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114-689: After the French colonists, the Acadians were commanded to leave Nova Scotia in the Great Expulsion , the area was relatively desolate. The Township was established by a group historians refer to as the New England Planters . In the early 1760s the Planters brought with them the colonial pattern of land division; each town or township was to contain one hundred thousand acres . While an official town plot

228-582: A New England Acadian flag. Great Expulsion The Expulsion of the Acadians was the forced removal of inhabitants of the North American region historically known as Acadia between 1755 and 1764 by Great Britain . It included the modern Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia , New Brunswick , and Prince Edward Island , along with part of the US state of Maine . The Expulsion occurred during

342-534: A few regional accents (for example, Chiac in the southeast of New Brunswick, or Brayon in the northwest of New Brunswick). Most can also speak English. The Louisiana Cajun descendants tend to speak English , including Cajun English or Louisiana French , a relative of Acadian French from Canada. Estimates of contemporary Acadian populations vary widely. The Canadian census of 2006 reported only 96,145 Acadians in Canada, based on self-declared ethnic identity. However,

456-682: A period of 74 years, six wars (the four French and Indian Wars , Father Rale's War , and Father Le Loutre's War ) took place in Acadia and Nova Scotia, in which the Wabanaki Confederacy and some Acadians fought to keep the British from taking over the region. While France lost political control of Acadia in 1713, the Mí'kmaq did not concede land to the British. Along with Acadians, the Mi'kmaq used military force to resist

570-611: A raid on the blockhouse at LaHave, Nova Scotia. On September 11, a child was killed in a raid on the Northwest Range. Another raid happened on March 27, 1759, in which three members of the Oxner family were killed. The last raid happened on April 20, 1759, at Lunenburg, when the Miꞌkmaq killed four settlers who were members of the Trippeau and Crighton families. The Cape Sable campaign involved

684-500: A region they called La Grande Ligne ("The Great Road", also known as "the King's Highway"). About 1,500 Acadians accepted the offer, but the land turned out to be infertile, and by the end of 1775, most of them abandoned the province. The British did not directly deport Acadians to Louisiana. Following the expulsion by the British from their home, Acadians found their way to many friendly locales, including France. Acadians left France, under

798-415: A schooner at Fort Cumberland and killed its master and two sailors. In the winter of 1759, the Miꞌkmaq ambushed five British soldiers on patrol while they were crossing a bridge near Fort Cumberland. They were ritually scalped and their bodies mutilated as was common in frontier warfare . During the night of April 4, 1759, a force of Acadians and French in canoes captured the transport. At dawn they attacked

912-512: A warehouse near Fort Edward, killed thirteen British soldiers, took what provisions they could carry and set fire to the building. Days later, the same partisans raided Fort Cumberland. By November 1756, French Officer Lotbinière wrote about the difficulty of recapturing Fort Beausejour: "The English have deprived us of a great advantage by removing the French families that were settled there on their different plantations; thus we would have to make new settlements." The Acadians and Mi'kmaq fought in

1026-501: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Acadians Asia Middle East Europe North America South America Oceania The Acadians ( French : Acadiens ; European French : [akadjɛ̃] , Acadian French : [akad͡zjɛ̃] ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during

1140-672: Is known as Acadiana . Acadians are a vibrant minority, particularly in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada, and in Louisiana (Cajuns) and northern Maine, United States. Since 1994, Le Congrès Mondial Acadien has worked as an organization to unite these disparate communities and help preserve the culture. In 1881, Acadians at the First Acadian National Convention, held in Memramcook , New Brunswick, designated 15 August,

1254-515: Is largely regarded as a crime against humanity , though the modern-day use of the term "genocide" is debated by scholars. A census of 1764 indicates 2,600 Acadians remained in the colony, having eluded capture. In 1710, during the War of the Spanish Succession , the British captured Port Royal , the capital of Acadia. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ceded the territory to Great Britain while allowing

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1368-586: The American Revolutionary War , the Crown settled Protestant European immigrants and New England Planters in former Acadian communities and farmland. After the war, it made land grants in Nova Scotia to Loyalists . British policy was to establish a majority culture of Protestant religions and to assimilate Acadians with the local populations where they resettled. The Acadians today live predominantly in

1482-606: The Battle of Jumonville Glen . French Officer Ensign de Jumonville and a third of his escort were killed by a British patrol led by George Washington . In retaliation the French and the Native Americans defeated the British at Fort Necessity . Washington lost a third of his force and surrendered. Major General Edward Braddock 's troops were defeated in the Battle of the Monongahela , and Major General William Johnson 's troops stopped

1596-471: The Church of England was made the official religion. These acts granted certain political rights to Protestants while the new laws excluded Catholics from public office and the franchise (the right to vote) and forbade Catholics from owning land in the province. It also empowered British authorities to seize all "popish" property (Church lands) for the crown and barred Catholic clergy from entering or residing in

1710-560: The French and Indian War , the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War . Prior to 1758, Acadians were deported to the Thirteen Colonies , then later transported to either Britain or France . Of an estimated 14,100 Acadians, approximately 11,500 were deported, of whom 5,000 died of disease, starvation or shipwrecks. Their land was given to settlers loyal to Britain, mostly immigrants from New England and Scotland . The event

1824-572: The French conquered St. John's, Newfoundland on June 14, 1762, the success galvanized both the Acadians and the natives, who gathered in large numbers at various points throughout the province and behaved in a confident and, according to the British, "insolent fashion". Officials were especially alarmed when natives gathered close to the two principal towns in the province, Halifax and Lunenburg, where there were also large groups of Acadians. The government organized an expulsion of 1,300 people and shipped them to Boston. The government of Massachusetts refused

1938-635: The Gaspé Peninsula coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence . Sir Charles Hardy and Brigadier-General James Wolfe commanded the naval and military forces, respectively. After the Siege of Louisbourg (1758), Wolfe and Hardy led a force of 1500 troops in nine vessels to Gaspé Bay , arriving there on September 5. From there they dispatched troops to Miramichi Bay on September 12, Grande-Rivière, Quebec and Pabos on September 13, and Mont-Louis, Quebec on September 14. Over

2052-408: The Great Expulsion (Le Grand Dérangement) of the Acadians between 1755 and 1764. They forcefully deported approximately 11,500 Acadians from the maritime region. Approximately one-third perished from disease and drowning. In retrospect, the result has been described as an ethnic cleansing of the Acadians from Maritime Canada. Acadians speak a variety of French called Acadian French , which has

2166-582: The Haitian Revolution . Louisiana's population contributed to the founding of the modern Cajun population. (The French word "Acadien" evolved into the word "Cadien", which was later anglicized as the word "Cajun"). On July 11, 1764, the British government passed an order-in-council to permit Acadians to legally return to British territories in small isolated groups, provided that they take an unqualified oath of allegiance. Some Acadians returned to Nova Scotia (which included present-day New Brunswick). Under

2280-527: The LaHave River at Dayspring was killed and another seriously wounded by a member of the Labrador family. The next raid happened at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia on August 24, 1758, when eight Miꞌkmaq attacked the family homes of Lay and Brant. They killed three people in the raid, but were unsuccessful in taking their scalps, a common practice for payment from the French. Two days later, two soldiers were killed in

2394-710: The Mississippi River and later, they settled in the Atchafalaya Basin , as well as in the prairie lands to the west—a region which was later renamed Acadiana . Some Acadians were sent to colonize places in the Caribbean, such as French Guiana , or the Falkland Islands under the direction of Louis Antoine de Bougainville ; these latter efforts at colonization were unsuccessful. Other Acadians migrated to places like Saint-Domingue , but they fled to New Orleans after

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2508-536: The Province of Maine , a large, but sparsely populated exclave of the colony of Massachusetts. For four long winter months, William Shirley , who had ordered their deportation, had not allowed them to disembark and as a result, half died of cold and starvation aboard the ships. Some men and women were forced into servitude or forced labor, children were taken away from their parents and were distributed to various families throughout Massachusetts. The government also arranged

2622-488: The anglicized term of "Acadian." Most Acadians in Canada continue to live in majority French-speaking communities, notably those in New Brunswick where Acadians and Francophones are granted autonomy in areas such as education and health. In some cases, Acadians intermarried with Indigenous Peoples, in particular, the Mi'kmaq . Some Louisiana Cajuns continue to speak Louisiana French , but most have been primarily anglophone since

2736-438: The "Ste Anne's Massacre". On February 18, 1759, Hazen and about fifteen men arrived at Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas. The Rangers pillaged and burned the village of 147 buildings, two Catholic churches and various barns and stables. The Rangers burned a large store-house, containing a large quantity of hay, wheat, peas, oats and other foodstuffs, and killed 212 horses, about five head of cattle and a large number of hogs. They also burned

2850-499: The 1755 deportation. The poem became an American classic. Activists used it as a catalyst in reviving a distinct Acadian identity in both Maritime Canada and in Louisiana. Antonine Maillet 's novel Pélagie-la-charette concerns the return voyage to Acadia of several deported families, starting 15 years after the Great Expulsion. In the early 20th century, two statues were made of the fictional figure of "Evangeline" to commemorate

2964-632: The 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia , where descendants of Acadians who escaped the Expulsion of the Acadians (a.k.a. The Great Upheaval / Le Grand Dérangement ) re-settled, or in Louisiana , where thousands of Acadians moved in the late 1700s. Descendants of the Louisiana Acadians are most commonly known as Cajuns ,

3078-566: The Acadian people during the Acadian Exodus , as an act of defiance towards British demands and oppression. Acadians took part in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour . During the French and Indian War, the British sought to neutralize any military threat posed by the Acadians and to interrupt

3192-677: The Acadians is the French tricolour , with the addition of a golden star in the blue field. This symbolizes Saint Mary , Our Lady of the Assumption, patron saint of the Acadians and widely known as the " Star of the Sea ". This flag was adopted in 1884 at the Second Acadian National Convention, held in Miscouche, Prince Edward Island. Acadians in the diaspora have adopted other symbols. The flag of Acadians in Louisiana, known as Cajuns,

3306-408: The Acadians ). A. J. B. Johnston wrote that the evidence for the removal of the Acadians indicates that the decision makers thought the Acadians were a military threat, therefore the deportation of 1755 does not qualify as an act of ethnic cleansing. Geoffrey Plank argues that the British continued the expulsion after 1758 for military reasons: present-day New Brunswick remained contested territory and

3420-663: The Acadians first landed and settled in what is now known as the St. John Valley. There are also Acadians in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, at Chéticamp , Isle Madame , and Clare . East and West Pubnico , located at the end of the province, are the oldest regions that are predominantly ethnic Acadian. Other ethnic Acadians can be found in the southern regions of New Brunswick, Western Newfoundland and in New England. Many of these communities have assimilated to varying degrees into

3534-469: The Acadians had to remain in port on their vessels for months. The Colony of Virginia refused to accept the Acadians on grounds that no notice was given of their arrival. They were detained at Williamsburg , where hundreds died from disease and malnutrition. They were then sent to Britain where they were held as prisoners until the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The Acadians who had offered the most resistance to

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3648-590: The Acadians in this area had evaded the British for several years, but the brutal winter weather eventually forced them to surrender. Some returnees settled in the region of Fort Sainte-Anne, now Fredericton , but were later displaced when the Crown awarded land grants to numerous United Empire Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies after the victory of the United States in the American Revolution . Most of

3762-501: The Acadians on the Petiticodiac . They arrived at present-day Moncton and Danks' Rangers ambushed about 30 Acadians who were led by Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil. The Acadians were driven into the river where three of them were killed and scalped, and the others were captured. Broussard was seriously wounded. Danks reported that the scalps were Miꞌkmaq and received payment for them. Thereafter, he went down in local lore as "one of

3876-714: The Acadians permission to land and sent them back to Halifax. Miꞌkmaw and Acadian resistance was evident in the Halifax region. On April 2, 1756, Miꞌkmaq received payment from the Governor of Quebec for twelve British scalps taken at Halifax. Acadian Pierre Gautier, son of Joseph-Nicolas Gautier, led Miꞌkmaw warriors from Louisbourg on three raids against Halifax Peninsula in 1757. In each raid, Gautier took prisoners, scalps or both. Their last raid happened in September and Gautier went with four Miꞌkmaq, and killed and scalped two British men at

3990-607: The Acadians refused to sign an oath of allegiance to Britain, which would make them loyal to the crown, the British Lieutenant Governor, Charles Lawrence, as well as the Nova Scotia Council on July 28, 1755, made the decision to deport the Acadians. The British deportation campaigns began on August 11, 1755. Throughout the expulsion, Acadians and the Wabanaki Confederacy continued a guerrilla war against

4104-458: The Acadians the legal right to leave Georgia and enter other colonies. South Carolina followed Georgia's example and expediated passports to Acadian exiles in hopes they would move on to other territories. Along with these papers, South Carolina authorities provided the Acadians with two vessels. After running aground numerous times in the ships, some of these Acadians returned to the Bay of Fundy. Along

4218-494: The Acadians to France during the second wave of the expulsion. Approximately 1,000 Acadians went to the Colony of Maryland , where they lived in a section of Baltimore that became known as French Town . The Irish Catholics were reported to have shown charity to the Acadians by taking orphaned children into their homes. Approximately 2,000 Acadians disembarked at the Colony of Massachusetts . There were several families deported to

4332-451: The Acadians to keep their lands. Reluctant to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain, over the following decades some participated in French military operations and helped maintain supply lines to the French fortresses of Louisbourg and Beauséjour . As a result, the British sought to eliminate any future military threat posed by the Acadians and to permanently cut the supply lines they provided to Louisbourg by removing them from

4446-519: The Acadians who had settled across the river from Natchez to resettle along the Iberville or Amite rivers closer to New Orleans . In time, some Acadians returned to the Maritime provinces of Canada, mainly to New Brunswick and coastal villages that were not occupied by colonists from New England. The British prohibited them from resettling their lands and villages in what became Nova Scotia. A few of

4560-521: The Acadians who later went to Louisiana sailed there from France on five Spanish ships. These had been provided by the Spanish Crown, which was eager to populate their Louisiana colony with Catholic settlers who might provide farmers to supply the needs of New Orleans residents. The Spanish had hired agents to seek out the dispossessed Acadians in Brittany and kept this effort secret in order to avoid angering

4674-489: The Acadians' allegiance to the French and the Wabanaki Confederacy as a military threat. Father Le Loutre's War had created the conditions for total war ; British civilians had not been spared and, as Governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council saw it, Acadian civilians had provided intelligence, sanctuary, and logistical support while others had fought against the British. During Le Loutre's war, to protect

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4788-526: The Annapolis region. They were victorious in the Battle of Bloody Creek (1757) . Acadians being deported from Annapolis Royal on the ship Pembroke rebelled against the British crew, took over the ship and sailed to land. In December 1757, while cutting firewood near Fort Anne, John Weatherspoon was captured by Natives—presumably Miꞌkmaq— and was carried away to the mouth of the Miramichi River, from where he

4902-519: The British Crown. Acadian men feared that signing the oath would commit them to fighting against France during wartime. They also worried about whether their Mi'kmaq neighbours might perceive an oath as acknowledging the British claim to Acadia rather than that of the indigenous Mi'kmaq. Acadians believed that if they signed the oath, they might put their villages at risk of attack by the Mi'kmaq. Data from this section from Statistics Canada, 2021. In

5016-480: The British claim to Acadia, putting villages at risk of attack from the Miꞌkmaq. Other Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath because they were anti-British. Various historians have observed that some Acadians were labelled "neutral" when they were not. By the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians, there was already a long history of political and military resistance by Acadians and the Wabanaki Confederacy to

5130-409: The British colonies. While there was clear animosity between Catholics and Protestants during this time period, many historians point to the overwhelming evidence which suggests that the motivation for the expulsion was military. The British wanted to cut off supply lines to the Miꞌkmaq, Louisbourg and Quebec. They also wanted to end any military threat which the Acadians posed (See Military history of

5244-435: The British eastern seaboard colonies, from New England to Georgia, where many were put into forced labour, imprisoned, or put into servitude . The British conducted a second and smaller expulsion of Acadians after taking control of the north shore of what is now New Brunswick . After the fall of Quebec and defeat of the French, the British lost interest in such relocations. Some Acadians were deported to England, some to

5358-609: The British in response to British aggression which had been continuous since 1744 (see King George's War and Father Le Loutre's War ). The first wave of the expulsion began on August 10, 1755, with the Bay of Fundy Campaign during the French and Indian War. The British ordered the expulsion of the Acadians after the Battle of Beausejour (1755). The campaign started at Chignecto and then quickly moved to Grand-Pré , Piziquid ( Falmouth / Windsor, Nova Scotia ) and finally Annapolis Royal . On November 17, 1755, George Scott took 700 troops, attacked twenty houses at Memramcook, arrested

5472-462: The British occupation of Acadia. The Miꞌkmaq and the Acadians were allies through numerous inter-marriages during the previous century. While the Acadians were the largest population, the Wabanaki Confederacy, particularly the Miꞌkmaq, held the military strength in Acadia even after the British conquest. They resisted the British occupation and were joined on numerous occasions by Acadians. These efforts were often supported and led by French priests in

5586-401: The British removing Acadians from present-day Shelburne County and Yarmouth County . In April 1756, Major Jedidiah Preble and his New England troops, on their return to Boston, raided a settlement near Port La Tour and captured 72 men, women and children. In the late summer of 1758, Major Henry Fletcher led the 35th regiment and a company of Gorham's Rangers to Cape Sable. He cordoned off

5700-583: The British settlers from attacks along the former border of New England and Acadia, the Kennebec River , the British built Fort Halifax ( Winslow ), Fort Shirley ( Dresden , formerly Frankfurt) and Fort Western ( Augusta ). After the British capture of Beauséjour , the plan to capture Louisbourg included cutting trade to the Fortress in order to weaken the Fortress and, in turn, weaken the French ability to supply

5814-403: The British. That was particularly evident in the early 1720s during Dummer's War . The British had conquered Acadia in 1710. Over the next 45 years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. Many were influenced by Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre , who from his arrival in 1738 until his capture in 1755, preached against the "English devils". Father Le Loutre led

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5928-608: The British—particularly those who had been at Chignecto—were reported to have been sent to the southernmost colonies (the Carolinas and the Colony of Georgia ), where about 1,400 Acadians settled and were "subsidized" and put to work on plantations . Under the leadership of Jacques Maurice Vigneau of Baie Verte , the majority of the Acadians in Georgia received a passport from the governor, John Reynolds . These passports gave

6042-493: The Canadian Encyclopedia estimates that there are at least 500,000 of Acadian ancestry in Canada, which would include many who declared their ethnic identity for the census as French or as Canadian. During the early 17th century, about 60 French families were established in Acadia . They developed relations with the peoples of the Wabanaki Confederacy (particularly the regional Mi'kmaq ). The Acadians lived mainly in

6156-559: The Canadian Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia), as well as parts of Quebec, Canada, and in Louisiana and Maine, United States. In New Brunswick, Acadians inhabit the northern and eastern shores of New Brunswick. Other groups of Acadians can be found in the Magdalen Islands and the Gaspé Peninsula . Ethnic Acadian descendants still live in and around the area of Madawaska, Maine , where some of

6270-484: The Caribbean, and some to France. After being expelled to France, many Acadians were eventually recruited by the Spanish government to migrate to Luisiana (present-day Louisiana ). These Acadians settled into or alongside the existing Louisiana Creole settlements, sometimes intermarrying with Creoles, and gradually developed what became known as Cajun culture. After 1758, thousands were transported to France. Most of

6384-617: The Chignecto region and were victorious in the Battle of Petitcodiac (1755). In the spring of 1756, a wood-gathering party from Fort Monckton (former Fort Gaspareaux ) was ambushed and nine were scalped. In April 1757, the same band of Acadian and Miꞌkmaw partisans raided Fort Edward and Fort Cumberland near present-day Jolicure, New Brunswick , killing and scalping two men and taking two prisoners. July 20, 1757, some Miꞌkmaq killed 23 and captured two of Gorham's rangers outside Fort Cumberland. In March 1758, forty Acadians and Miꞌkmaq attacked

6498-509: The Christian feast of the Assumption of Mary , as the national feast day of their community. On that day, the Acadians celebrate by having a tintamarre , a big parade and procession for which people dress up with the colors of Acadia and make a lot of noise and music. The national anthem of the Acadians is " Ave Maris Stella ", adopted in 1884 at Miscouche , Prince Edward Island. The anthem

6612-693: The Expulsion: one was installed in St. Martinville, Louisiana and the other in Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia . The Acadian Memorial (Monument Acadien) has an eternal flame; it honors the 3,000 Acadians who settled in Louisiana after the Expulsion. Monuments to the Acadian Expulsion have been erected at several sites in the Maritime Provinces, such as at Georges Island , Nova Scotia, and at Beaubears Island . The flag of

6726-433: The French advance at Lake George . In Acadia, the primary British objective was to defeat the French fortifications at Beauséjour and Louisbourg and to prevent future attacks from the Wabanaki Confederacy, French and Acadians on the northern New England border. (There was a long history of these attacks from Acadia – see the Northeast Coast Campaigns 1688 , 1703 , 1723 , 1724 , 1745 , 1746 , 1747 .) The British saw

6840-414: The French king. These new arrivals from France joined the earlier wave expelled from Acadia, and gradually their descendants developed the Cajun population (which included multiracial unions and children) and culture. They continued to be attached to French culture and language, and Catholicism. The Spanish offered the Acadians lowlands along the Mississippi River in order to block British expansion from

6954-444: The Great Expulsion (known by French speakers as le Grand Dérangement ), after the Battle of Fort Beauséjour beginning in August 1755 under Lieutenant Governor Lawrence , approximately 11,500 Acadians (three-quarters of the Acadian population in Nova Scotia) were expelled, families were separated, their lands and property confiscated, and in some cases their homes were burned. The Acadians were deported to separated locations throughout

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7068-400: The Lunenburg settlement nine times over a three-year period during the war. Boishebert ordered the first Raid on Lunenburg (1756) . In 1757, the second raid on Lunenburg occurred, in which six people from the Brisson family were killed. The following year, March 1758, there was a raid on the Lunenburg Peninsula at the Northwest Range (present-day Blockhouse, Nova Scotia ) when five people from

7182-445: The Mi'kmaq assisted the Acadians in resisting the British during the Expulsion of the Acadians. Many Acadians might have signed an unconditional oath to the British monarchy had the circumstances been better, while other Acadians would not sign because it was religious oath which denied the Catholic faith because the British Monarch was head of the Church of England . Acadians had numerous reasons against signing an oath of loyalty to

7296-422: The Miꞌkmaq in their warfare against the British. According to historian Stephen Patterson , more than any other single factor – including the massive assault that eventually forced the surrender of Louisbourg – the supply problem brought an end to French power in the region. Lawrence realized he could reduce the military threat and weaken Fortress Louisbourg by deporting the Acadians, thus cutting off supplies to

7410-444: The Ochs and Roder families were killed. By the end of May 1758, most of those on the Lunenburg Peninsula had abandoned their farms and retreated to the protection of the fortifications around the town of Lunenburg, losing the season for sowing their grain. For those who did not leave their farms, the number of raids intensified. During the summer of 1758, there were four raids on the Lunenburg Peninsula. On July 13, 1758, one person on

7524-423: The Removals. There is significant evidence in the correspondence of military and civil leaders for Anti-Catholicism . Faragher writes, "The first session of the Nova Scotia Assembly ... passed a series of laws intended to institutionalize Acadian dispossession" including an act titled "An Act for the Quieting of Possessions to Protestant Grantees of land formerly occupied by the French." In it and two subsequent acts,

7638-434: The accommodation that Acadians and Anglo-Americans reached." As well, the British were clearly not concerned that the Acadians were French, given the fact that they were recruiting French " foreign Protestants " to settle in the region. Further, the New Englanders of Boston were not banishing Acadians from the Atlantic region; instead, they were actually deporting them to live in the heart of New England: Boston and elsewhere in

7752-478: The adoption of orphaned children and provided subsidies for housing and food for a year. The Colony of Connecticut prepared for the arrival of 700 Acadians. Like Maryland, the Connecticut legislature declared that "[the Acadians] be made welcome, helped and settled under the most advantageous conditions, or if they have to be sent away, measures be taken for their transfer." The Colony of Pennsylvania accommodated 500 Acadians. Because they arrived unexpectedly,

7866-560: The area. Without differentiating between those who had remained neutral and those who took up arms, the British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council ordered all Acadians to be expelled. In the first wave of the expulsion, Acadians were deported to other British North American colonies. During the second wave, they were deported to Britain and France, and from there a significant number migrated to Spanish Louisiana , where "Acadians" eventually became " Cajuns ". Acadians fled initially to Francophone colonies such as Canada ,

7980-411: The bottom of the river, raiding Kennebecais and Managoueche ( City of Saint John ), where they built Fort Frederick . Then they moved up the river and raided Grimross ( Arcadia, New Brunswick ), Jemseg , and finally reached Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas. Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger Lieutenant Hazen engaged in frontier warfare against the Acadians in what has become known as

8094-481: The cape and sent his men through it. One hundred Acadians and Father Jean Baptistee de Gray surrendered, while about 130 Acadians and seven Miꞌkmaq escaped. The Acadian prisoners were taken to Georges Island in Halifax Harbour. En route to the St. John River Campaign in September 1758, Monckton sent Major Roger Morris of the 35th Regiment, in command of two men-of-war and transport ships with 325 soldiers, to deport more Acadians. On October 28, Monckton's troops sent

8208-453: The centerwestern region of France, such as the rural areas of Poitou-Charentes . During the French and Indian War , (known in Canada as The Seven Years' War) British colonial officers suspected that Acadians were aligned with France, after finding some Acadians fighting alongside French troops at Fort Beauséjour . Though most Acadians remained neutral during the war, the British, together with New England legislators and militia, carried out

8322-682: The church located just west of Old Government House, Fredericton . The leader of the Acadian militia on the St. John river, Joseph Godin-Bellefontaine , refused to swear an oath despite the Rangers torturing and killing his daughter and three of his grandchildren in front of him. The Rangers also took six prisoners. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign, also known as the Gaspee Expedition, British forces raided French villages along present-day New Brunswick and

8436-523: The close conditions, while others were allowed to join communities and live normal lives. In France, 78 Acadian families were repatriated to Belle-Île-en-Mer off the western coast of Brittany after the Treaty of Paris. The most serious resettlement attempt was made by Louis XV , who offered 2 acres (8,100 m ) of land in the Poitou province to 626 Acadian families each, where they lived close together in

8550-560: The coastal regions of the Bay of Fundy ; they reclaimed farming land from the sea by building dikes to control water and drain certain wetlands. Living in a contested borderland region between French Canada and the British territories on New England and the coast, the Acadians often became entangled in the conflict between the powers. Their competition in Europe played out in North America as well. Over

8664-514: The deportation orders, Acadian land tenure had been forfeited to the British crown and the returning Acadians no longer owned land. Beginning in 1760 much of their former land was distributed under grant to the New England Planters . The lack of available farmland compelled many Acadians to seek out a new livelihood as fishermen on the west coast of Nova Scotia, known as the French Shore. The British authorities scattered other Acadians in groups along

8778-417: The descendants of Acadian returnees now live primarily on the eastern coast of New Brunswick, Canada. In 2003, at the request of Acadian representatives, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada issued a Royal Proclamation acknowledging the deportation. She established 28 July as an annual day of commemoration, beginning in 2005. The day is called the "Great Upheaval" on some English-language calendars. Before

8892-532: The east. Some would have preferred Western Louisiana, where many of their families and friends had settled. In addition, that land was more suitable to mixed crops of agriculture. Rebels among them marched to New Orleans and ousted the Spanish governor. The Spanish later sent infantry from other colonies to put down the rebellion and execute the leaders. After the rebellion in December 1769, Spanish Governor O'Reilly permitted

9006-558: The expulsion in the popular 1847 poem, Evangeline , about the plight of a fictional character, which spread awareness of the expulsion. After the British gained control of Acadia in 1713, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of loyalty to become British subjects. Instead, they negotiated a conditional oath that promised neutrality. They also worried that signing the oath might commit male Acadians to fight against France during wartime and that it would be perceived by their Mi'kmaq neighbours and allies as an acknowledgement of

9120-450: The expulsion. Historian John Grenier asserts that Faragher overstates the religious motivation for the expulsion and obscures the fact that the British accommodated Acadians by providing Catholic priests for forty years prior to the Expulsion. Grenier writes that Faragher "overstates his case; his focus on the grand dérangement as an early example of ethnic cleansing carries too much present-day emotional weight and in turn overshadows much of

9234-658: The following weeks, Hardy took four sloops or schooners, destroyed about 200 fishing vessels, and took about 200 prisoners. The Acadians took refuge along the Baie des Chaleurs and the Restigouche River . Boishébert had a refugee camp at Petit-Rochelle, which was probably located near present-day Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec . The year after the Battle of Restigouche , in late 1761, Captain Roderick Mackenzie and his force captured over 330 Acadians at Boishebert's camp. After

9348-590: The foot of Citadel Hill. Pierre went on to participate in the Battle of Restigouche. Arriving on the provincial vessel King George, four companies of Rogers Rangers (500 rangers) were at Dartmouth April 8 until May 28 awaiting the Siege of Louisbourg (1758) . While there they scoured the woods to stop raids on Dartmouth. In July 1759, Miꞌkmaq and Acadians killed five British in Dartmouth, opposite McNabb's Island. By June 1757,

9462-536: The fort at New Gloucester . During this period, the Wolastoqiyik and Miꞌkmaq were the only tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy who were able to fight. On August 13, 1758, Boishebert left Miramichi, New Brunswick with 400 soldiers, including Acadians whom he led from Port Toulouse . They marched to Fort St. George ( Thomaston ) and unsuccessfully laid siege to the town, and raided Munduncook ( Friendship ) where they wounded eight British settlers and killed others. This

9576-427: The fort. During the expulsion, French Officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert led the Miꞌkmaq and the Acadians in a guerrilla war against the British. According to Louisbourg's account books, by late 1756 the French had regularly dispensed supplies to 700 natives. From 1756 to the fall of Louisbourg in 1758, the French made regular payments to Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope and other natives for British scalps . Once

9690-401: The highest numbers of fatalities during the expulsion. By the time the second wave of the expulsion had begun, the British had discarded their policy of relocating the Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies, and had begun deporting them directly to France. In 1758, hundreds of Île Royale Acadians fled to one of Boishebert's refugee camps south of Baie des Chaleurs. The Petitcodiac River Campaign

9804-472: The influence of Henri Peyroux de la Coudreniere , to settle in Louisiana , which was then a colony of Spain. Louisiana was transferred to the Spanish government in 1762. Because of the good relations which existed between France and Spain, and because of their common Catholic religion, some Acadians chose to take oaths of allegiance to the Spanish government. Soon the Acadians composed the largest ethnic group in Louisiana. First, they settled in areas along

9918-411: The majority culture of English speakers. For many families in predominantly Anglophone communities, French- language attrition has occurred, particularly in younger generations. The Acadians who settled in Louisiana after 1764 became known as Cajuns for the culture they developed. They have had a dominant cultural influence in many parishes , particularly in the southwestern area of the state, which

10032-498: The mid-20th century. Acadia was one of the five regions of New France. Acadia was located in what is now Eastern Canada 's Maritime provinces , as well as parts of Quebec and present-day Maine to the Kennebec River . It was ethnically, geographically and administratively different from the other French colonies such as the French colony of Canada . As a result, the Acadians developed a distinct history and culture. The settlers whose descendants became Acadians primarily came from

10146-477: The most 'obnoxious' Acadians and replace them with Protestant immigrants. In time the Protestants would come to dominate their new communities." Shirley wanted "peaceable [loyal] subjects" and specifically, in his own words, "good Protestant ones." Faragher compared the expulsion of the Acadians to contemporary acts of ethnic cleansing . In contrast, some leading historians have objected to this characterization of

10260-619: The most reckless and brutal" of the Rangers. Colonel Robert Monckton led a force of 1,150 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 ( Fredericton, New Brunswick ) in February 1759. Monckton was accompanied by New England Rangers led by Joseph Goreham, Captain Benoni Danks, Moses Hazen and George Scott. The British started at

10374-517: The neighbouring towns destroying the plantations. On May 13, they raided Frankfort ( Dresden ), where two men were killed and a house burned. The same day they raided Sheepscot (Newcastle) and took five prisoners. Two people were killed in North Yarmouth on May 29 and one taken captive. The natives shot one person at Teconnet, now Waterville , took prisoners at Fort Halifax and two prisoners at Fort Shirley (Dresden). They also captured two workers at

10488-523: The offspring of such unions to be sent to English schools and raised as "English Protestants" (quote from a letter by Shirley). This was linked to larger anxieties in the realm over the loyalty of Catholics in general—as Charles Stuart 's Jacobite Rebellion was a Catholic-led rebellion as was Le Loutre's rebellion in Nova Scotia. Shirley, who in part was responsible for the Removals, according to historian Geoffrey Plank, "recommended using military force to expel

10602-546: The province, as they wanted no repeat of Le Loutre and his type of war . In addition to other anti-Catholic measures, Faragher concludes "These laws—passed by a popular assembly, not enacted by military fiat—laid the foundation for the migration of Protestant settlers." In the 1740s, William Shirley had hoped to assimilate Acadians into the Protestant fold. He did so by trying to encourage (or force) Acadian women to marry English Protestants and statutes were passed which required

10716-457: The region. The Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadians fought against the British in six wars, including the French and Indian Wars , Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War , over a period of 75 years. In 1753, French troops from Canada marched south and seized and fortified the Ohio Valley . Britain protested the invasion and claimed Ohio for itself. On May 28, 1754, the war began with

10830-476: The remaining Acadians and killed two hundred head of livestock to deprive the French of supplies. Acadians tried to escape the expulsion by retreating to the St. John and Petitcodiac rivers, and the Miramichi in New Brunswick. The British cleared the Acadians from these areas in the later campaigns of Petitcodiac River , Saint John River , and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1758. The Acadians and Miꞌkmaq resisted in

10944-399: The settlers had to be completely withdrawn from Lawrencetown (established 1754) because the number of Indian raids prevented settlers from leaving their houses. In nearby Dartmouth , in the spring of 1759, another Miꞌkmaw attack was launched on Fort Clarence , located at the present-day Dartmouth Refinery , in which five soldiers were killed. Before the deportation, the Acadian population

11058-404: The ship Moncton and chased it for five hours down the Bay of Fundy. Although Moncton escaped, one of its crew was killed and two were wounded. In September 1756, a group of 100 Acadians ambushed a party of thirteen soldiers who were working outside Fort Edward at Piziquid. Seven were taken prisoner and six escaped back to the fort. In April 1757, a band of Acadian and Miꞌkmaw partisans raided

11172-412: The shores of eastern New-Brunswick and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It was not until the 1930s, with the advent of the Acadian co-operative movements, that the Acadians became less economically disadvantaged. According to historian John Mack Faragher , the religious and ethnic dimensions of the Expulsion of Acadians are in addition to, and deeply connected with, the military exigencies cited as causes for

11286-515: The sinking of the Duke William and of the nearly 2,000 Acadians deported from Ile-Saint Jean who died in 1758 while being deported across the North Atlantic: from hunger, disease and drowning. The event has been commemorated annually since 2004; participants mark the day by wearing a black star. American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published Evangeline , an epic poem loosely based on

11400-426: The sort of communities Britain's colonial officials tried to discourage. More worryingly for the British authorities, some Acadians threatened to migrate north to French-controlled regions, including the Saint John River, Île Royale ( Cape Breton Island ), the coasts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Canada. Because the British believed their policy of sending the Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies had failed, they deported

11514-399: The uncolonized northern part of Acadia, Île Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island ), and Île Royale (now Cape Breton Island ). During the second wave of the expulsion, these Acadians were either imprisoned or deported. Along with the British achieving their military goals of destroying the fortress of Louisbourg and weakening the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias, the result of the Expulsion

11628-424: The vital supply lines which they provided to Louisbourg by making them sign an oath of allegiance to the crown. The British founded the town of Halifax and fortified it in 1749 in order to establish a base against the French. The Mi'kmaq resisted the increased number of British (Protestant) settlements by making numerous raids on Halifax, Dartmouth , Lawrencetown, and Lunenburg . During the French and Indian War,

11742-412: The way, they were captured and imprisoned. Only 900 managed to return to Acadia, less than half of those who had begun the voyage. Others also tried to return home. The South Carolina Gazette reported that in February, about 30 Acadians fled the island to which they were confined and escaped their pursuers. Alexandre Broussard, brother of the famed resistance leader Joseph Broussard, dit Beausoleil ,

11856-562: The women and children to Georges Island. The men were kept behind and forced to work with troops to destroy their village. On October 31, they were also sent to Halifax. In the spring of 1759, Joseph Gorham and his rangers arrived to take prisoner the remaining 151 Acadians. They reached Georges Island with them on June 29. November 1759 saw the deportation to Britain of 151 Acadians from Cape Sable who had been prisoners on George's Island since June. In July 1759 on Cape Sable, Captain Cobb arrived and

11970-561: Was Boishébert's last Acadian expedition; from there he and the Acadians went to Quebec and fought in the Battle of Quebec (1759) . In the first wave of the expulsion, most Acadian exiles were assigned to rural communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and South Carolina. In general, they refused to stay where they were put and large numbers migrated to the colonial port cities where they gathered in isolated, impoverished French-speaking Catholic neighbourhoods,

12084-418: Was a series of British military operations that occurred from June to November 1758 to deport the Acadians who either lived along the river or had taken refuge there from earlier deportations. Benoni Danks and Gorham's Rangers carried out the operation. Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger Danks engaged in frontier warfare against the Acadians. On July 1, 1758, Danks began to pursue

12198-755: Was among them. About a dozen are recorded to have returned to Acadia after an overland journey of 1,400 leagues (4,200 miles (6,800 km)). After the siege of Louisbourg , the British began to deport the Acadians directly to France rather than to the British colonies. Some Acadians deported to France never reached their destination. Almost 1,000 died when the transport ships Duke William , Violet , and Ruby sank in 1758 en route from Île Saint-Jean ( Prince Edward Island ) to France. About 3,000 Acadian refugees eventually gathered in France's port cities and went to Nantes . Many Acadians who were sent to Britain were housed in crowded warehouses and subject to plagues due to

12312-518: Was designed by Thomas J. Arceneaux of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette . In 1974 it was adopted by the Louisiana legislature as the official emblem of the Acadiana region. The state has supported the culture, in part because it has attracted cultural and heritage tourism. In 2004 New England Acadians, who were attending Le Congrès Mondial Acadien in Nova Scotia, endorsed a design by William Cork for

12426-471: Was estimated at 14,000. Most were deported, but some Acadians escaped to Quebec, or hid among the Miꞌkmaq or in the countryside, to avoid deportation until the situation settled down. In present-day Maine, the Miꞌkmaq and the Wolastoqiyik raided numerous New England villages. At the end of April 1755, they raided Gorham , killing two men and a family. Next they appeared in New Boston ( Gray ) and went through

12540-491: Was fired upon by 100 Acadians and Miꞌkmaq. The second wave of the expulsion began with the French defeat at the Siege of Louisbourg (1758) . Thousands of Acadians were deported from Île Saint-Jean ( Prince Edward Island ) and Île Royale ( Cape Breton Island ). The Île Saint-Jean Campaign resulted in the largest percentage of deaths of the deported Acadians. The sinking of the ships Violet (with about 280 persons aboard) and Duke William (with over 360 persons aboard) marked

12654-611: Was laid out for Cornwallis Township in what is now Starr's Point , towns actually took shape around Planter settlements at Port Williams , Kentville , Kingsport and Canning . A generation after the Planters, a sudden influx of United Empire Loyalist settlers arrived to escape the Revolutionary War in New England further changing township settlements. 45°11′N 64°31′W  /  45.19°N 64.52°W  / 45.19; -64.52  ( Cornwallis Township ) This Kings County, Nova Scotia location article

12768-539: Was revised at the 1992 meeting of the Société Nationale de l'Acadie. The second, third and fourth verses were translated into French, with the first and last kept in the original Latin . The Federation des Associations de Familles Acadiennes of New Brunswick and the Société Saint-Thomas d'Aquin of Prince Edward Island have resolved to commemorate 13 December annually as "Acadian Remembrance Day", in memory of

12882-563: Was sold or traded to the French, taken to Quebec and was held until late in 1759 and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham , when General Wolfe's forces prevailed. Approximately 55 Acadians, who escaped the initial deportation at Annapolis Royal, are reported to have made their way to the Cape Sable region—which included south western Nova Scotia—from where they participated in numerous raids on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia . The Acadians and Miꞌkmaq raided

12996-590: Was the devastation of both a primarily civilian population and the economy of the region. Thousands of Acadians died in the expulsions, mainly from diseases and drowning when ships were lost. On July 11, 1764, the British government passed an order-in-council to permit Acadians to return to British territories in small isolated groups, provided that they take an unqualified oath of allegiance. Today Acadians live primarily in eastern New Brunswick and some regions of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Quebec and northern Maine. American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorialized

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