THE ENGLISH TAKE POSSESSION OF THE RIVER ST. JOHN.
The territory north of the Bay of Fundy, which now forms the Province
of New Brunswick, was for nearly half a century a bone of contention
between the French and their English rivals. It might indeed be said
that from the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 to the Treaty of Paris in 1763
the controversy continued to disturb the peace of Europe. Sometimes
the points at issue were warmly debated at the council board, where
the representatives of either nation vainly tried to settle the limits
of Acadia, and sometimes they were yet more fiercely disputed amidst
the clash of arms and bloody scenes of the battle field.
But as years passed on, and the growing power of the English colonies
began to overshadow that of "La Nouvelle France," it seemed that the
Anglo-Saxon race must in the end prevail. The policy of the governors
of Nova Scotia and New England became more and more aggressive. In
vain did the valiant Montcalm, as late as the year 1758, represent to
his country that in fixing the limits of New France it was essential
to retain possession of what the English claimed as Acadia as far as
the Isthmus of Chignecto, and to retake Beausejour; also that France
should keep possession of the River St. John or, at least, leave the
territory there undivided and in the possession of its native
inhabitants: no such compromise as this would now satisfy the
English.
Louisbourg surrendered to General Amherst on the 26th July, 1758, and
a few weeks later Colonel Monckton was sent with a body of troops,
flushed with their success, to drive the hapless Acadians from their
settlements on the River St. John. The particulars connected with this
expedition are found in an unpublished document, of which the original
is in the Public Record Office in London, entitled "Report of the
Proceedings of the Troops on the Expedition up St. John's River in the
Bay of Fundy under the command of Colonel Monckton."[37]
[37] For a copy of this valuable paper I am indebted to Dr. W. F.
Ganong. The name of Monckton is preserved in that of the
second largest town of the province.
As Monckton was the principal agent in an event of such historic
importance to us as the permanent occupation of the St. John river, a
few words may very properly be devoted to him.
Robert Monckton was the second son of John, first Viscount Galway, by
his wife Lady Elizabeth Manners, youngest daughter of the Duke of
Rutland. He began his military career in Flanders in 1742, where he
fought in several battles. Later he came out to America, and in 1752
we find him in charge of the garrison of Fort Lawrence, keeping watch
over the French stronghold of Beausejour, across the Misseguash. A
little later he was commandant of the garrison of Annapolis Royal. He
commanded the English forces at the reduction of Beausejour, in June,
1755. The year following he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Nova
Scotia. He commanded the 4th battalion of the 60th regiment, or "Royal
Americans," at the siege of Louisbourg, and in 1759 served as second
in command to Wolfe at the taking of Quebec, on which occasion he was
conspicuous for his bravery and was severely wounded. A year or two
later he was Governor of New York. In the course of time he attained
the rank of lieutenant-general in the army, and at his death, in 1782,
was a member for Portsmouth in the British Parliament.
Among those who, in a subordinate capacity, rendered essential service
in the expedition to the River St. John none was more conspicuous than
our old friend, Captain Cobb, of the Province sloop "York;" a few
words may fittingly be devoted to him.
Sylvanus Cobb was born in Plymouth, New England, in 1709. Shortly
before the capture of Louisbourg by Sir Wm. Pepperrell, in 1745, he
raised a company in his native town for Colonel Gorham's regiment and
served with credit during the operations of the seige. He was
subsequently in command of a small armed vessel employed by
Government to cruise in the Bay of Fundy. After Halifax was founded,
in 1749, he was employed by Governor Cornwallis and his successors
for nearly ten years as master of the Provincial armed sloop "York."
When at Louisbourg in 1758 he was selected by Monckton to conduct
Wolfe to reconnoitre the fortress previous to an assault. As they
sailed up the harbor no one was allowed to stand on deck but Wolfe at
the fore-sheet and Cobb at the helm. The shot flew thickly around
them, and Wolfe at length signified that they had approached as near
to the fortifications as was necessary, but Cobb made yet another
tack, eliciting Wolfe's admiration and the remark, "Well, Cobb! I
shall never again doubt but you will carry me near enough." Capt. Cobb
lived for some years at Liverpool, N. S. He died of fever in 1762
while serving in an expedition against Havana, and is said to have
expressed his regret that he had not met a soldier's death at the
cannon's mouth. His descendants in Queens county, N. S., are
numerous.
The troops that accompanied Colonel Monckton to the River St. John
included several New England companies of Rangers under captains
McCurdy, Brewer, Goreham and Stark, a detachment of artillery, the 2nd
battalion of the Royal American Regiment[38] and the 35th regiment of
light infantry. The troops embarked on board the transport ships
"Isabella," "Wade," "Alexander the Second," "Viscount Falmouth," "Lord
Bleakeney," the sloops "York" and "Ulysses" and other vessels, under
convoy of the "Squirrel" man-of-war. Vessels and troops had lately
returned from the siege of Louisbourg.
[38] The Royal American Regiment, or 60th Regiment of Foot, was
raised in America about 1756 or 1757. It was commanded by Maj.
Gen. James Abercrombie, who was succeeded by Gen. Sir Jeffrey
Amherst in February, 1758. The corps included four battalions
each of 1,000 men. Robert Monckton was appointed colonel in
the regiment Sept. 28, 1757. (See Murdoch's Hist. Nova Scotia,
Vol. 2, p. 329.)
The fleet sailed from Halifax on Monday the 11th September and on the
18th anchored off Partridge Island sending in Cobb and Rogers[39] with
their sloops to reconnoitre. They proceeded up the harbor and on their
return reported that they had seen only two or three people. However,
Monckton learned later that there were more than two hundred Indians
in ambush at the mouth of the river when the English landed, but
their chief, overawed by the strength of the invaders, would not
suffer them to fire and retired with them up the river, and "upon
their return to Oauckpack (their settlement about two leagues above
St. Anns) Pere Germain, their priest, expecting, as he termed it,
'Quelque coup de Trahison' from them, marched them off for Canada."
[39] Capt. Jeremiah Rogers commanded the armed sloop "Ulysses" in the
pay of the Government of Nova Scotia, as early as January,
1751.
The next day the fleet anchored in the harbor and Monckton sent Cobb
with his sloop to Chignecto for some Acadian prisoners to serve as
pilots up the river, also for some whale boats and Captain Benoni
Danks company of Rangers.
We come now to a day worthy to be held in remembrance--the memorable
20th of September, 1759--when the control of the River St. John passed
finally into the hands of Great Britain and a permanent English
settlement was made upon the shores of our harbor, Monckton's journal
contains a brief record of the event:
"Sep'br. ye 20th.--Made the Signal for Landing about nine and soon
after landed near the Old Fort, with as many Men as the Boats
could take, being about 400. Met with no opposition. The 2d.
Division being landed I sent off Maj'r Scott with about 300 Light
Infantry and Rangers to make discovery and advanced the two
companys of Grenadiers to support him in case of necessity. The
Maj'r returned, having been above the Falls; he found some few
Tracks but not the least signs of any Road or Path--the woods very
thick and bad marching. The troops being all landed I ordered the
Tents to be got on shore and encamped the two regiments just at
the back of the Fort. The Light Infantry and Rangers under Maj'r
Scott encamped on the Hill above."
The next few days were spent in getting provisions and supplies on
shore. The detachment of artillery and three field pieces were also
landed. A number of exploring parties were sent out and all agreed
that it was impracticable to proceed with the expedition by land.
Monckton had already sent word by Capt. Rogers to Annapolis and by
Capt. Cobb to Fort Cumberland to press into the King's service any
sloops or schooners available to transport provisions and stores up
the river, as the majority of his vessels were too large to attempt
the passage of the falls. Meanwhile he determined to repair the old
fort and work was begun upon it on the 24th September. "My reasons,"
writes Monckton, "for fixing on this spot, though somewhat commanded
by the Hill on the back were, that it was so much work ready done to
our hands, the command it would have of the Harbor, the conveniency of
landing our stores, and the great difficultys that would have attended
its being erected further from the shore having no conveniency of
moving our stores but by men. Besides, as the season was so far
advanced and we had still to go up the River, I thought it best to fix
on what would be soonest done. And in regard to the Hill that has some
command of it, it is only with cannon, which the enemy would find
great difficulty in bringing, and this may hereafter be remedy'd by
erecting some small Work on it."
In the construction of the works at the fort 600 men were employed
daily until the 24th October, when the number was reduced to 300 in
consequence of the departure of the expedition up the river to destroy
the Acadian settlements. Capt. Cobb returned from Fort Cumberland the
last day of September with Danks' company of Rangers, five whale boats
and nine French prisoners. From the latter Monckton learned that it
would have been almost impossible to have gone up the river by land,
and that it would have been dangerous to attempt to pass the falls
with such vessels as they had with them. Their opinion, as to the
difficulty of passing the falls, was confirmed by observations and
soundings made by Capt. Willock and the masters of the transports.
While the fort was building, Monckton was engaged in collecting
military stores, provisions and supplies of various kinds for which he
sent vessels to Fort Cumberland, Annapolis, Halifax and Boston. The
officers' barracks at Fort Frederick were erected on the 2nd of
October and the work of building the fort made rapid progress, but it
was not until the 21st of October that the expedition was in a
position to proceed up the river. Even then the start was not a very
auspicious one as we learn from Monckton's journal, in which he
writes:--
"Having got together several sloops and schooners and victual'd
them, I order Cobb & Rogers to pass the Falls to cover the other
vessels as they might be able to get through. They accordingly get
under way. Cobb being the headmost passes the Narrows, but is too
late to get over the Falls and obliged to come too in a little
cove below. The Ulysses, Capt. Rogers, in passing the Narrows
strikes on a Rock, and is drove by the Tide into a creek above
Cobb where the vessell sunk in a short time, and it was with great
difficulty the Light Infantry who were in her and crew were saved.
Upon hearing this and that Cobb did not lay very safe I ordered
him down again and very luckily for at Low Water he would have
struck on the Rocks."
The captain of the man of war "Squirrel" endeavored to raise the
"Ulysses" but was forced to abandon the attempt and she proved a total
wreck.
Having at length got all the smaller vessels safely above the falls
and the troops on board, with provisions for a fortnight, Monckton
himself embarked in Capt. Cobb's sloop "York," leaving Captain Bellen
of the 35th regiment in command of the troops left behind. The force
that proceeded up the river numbered about 1,200 men.
To understand the subsequent proceedings of the expedition the reader
will do well to refer occasionally to the accompanying plan[40] based
on that transmitted by Monckton, along with his report, to Major
General Amherst.
[40] The original of this plan, which is in the British Museum, was
made by Major Charles Morris, Surveyor General of Nova Scotia.
He was with Monckton at the River St. John.
On the morning of the 30th October the little fleet got under sail but
the wind being contrary little progress was made; indeed the ordnance
sloop was very nearly sharing the fate of the "Ulysses," and only
escaped by casting anchor in a rather perilous position just above the
falls. Next day the vessels succeeded in crossing Grand Bay and
anchored off "Pointe aux Tourtres,"[41] about two leagues above the
mouth of the Nerepis. On their way they observed the remains of the
fort built by Boishebert at Woodman's Point.
[41] This place is known as Salmon Point, but in the plan is given as
Pidgeon's Point.
[Illustration: Sketch of St. John's Harbour, and a Part of the River.]
[Illustration: "ISLE AU GARCE," OR "EMENENIC." (Now Called Caton's
Island, in Long Reach.)]
On November 1, the wind being contrary, little progress was made, and
in the evening the "York" anchored off an island called "Isle aux
Garces." Monckton landed on the island, which he describes as "a verry
fine one--the wood Oak, Beech, Birch, and Walnut, and no underwood."
This island was none other than the famous Emenenic, where some
traders and fishermen of St. Malo had a small settlement in the year
1611--probably the first European settlement within the confines of
the province. It was here the Jesuit missionary, Father Biard, held
the first religious service on the St. John river of which we have any
record. As mentioned in a previous chapter, the Indians still call the
island "Ah-men-hen-ik," which is almost identical in sound with
Biard's "Emenenic," thus proving that the old Indian name has
persisted for well-nigh three hundred years. The name "Isle au garce,"
found in the plan of the river, is not easy of explanation. "Garce"
may possibly be a misprint for "grace," and the name "Isle of grace"
would harmonize very well with the French missionary's visit and
religious services in October, 1611, but Placide P. Gaudet--who, by
the way, is no mean authority as regards the French regime on the
River St. John--is disposed to consider the word "garce" as
signifying a "merry maiden." If so, the name is suggestive of an
untold story and there is material for a romance in connection with
our historic "Isle au garce." The island is now owned by County
Secretary George R. Vincent. The soil is fertile, well wooded and
excellent spring water is abundant; fine oaks grow there as in
Monckton's day. A little cove, which may be seen in the view of the
island a little to the right of the wood-boat, affords an excellent
landing place.
The plan of the river accompanying Colonel Monckton's report is of
special interest on account of the curious admixture of French and
English names. This feature is quite in harmony with the epoch which
was one of transition. Instances today are not infrequent where the
existing name has been translated from the French, a familiar example
being that of the island at the mouth of St. John harbor, called by
the French "Isle au Perdrix" and translated into the English
"Partridge Island." Another familiar instance occurs in connection
with Oak Point in Long Reach. Describing their progress up the river
Monckton says, "We came too off Point aux Chaines to sound." Point aux
Chaines in English means Oak Point, and the identity of the situation
of Oak Point and of Monckton's Point aux Chaines is clearly shown in
the plan of the river.
Monckton describes the country along the lower part of the River St.
John as "verry Mountainous and Rocky," but above the Bellisle
comparatively flat and well timbered.
On the evening of the 2nd November the sloop "York" came to anchor
"under an island called the Great Island," or Long Island. Some of the
party landed on the island where, Monckton tells us, they found
walnuts (or butternuts) much like English walnuts.
The expedition was now approaching one of the principal Acadian
settlements and Captain Benoni Danks was sent with a party and a guide
to try to take a prisoner in order, if possible, to obtain further
information, but the Acadians evidently received timely warning of
their danger and had abandoned their village.
It may be mentioned, in passing, that there are some very uncomplimentary
references to Captain Danks and his Rangers in Rev. Hugh Graham's letter
to Rev. Dr. Brown, written at Cornwallis, N. S., in 1791.[42] See for
example the following: "A considerable large body of the French were at
one time surprised by a party of the Rangers on Petitcodiac River; upon
the first alarm most of them threw themselves into the river and swam
across, and by this ways the greatest part of them made out to elude the
clutches of these bloody hounds, tho' some of them were shot by the
merciless soldiery in the river. It was observed that these Rangers,
almost without exception, closed their days in wretchedness, and
particularly a Capt. Danks, who rode to the extreme of his commission in
every barbarous proceeding. In the Cumberland insurrection (1776) he was
suspected of being 'Jack on both sides of the bush,' left that place
in a small jigger bound for Windsor, was taken ill on the passage,
thrown down into the hold among the ballast, was taken out at Windsor
half dead, and had little better than the burial of a dog. He lived under
a general dislike and died without any to regret his death."
[42] This letter will be found in the Collections of the Nova Scotia
Historical Society, Vol. II., pp. 135-145. Many of Mr.
Graham's remarks savor of exaggeration and in reading the
extract above this fact should not be lost sight of.
Saturday, the 4th of November, was an unhappy day for the poor
Acadians living at the little village of Grimrose--the site of the
modern village of Gagetown. The story shall be told in Monckton's own
words:--
"Nov'br ye 4th,--The party returns without any Prisoner, having
been at the Village of Grimrose which they found had been but
lately deserted by the inhabitants.
"Give orders for landing. Having got a body of about 700 Men on
Shore, we march to the further end of the Village, being about a
league. From whence, by the tracks we found, we judged that the
Inhabitants had but lately retired and drove off their cattle.
Here we found the Lime that had been taken in a schooner in the
spring, which they had landed as our Pilots supposed to lighten
the schooner, to get her higher up or to hide her in some
Creeke--as they supposed that they would certainly have carry'd
the Lime up to St. Anns would the depth of the River have admitted
of it.
"It being late in the day I gave orders for Burning the Houses &
Barns, being in all about 50, and for destroying all the Grain, of
which there was a good deal, and everything else that could be of
the least service to the Inhabitants hereafter. Having Burnt and
destroyed everything we marched backe and reimbarked.
"As we were disembarking in the morning some canoes were seen
crossing the head of Grimerose River [Gagetown Creek], and near
where we landed there had lately been some Birch canoes made. Much
cleared Land here--Fine Country. This Village was settled by the
Inhabitants of Beausejour, when drove off from thence in 1755."
The day following the expedition continued up the river to Isle
Mettis, or Grimross Island. The pilots now refused to take charge of
the vessels any higher, as they did not think there was sufficient
water to pass. The accuracy of their judgment was soon evident. In
attempting to proceed Capt. Cobb ran his sloop aground, and several of
the transports had a like experience, but the bottom being sandy all
soon got off again without damage. Monckton sent Capt. Rogers, late of
the sloop "Ulysses," and a mate of the man-of-war "Squirrel," who had
accompanied the expedition, to take soundings but they could find no
practicable channel.
The commanding officer now reluctantly abandoned the idea of
proceeding on to St. Annes. He might perhaps have attempted it by
means of whale boats if the season had not been so far advanced and
his provisions so nearly expended. After enumerating in his journal
the difficulties that confronted him in the event of proceeding
further he writes, "I therefore determined to return and destroy
everything we could on our way down." Meanwhile, by Monckton's orders,
Captain McCurdy had been scouring the country with his rangers and had
succeeded in killing some cattle which were divided among the
transports.
Captains Danks and Brewer were sent with their companies to burn some
houses near what is now Upper Gagetown. After burning the houses they
marched their troops down the "Neck" towards the village of Grimrose
and on their way came across three or four Frenchmen who were driving
off about forty head of cattle. The New Englanders made a dash for
this prize, the Acadians escaped, but most of the cattle were
destroyed.
Captain McCurdy was sent by Monckton across the river to Jemseg to
destroy all the houses and grain that he might find in that quarter
and to kill the cattle, and these orders were duly obeyed. Monckton
burnt the little settlement called Villeray's (about three miles below
Gagetown), and as he came down the river sent a small party on shore
to burn the historic settlement of the Sieur de Belleisle and his
sons-in-law, the brothers Robichaux, just above the mouth of Belleisle
Bay. On the 8th day of November, after an absence of ten days, he
arrived at the place above the falls where the troops had embarked.
Colonel Monckton evidently was not very much elated at the success of
his expedition, for a few days after his return he wrote to Lieut.
Governor De Lancey of New York: "I am sorry I can't give you a better
acct. of our Proceedings up this River. But it was attended with so
many unavoidable delays and impediments that we were only able to go
up about 23 Leagues, which is above 10 Leagues short of St.
Annes--where, if we had been able to have reached, it is by very
certain accounts of no consequence, being only a Village and not the
least signs of a fort.
"We burnt one village and some straggling Houses and destroyed
everything that could be the least serviceable to them, so that I
should think that they will in the spring be obliged to retire to
Canada. The River, after passing the Falls, is as fine a River as ever
I saw, and when you get up about 10 Leagues the country is level, with
fine woods of Oak, Beech, Birch and Walnut, and no underwood and the
land able to produce anything. We have just finished a pretty good
fort here, where the old French Fort stood, which will be a footing
for anything that may be thought proper to be undertaken hereafter."
The Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor general of Canada, was not ignorant
of Monckton's operations on the River St. John, but he was in no
position to make any effectual resistance. In his letter to the French
minister of November 5, 1758, he states that the English were engaged
in rebuilding the old Fort at Menagoueche; the Indians of the River
St. John had retired with the Rev. Father Germain, their missionary to
Canada, where Bigot, the intendant, had provided for their wintering,
and the greater part of the Acadians had also retired to Canada.
During Colonel Monckton's absence up the river work was continued at
the fort, so that it must have been nearly finished at the time of his
return. It received the name of Fort Frederick, and the remains of its
ramparts may still be seen at "Old Fort" in Carleton.
In the plan of St. John harbor made by Colonel Robert Morse of the
Royal Engineers in 1784, there is an outline of Fort Frederick very
nearly identical as regards situation and general form with the sketch
of Fort Menagoueche (or "Fort de la Riviere de St. Jean") made in
October, 1700, by the Sieur de Villieu.[43] We have further proof of
an interesting nature that the situation and general plan of the new
fort was identical with the old French fort in one of the letters of
the Marquis de Vaudreuil, in which he tells us that about the time
Fort Frederick was nearing completion a French Canadian, kept there
as a prisoner, made his escape, and on his return to Canada described
the new fort as exactly the same size as the old but much stronger,
the terraces being at least ten feet in thickness, and upon the
terraces were palisades ten feet high in the form of "chevaux de
frise." The Frenchman had counted 18 cannons mounted of a calibre of
18L., and the English had told him they expected to mount in all 30
cannons of 20L. and of 18L.
[43] The plan of Villieu appears in Dr. Ganong's Historic Sites in
New Brunswick, p. 279.
On the 11th November Colonel Monckton sent Major Scott to Petitcodiac
with the Light Infantry and Rangers in quest of a French privateer
that had been at the St. John river and which, with one of her prizes,
was said to have taken shelter there. He was directed to seize the
vessels and bring them off, together with any of the Acadian
inhabitants he could find, and to burn and destroy all the houses,
barns, cattle, grain, etc. On his return he was to send Captain Dank's
company to Fort Cumberland.
Major Scott certainly acted with promptitude, for barely a week had
expired when he returned to St. John with the privateer schooner and
prize sloop, which he had found in two different creeks up the
Petitcodiac river. The parties sent out by the Major destroyed upwards
of 150 houses and barns, much grain and a good many cattle. They
captured 30 prisoners, including women and children. The Acadian seem
to have made some resistance, however, and a Lieutenant McCormack and
three men of Captain McCurdy's Company and two men of the Light
Infantry were captured by them.
The troops that had served in the St. John river expedition were now
distributed among the garrisons at Fort Cumberland, Windsor, Annapolis
and Halifax, with the exception of McCurdy's, Stark's and Brewer's
companies of Rangers and a small detachment of artillery, ordered to
remain at Fort Frederick under command of Major Morris. This was a
more considerable garrison than could well find accommodation there
during the winter, but such was not Monckton's intention, for he
writes in his journal: "The Fuel of the Garrison not being as yet
lay'd in, I leave the three companies of Rangers, viz., McCurdy's,
Stark's, and Brewer's, and have ordered that Captain McCurdy's company
should Hutt and remain the Winter, the other two after compleating the
wood to come to Halifax in the vessels I had left them."
Monckton sailed for Halifax in the man-of-war "Squirrel" on the 21st
of November, and with him went the 2nd Battalion of the Royal American
Regiment of which he was the commander.
In the month of January following, a tragic event took place at or
near St. Anne's, an account of which has been left us by our early
historians, Peter Fisher and Moses H. Perley, in substance as
follows:
After the winter season had fairly set in, a party of the rangers at
Fort Frederick, under Captain McCurdy, set out on snow-shoes to
reconnoitre the country and to ascertain the state of the French
settlements up the river. The first night after their departure they
encamped at Kingston Creek, not far from the Belleisle, on a very
steep hillside. That night Captain McCurdy lost his life by the
falling of a large birch tree, which one of the rangers cut down on
the hillside--the tree came thundering down the mountain and killed
the Captain instantly, Lieutenant Moses Hazen[44] succeeded to the
command, and the party continued up the river to St. Ann's Point (now
Fredericton), where they found quite a town. They set fire to the
chapel and other buildings, but a number of the French settlers
gathered together, whereupon the Rangers retreated, and, being hotly
pursued committed several atrocious acts upon the people who fell in
their way, to prevent their giving information. By reversing their
snow-shoes and making forced marches they got back safely to St.
John.
[44] Moses Hazen was an older brother of William Hazen, who settled
at St. John. He distinguished himself under Gen. Wolfe on the
Plains of Abraham. In the American Revolution he fought
against the British, raised a corps known as "Hazen's Own,"
and became a Major General in the American army.
This story, considerably modified in some of its details, finds
confirmation from a variety of sources. (1) Sir Jeffery Amherst,
commander of the forces serving in America, writes in a letter to
Governor Lawrence, "You will have heard of the accident poor Capt.
McCurdy met with as likewise of the success of his Lieutenant in
demolishing the settlements at St. Anne's: on the recommendation of
Major Scott I have preferred Lieut. Hazen to Capt. McCurdy's Company."
In a subsequent letter Amherst says: "Major Morris sent me the
particulars of the scouting party and I gave a commission to Lieut
Hazen, as I thought he deserved it. I am sorry to say what I have
since heard of that affair has sullied his merit with me as I shall
always disapprove of killing women and helpless children. Poor McCurdy
is a loss, he was a good man in his post." In another letter Amherst
describes this sad affair more fully. See Appendix.
(2) Further confirmation of the charge of barbarity is found in the
journal of Rev. Jacob Bailey[45] of Pownalboro, Maine. This gentleman
had occasion to lodge at Norwood's Inn, in the town of Lynn,
Massachusetts, on the night of Dec'r 13, 1759, and speaking of the
company he found there says: "We had among us a soldier belonging to
Capt. Hazen's company of rangers, who declared that several Frenchmen
were barbarously murdered by them, after quarters were given, and the
villain added, I suppose to show his importance, that he 'split the
head of one asunder, after he fell on his knees to implore mercy.' A
specimen of New England clemency!"
[45] Rev. Jacob Bailey was a prominent loyalist during the American
Revolution, and afterwards Rector of Annapolis. N. S.
(3). A statement is to be found in a dispatch of the Marquis de
Vaudreuil, dated May 8, 1759, that a number of Acadians living at the
River St. John were surprised on the night of the 27-28 January, 1759,
by a detachment of New England troops who burned their houses, carried
off twenty-three prisoners and killed two women and four children,
whose scalps they bore away.
(4). Still further light is thrown upon this transaction by some notes
appended to the names of certain Acadians, who had served as officers
of militia in Acadia, and who were living in 1767 at Cherbourg. We
learn that the Sieur Joseph Bellefontaine had once owned a large tract
of land on the River St. John, near St. Anne's, and that he was
appointed Major of the militia on the river by order of the Marquis de
la Galissonniere, April 10, 1749, and always performed his duties with
fidelity until made a prisoner by the enemy. At the time of the
mid-winter raid on St. Anne's he had the misery of seeing one of his
daughters with three of her children massacred before his eyes by the
English, who desired by this act of cruelty and the fear of similar
treatment to compel him to take their side. On his refusal he barely
escaped a like fate by his flight into the woods, carrying with him
two other children of the same daughter. The young mother so
ruthlessly slain was Nastasie Bellefontaine, wife of Eustache Pare.
The other victims of this tragedy of the wilderness were the wife and
child of Michel Bellefontaine--a son of Joseph Bellefontaine. This
poor fellow had the anguish of beholding his wife and boy murdered
before his eyes on his refusal to side with the English.
The village of St. Anne's was left in a state of desolation. Moses
Perley says that when the advance party of the Maugerville colony
arrived at St. Anne's Point in 1762, they found the whole of what is
now the Town plat of Fredericton cleared for about ten rods back from
the bank and they saw the ruins of a very considerable settlement. The
houses had been burned and the cultivated land was fast relapsing into
a wilderness state. Nevertheless the early English settlers reaped
some advantage from the improvements made by the Acadians, for we
learn from Charles Morris' description of the river in 1768, that at
the site of the old French settlement at St. Anne's Point there was
about five hundred acres of cleared upland in English grass from
whence the inhabitants of Maugerville got the chief part of their Hay
for their Stock. "They inform me," says Mr. Morris, "that it produces
about a load and a half to an acre." He adds, "The French Houses are
all burnt and destroyed."
An interesting incident connected with the French occupation was
related many years ago by the grandmother of the late Judge Fisher to
one of her descendants. This good old lady came to St. Anne's in the
fall of 1783 with the Loyalists. Not very many months after their
arrival, there was so great a scarcity of provisions that the
unfortunate people in some cases were obliged to dig up the potatoes
they had planted and eat them. As the season advanced their hearts
were cheered by the discovery of some large patches of pure white
beans, marked with a black cross. They had been planted by the French,
but were now growing wild. In their joy at this fortunate discovery
the settlers called them "the staff of life and hope of the starving."
Mrs. Fisher says she planted some of these beans with her own hands
and that the seed was preserved in her family for many years.
The close of the year 1759 brought its anxieties to Colonel Mariot
Arbuthnot, who had succeeded Major Morris as commandant at Fort
Frederick. Quebec had fallen and the long and costly struggle between
England and France for the possession of Canada and Acadia had
terminated in favor of England.
The Massachusetts troops in garrison at Fort Frederick expected to be
now relieved, as their period of enlistment had expired and the crisis
of the war was over. But unfortunately for them, General Amherst at
Crown Point found the force at his disposal insufficient, he could not
spare a man, and Monckton, who commanded at Quebec, was in precisely
the same predicament. Lawrence at Halifax had no troops at his
disposal. Unless, therefore, the Massachusetts men remained Fort
Frederick would be left without a garrison. In this emergency the
Massachusetts legislature took the responsibility of extending the
period of enlistment of the troops of their colony, at the same time
voting money necessary to provide them with beds and other comforts
for the approaching winter. General Amherst strongly commended the
patriotic action of the legislature, and wrote to Governor Lawrence,
"They have judged very rightly that the abandoning any of the
Garrisons may be attended with most fatal consequences to this
country; and as they have made a necessary provision for the men to
continue during the winter, if the men do not stay and serve
voluntarily, they must be compelled to it by force."
Evidently the men remained with great reluctance, for the following spring
we find the Governor of Massachusetts writing to Governor Lawrence, "I
find our people who are doing duty in your garrison--notwithstanding
the favor and attention this Province has shown them for continuing their
services through the winter, and notwithstanding the great encouragement
given to those who would continue--have worked themselves up to such a
temper of dissatisfaction that they have long ago threatened to come off,
if not relieved."
This threat was not meaningless for the governor goes on to say
"already seventy men in one schooner and about eighty in another have
openly come off from Fort Frederick at St. John's."
The conduct of these Massachusetts rangers was a source of mortification
to Lieut. Governor Hutchinson, who speaks of "the unwarrantable
behaviour of the garrison at St. John's River, all of whom have
deserted their post except 40 men and the continuation of those forty
seems to be precarious." Steps were at once taken to enlist a fresh
detachment for service at Fort Frederick.
The conduct of the garrison was not unnatural, although from a
military point of view it was inexcusable. The men had enlisted for a
great and, as the event proved, a final struggle with France for
supremacy in North America. With the downfall of Louisbourg and Quebec
the crisis had passed. The period of their enlistment had expired,
what right had the Assembly of Massachusetts to prolong it? Why should
they remain? So they reasoned. Meanwhile garrison duty at Fort
Frederick was found to be extremely monotonous. The country was
deserted, for the few habitations that once existed in the vicinity of
the fort had been abandoned and destroyed when the French fled up the
river, and no English settlers had as yet appeared. Amidst their
privations and the loneliness of their situation the charms of their
own firesides seemed peculiarly inviting. Most probably, too, the fort
and barracks were little more than habitable in consequence of the
havoc wrought by a terrible storm on the night of the 3-4 November,
1759. This storm was the most violent that had till then been known,
and from all accounts must at least have rivalled the famous "Saxby"
gale of 1869. The tide attained a height of six feet above the
ordinary, and huge waves, driven by the storm, broke through the dykes
at the head of the Bay of Fundy, flooding the marsh lands reclaimed by
the Acadians. Much damage was done along the coast, thousands of trees
were blown down all over the country, while near the coastline the
forest was levelled as with a scythe. A considerable part of Fort
Frederick was washed away by the storm and Lieutenant Winckworth
Tonge, of the Engineers, was sent with a party of men to repair it and
put it in the most defensible state the situation would allow, taking
such tools and materials from Fort Cumberland as were needed. He found
the condition of the fort even worse than he had anticipated. Governor
Lawrence consulted General Amherst as to what should be done, and in
answer the general wrote: "By Lt. Tonge's report to you of the state
of the works at Fort Frederick, it must doubtless undergo great
alterations to put it in a proper state of defence, but as this will
require many more hands than you can provide at present, we must for
the time being rest satisfied with the work you have ordered,
especially as the line of strong Pallisadoes you mention will secure
it against any insult for the present."
Colonel Arbuthnot's anxieties were not confined to tidal waves and the
discontents of his garrison. About the end of October a party of some
two hundred Acadians came down the river to Fort Frederick and
presented to him a certificate of their having taken the oath of
allegiance to the English sovereign before Judge Cramahe, at Quebec;
also an order signed by General Monckton giving them permission to
return to their former habitations. Whether these Acadians were old
inhabitants of the river, or fugitives who had taken refuge there at
the time of the Expulsion is not very clear. Lawrence surmised that
the certificates had been obtained from Judge Cramahe on the
supposition that the people belonged to some river or place in Canada
known as St. Johns, and not to the River St. John in Nova Scotia, and
that they never could have had any sort of permission from Monckton to
settle in Acadia.
The Abbe Casgrain comments severely on the course pursued by Governor
Lawrence on this occasion: "Not being able," he says, "to dispute the
genuineness of the letters of Monckton and Cramahe, Lawrence claimed
that the Acadians could only have obtained them by fraud, and he
decided with his council, always ready to do his bidding, that they
should be regarded as prisoners of war and transported as soon as
possible to England. He took care not to disclose this resolution in
order to keep them securely at the fort, and to have them ready to his
hand when ships should arrive to transport them. This precaution was
almost superfluous for the Acadians, having exhausted their last
resources, were no longer in a state to return to the woods where they
would have died of hunger."
Evidently it was part of the settled policy of Lawrence and his
advisers to keep the Acadians out of the province and to people it
with English speaking inhabitants, and with this policy General
Amherst seems to have been in accord, for he wrote the Governor of
Nova Scotia, "The pass you mention the two hundred Inhabitants of St.
John's River to have from Mr. Monckton, was by no means meant or
understood to give the French any right to those lands; and you have
done perfectly right not to suffer them to continue there, and you
will be equally right in sending them, when an opportunity offers, to
Europe as Prisoners of War."
And yet it was very natural that, after the surrender of Quebec, the
Acadians should believe that upon accepting the new regime and taking
the oath of allegiance to the king of Great Britain they would be
treated in the same way as the French Canadians. The Abbe Casgrain
says, not without reason, that the Acadians had an even greater right
than the Canadians to clemency at the hands of their conquerors as
their sufferings were greater: ["Ils y avaient d'autant plus de droit
qu'ils avaient plus souffert."]
The expulsion at so late a period as this of two hundred Acadians from
the Valley of the River St. John, where they had vainly hoped to
remain in peace, is an incident of some importance. There is an
unpublished letter of the Jesuit missionary Germain to the Marquis de
Vaudreuil, written at Aukpaque on the River St. John, under date
February 26, 1760, which is of some interest in this connection. "I
arrived at the River St. John," writes Father Germain, "on All Saints
Day (Nov. 1, 1759), where I unfortunately found all the inhabitants
had gone down to the English fort with their families, which made me
resolve to go and join them, as I did eight days afterwards, with the
intention of accompanying them wherever they might be sent in order to
help them--some to die as Christians in the transport ships and others
to be of good cheer in the calamity that has befallen them as it did
their brethren who are exiles in New England. But by a stroke of
Providence, Monsieur Coquart, missionary to the French, arrived, and I
desired the commandant to give me leave to retire which he granted
together with a passport permitting me to remain at the priests' house
in my mission where I am now."[46]
[46] I am indebted to Placide P. Gaudet for the above extract. Father
Germain was the missionary of the Indians, while Coquart
seems to have ministered to the Acadians. The latter was a
"secular priest," or one not connected with any religious
order.--W. O. R.
Colonel Arbuthnot had reported to Governor Lawrence that the Acadians
begged leave to remain upon their lands on their promise to be
faithful and true to His Majesty's Government. To this he made answer
that they must come down to the Fort and remain there till he could
apply to the Governor to know what should be done; they came down
accordingly, and were to remain at the Fort until his excellency's
pleasure should be known. The poor Acadians were represented to be in
a starving condition. Their case came before the Governor and Council
for consideration on the 30th November, at a meeting held at the
Governor's house in Halifax, and the decision arrived at was this:
"The Council are of opinion, and do advise that His Excellency do take
the earliest opportunity of hiring vessels for having them immediately
transported to Halifax, as Prisoners of War, until they can be sent to
England; and that the two Priests be likewise removed out of the
Province." The resolve of the council seems to have been carried into
effect. In the month of January, Lawrence sent to the River St. John
for the French inhabitants who, to the number of 300, were brought to
Halifax until he could send them to England. Colonel Arbuthnot was the
agent employed in collecting these unfortunate people and sending them
to Halifax, and being a gentleman of a humane disposition he doubtless
found his task a most uncongenial one. Among his assistants was Joseph
Winniett,[47] a member for Annapolis Royal in the Nova Scotia House of
Assembly.
[47] This gentleman afterwards received an order from Mr. Bulkeley,
the provincial secretary, to take for his own use one of the
French boats "forfeited to the Government by the Acadians that
were at Annapolis," as a reward for his services in going up
the River St. John and assisting Colonel Arbuthnot in bringing
in the French. Winniett had a violent altercation with Captain
Sinclair of the Annapolis garrison about this boat. See
Murdoch's Hist. of N. S., Vol. II., p. 409.