gallant services he was made a captain in the Royal Navy. He commanded the Sutherland of 50 guns, at the second seige of Louisbourg, and was with Wolfe in 1759 at the seige of Quebec.

It was from his ship Wolfe issued his last order before storming the heights. Capt. Rous died at

Captain Rous, with three twenty-gun ships and a sloop, immediately sailed for St. John, where it was reported the French had two ships of thirty-six guns each. He anch.o.r.ed outside the harbor and sent his boats to reconnoitre. They found no French ships and on their appearance Boishebert, the officer in command of the fort, burst his cannon, blew up his magazine, burned everything he could and marched off. The next morning the Indians invited Captain Rous ash.o.r.e and gave him the strongest a.s.surances of their desire to make peace with the English, saying that they had refused to a.s.sist the French.

A few weeks after Boishebert had been thus obliged to abandon Fort Menagouche there occurred the tragic event known as the "Acadian Expulsion." The active agents employed by Lawrence and Shirley in this transaction were Colonel Monckton and his subordinates, of whom Lieut.-Colonel John Winslow and Capt. Murray were the most actively engaged. These officers evidently had little relish for the task imposed on them. Winslow in his proclamation to the inhabitants of Grand Pre, Minas, etc., says: "The duty I am now upon, though necessary, is very disagreeable to my natural make and temper." The hostility of the New England troops to the Acadians added to the difficulties of their officers. Murray wrote to Winslow: "You know our soldiers hate them, and if they can find a pretence to kill them they will."

Of recent years there has been much controversy concerning the expulsion of the Acadians and widely differing opinions have been expressed on the one hand by Parkman, Murdoch, Hannay, Hind and Aikins and on the other by Casgrain, Richard, Porier, Gaudet and Savary. Upon the merits of this controversy it is not necessary to enter, and it will be more in keeping with our present subject to refer to the Acadian Expulsion only as it concerns the history of events on the River St. John.

The position of the Sieur de Boishebert after the capture of Beausejour and the fort at St. John was a very embara.s.sing one. His letter to the Chevalier de Drucour, who commanded at Louisbourg, is of interest in this connection.

"At the River St. John, 10 October, 1755.

"Monsieur,--As the enemy has constantly occupied the route of communication since the fall of Beausejour, I have not had the honor of informing you of the state of affairs at this place.

"I was compelled to abandon the fort--or rather the buildings--that I occupied on the lower part of the river in accordance with orders that I had received in case of being attacked. I have beaten a retreat as far as the narrows (detroits) of the river, from which the enemy has retired, not seeing any advantage sufficient to warrant an attempt to drive me from thence.

"I have succeeded, sir, in preventing the inhabitants of this place from falling under the domination of the English.

"Monsieur de Vaudreuil, approving this manoeuvre, has directed me to establish a temporary camp (camp volant) sit such place as I may deem most suitable. Even were I now to go to Quebec he could not give me any a.s.sistance, all the troops and militia being in the field.

"I received on the 16th of August a letter from the princ.i.p.al inhabitants living in the vicinity of Beausejour beseeching me to come to their a.s.sistance. I set out the 20th with a detachment of 125 men, French and Indians."

Shortly after his arrival at the French settlements on the Pet.i.tcodiac, Boishebert had a sharp engagement with a party of New England troops who had been sent there to burn the houses of the Acadians and who were about to set fire to their chapel. The conflict occurred near Hillsboro, the shiretown of Albert county, and resulted in a loss to the English of one officer and five or six soldiers killed, and a lieutenant and ten soldiers wounded, while Boishebert's loss was one Indian killed and three wounded. He returned shortly afterwards to the River St. John accompanied by thirty dest.i.tute families with whom he was obliged to share the provisions sent him from Quebec.

Evidently the Marquis de Vaudreuil relied much upon the sagacity and courage of his lieutenant on the St. John river in the crisis that had arisen in Acadia. In his letter to the French colonial minister, dated the 18th October, 1755, he writes that the English were now masters of Fort Beausejour and that Boishebert, the commander of the River St.

John, had burnt his fort, not being able to oppose the descent of the enemy. He had given him orders to hold his position on the river and supplies had been sent him for the winter. He hoped that Father Germain, then at Quebec, would return without delay to his Indian mission and act in concert with Boishebert. The marquis summarises his reasons for wishing to maintain the post on the River St. John as follows:--

"1. As long as I hold this river and have a detachment of troops there I retain some hold upon Acadia for the King, and the English cannot say that they have forced the French to abandon it.

2. I am a.s.sured of the fidelity of the Acadians and the Indians, who otherwise might think themselves abandoned and might yield to the English.

3. Mon. de Boishebert will rally the Acadians from far and near and will try to unite them and their families in one body. These Acadians, so reunited, will be compelled for their own security actively to resist the enemy if he presents himself.

4. Mon. de Boishebert will in like manner be engaged rallying the savages and forming of them a body equally important, and by corresponding with M. Manach, the missionary at Miramichi, will be able, in case of necessity, to unite the savages of that mission to his own in opposing the advance of the enemy.

5. He will be able constantly to have spies at Beausejour and Halifax, and to take some prisoners who will inform him of the situation and strength of the English.

6. He will be able to organize parties of Acadians and savages to harras the enemy continually and hinder his obtaining firewood for the garrison at Beausejour (Fort c.u.mberland).

7. By holding the River St. John I can at all times have news from Louisbourg."

The Marquis adds that even if France failed to establish her claim to the territory north of the Bay of Fundy and should be forced to abandon it he hoped, by the aid of Boishebert and the missionaries, to withdraw the Acadians and their Indian allies to Canada. The Acadians north of the isthmus he estimated were about two thousand (perhaps 3,000 would have been nearer the truth) of whom seven hundred were capable of bearing arms. "It would be vexatious," adds the Marquis, "if they should pa.s.s to the English."

After Boishebert was forced to retire from the mouth of the River St.

John he established himself at a "detroit," or "narrows," up the river, where he constructed a small battery, two guns of a calibre of 2L., and twelve swivel guns. The following summer he entertained no fears as to his security. He had made an intrenchment in a favorable situation and hoped if the English should venture an attack to have the best of it. "I have particularly recommended him," writes the governor, "not to erect any fortifications which might in case of some unfortunate event be hurtful to us, to retain always a way of retreat and to use every effort to hara.s.s the enemy ceaselessly, day and night, until he shall have reduced him to the stern necessity of re-embarking."

There are but two places on the lower St. John to which the word "detroit" could apply, namely the "Narrows" just above Indiantown, near the mouth of the river, and the narrows at "Evandale," a little above the mouth of the Bellisle[33]; the latter is the more probable location. The situation as a point of observation and for defence of the settlements above could not be excelled, while at the same time it was not sufficiently near the sea to attract attention on the part of an English cruiser. It is therefore quite probable that the old fort at Worden's, erected during the war of 1812, the remains of which are in a fair state of preservation and are often visited by tourists, was built on the site occupied by Boishebert's "Camp Volant" of 1755, afterwards fortified by him and for some little time his headquarters.

[33] See under "Nid d'Aigle," Ganong's Place-Nomenclature of New Brunswick, p. 257. D'Anville's map of 1755 shows here "Etabliss't. Francois," signifying French Post or Settlement.

See observations already made at page 91.

From the month of October to the end of December, 1755, nearly seven thousand of the unfortunate Acadians were removed from their homes and dispersed amongst the American colonies along the Atlantic seaboard as far south as Georgia and the Carolinas. A fleet of two ships, three snows, and a brigantine, under convoy of the "Baltimore" sloop of war, sailed from Annapolis Royal on the morning of the 8th December. On board the fleet were 1,664 exiles of all ages whose destinations were Ma.s.sachusetts, Connecticut, New York and South Carolina. One of the snows[34] had her mainmast broken in a heavy gale just before her arrival at Annapolis and Charles Belliveau, a ship-builder and navigator of experience, was employed to replace the broken mast, which he did in a workmanlike manner; but upon his claiming payment for the job the captain laughed in his face. Belliveau, indignant at such treatment, seized his axe to cut down the mast and this brought the captain to terms.

[34] A snow was a vessel similar to a brig; the Marquis de Vaudreull says the one above referred to was a Portuguese vessel.

It chanced that shortly afterwards Belliveau and a number of his unfortunate compatriots (32 families, 225 persons in all) were placed on board this vessel to be transported to South Carolina. The "Baltimore" only went as far as New York and the snow, with Belliveau and his friends on board, was left to pursue the rest of her voyage unattended; not, however, without a parting caution on the part of the commander of the "Baltimore" to her captain to be careful, for amongst his captives were same good seamen. This advice was not heeded as the sequel will show.

The voyage proved a tedious one and from time to time small parties of the Acadians were allowed on deck for air and exercise. A plot was laid to seize the ship. Accordingly six of the stoutest and boldest lay in readiness, and when those on deck were ordered below and the hatchway opened to allow them to descend, Belliveau and his friends sprang from the hold and in the twinkling of an eye were engaged in a desperate struggle with the crew. Reinforced by those who followed, the master of the vessel and his crew of eight men were soon overpowered and tied fast.

Belliveau, the leader of the spirited encounter, now took the helm and the course of the ship was reversed. Under full sail she careened to the wind until her former master cried to Belliveau that he would certainly break the main mast. He replied: "No fear of that; I made it and it is a good one."

In due time the vessel reached the Bay of Fundy without other adventure than a trifling conflict with an English privateer, which was beaten off without loss. The French soon after released and put on sh.o.r.e the English captain and his crew, and on the 8th day of January anch.o.r.ed safely in the harbor of St John.[35]

[35] The incident related above is mentioned by several writers, French and English, but the details were gathered by Placide P. Gaudet about twenty years ago from an old Acadian of remarkable memory and intelligence, whose grandfather was a brother of Charles Belliveau.

The names of most of the families who arrived at St. John in this ship have been preserved, including those of Charles Belliveau, Charles Dugas, Denis St. Sceine, Joseph Guilbault, Pierre Gaudreau, Denis St.