The French colonists of Nova Scotia were constantly subjected to attacks
by British colonial forces. In 1613, Port Royal, again in 1654, La Have,
and in 1700, Minas were razed and completely destroyed by these armies.
The older Acadians and their sons, accustomed to the conditions of the
country, quickly recovered from these attacks. The later comers,
however, were not so well fitted to cope with the difficulties of the
new life, and the new names died out or did not increase so quickly as
the original stock, the hardy, thrifty peasantry from the west coast of
France.
These repeated expeditions against the French colonies were the outcome
of strong inimical feeling both at home and abroad. The British colonies
of America greatly outnumbered the French of Canada and the Province,
and the desire to remove the Acadians from the peninsula, and thus break
the backbone of the French colonial enterprise, had been growing for
several years.
This sorry task finally fell to the lot of Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow,
under the specific orders of Governor Lawrence of Halifax. In August,
1755, he came with three hundred men, and in conjunction with Captain
Murray, then in command of Fort Edward, arranged the details for the
capture and removal of the people.
At the time of Winslow's arrival with his troops in ships, the priests
of Grand-Pré and Canard had been removed to Halifax as prisoners. All
the guns owned by the Acadians had been seized, yet the coming of the
troops and their use of the church and burying-grounds as an encampment
did not arouse suspicion as to the purpose of the visit. The people had
frequently seen both French and English soldiers quartered in their
country.
The Acadians were gathering their harvests when Winslow arrived from
Cumberland and marched from Gaspereau Landing to the church at
Grand-Pré. As we read his own account of that stay, we realize his
repugnance at the harsh duty before him--the task of using military
force to expel a quiet, happy people from its home-place--particularly
in the face of the total inadequacy of ships provided for the purpose.
As the winter set in, the miseries of the people bore heavily upon him,
and his feeling in the matter is thinly concealed in the account of the
affair as set down in his Journal.
From this same Journal we learn that he used the Presbytery as his
headquarters, and that in the churchyard the tents of the soldiers were
pitched; that the camp was protected by a pallisade, and that full
military discipline was enforced.