Acadian History Vine

To some, Acadia, is a remote corner of New Brunswick, to others a historic area of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Many believe it includes the three Maritime provinces and even extends into Quebec. There is confusion about Acadia’s origin and meaning, and  few people agree on the exact area it encompasses, yet it is a name of extensive geographical, historical, and cultural significance.

In the on-going search for Asia, the English explorer John Cabot may have landed in Acadia as early as 1497. By as early as 1504, its’ coast had been visited by French fishermen. They took possession of the territory under the reign of Louis XII, King of France (1498-1515).

The first attempt to settle the territory was made by a Frenchman Baron de Lery, in 1518 when Francois I was King of France. This attempt proved unsuccessful.  However, the King of France wanted to share the wealth advantages and benefits derived from the New World as was Portugal and Spain. His intentions were to discover a westward passage to China. The occasion presented itself in 1523 when Giovanni de Verrazano (1486-1528), a navigator and shipmaster from Florence, Italy, made proposals to the court to undertake the voyage and the costs of the expediton to be underwritten by the King.

On January 17th, 1524, Verrazano sailed from the Madeira Islands with two ships, the Dauphine and the Normanda, towards the New World. The crew, consisting of Norman and Breton sailors, attained their destination on March 7th after a voyage of 50 days. They explored the North American coastline from Georgia to Cape Breton Island,  Nova Scotia. His expedition first landed on the coast of present-day Georgia.

On his third landing, on the coast of Virginia, he noted that the areas of Virginia and Delaware were so green and fertile, Indian inhabitants so gentle and friendly, that Verrazano named the territory Arcadia, as one "which we baptize ARCADIA on the account of the beauty of the trees". Theory is that he based his naming on the Greeks’ poetic "Arcadia", a region in ancient Greece with a central tranquillity, innocence, and happiness.

The regions comprising of Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware greatly resembled Nova Scotia and map makers of the day, by error, while copying Verrazano’s maps, changed the location and the spelling from the original. Copies of the original maps no longer exist, however the places he named during his travels are shown on a 1527 map by Vesconte de Maggiolo, although Arcadia does not appear on it.

The variation, Larcadia, first appeared on a 1548 map by Giacomo Gastaldi. He located it near what is now called Cape Cod.

In the 1560’s, another Italian map shifted Larcadia to the northeast, where it supplanted Tierra de los Bretons.

In 1575, French historian Andre Thevet changed the name to Arcadia.

Several other expeditions followed also proving unsuccessful. By the late 1500’s, French fishermen were using the territorial shores for drying codfish they had caught in the nearby fishing waters. These fishermen returned to France each autumn.

In 1599, King Henry IV of France appointed to Pierre Chauvin de Tonnetuit, Lieutenant-General of Canada, the coasts of L’acadie, and other areas of New France for ten years.

A 1601 map by French carographer Guillaume Levasseur used the name Coste de Cadie for what is now Maine.

In the early 1600s, France was determined to strengthen her political and economic position in the New World through colonization. Men of influence in the court were given commissions to establish settlements in L’Acadie in exchange for the rights to profit from the fishery and the fur trade.

In 1603 the French explorer Samuel de Champlain joined an expedition sent to find sites for settlement and trading. He discovered the St. Lawrence River and claimed the territory for France. He wrote a report entitled Des Sauvages in which he used Arcadie for the area now called the Maritimes. He communicated his enthusiam to Pierre DuGast, Sieur de Monts, who obtained a commission from King Henry IV replacing that of de Tonnetuit, giving him a monopoly on trade in the territory. The next year, 1604, Champlain returned with a group of colonists. They built dwellings and a storehouse on St. Croix (Dochet) Island near the mouth of the St. Croix River in New Brunswick adjacent to then current Canadian-US border.  The settlers that lived through the very hard winter, moved to a better site in Nova Scotia in the spring.

By August of 1605, the French built a fort, Port Royal, at the mouth of the Annapolis River in Nova Scotia. But no supplies came from France, so they abandoned the colony in 1607.

After several years of difficulty, another colony was undertaken and was prospering by 1613. L’Acadie became common name in documents and on maps referring to Port-Royal and other settlements around the Bay of Fundy. Vine

Because of its geographical position, Acadia at once became involved in the long struggle between the British and French for possession of the North American continent. The English in the New England colonies sent Samuel Argall of Virginia in July, 1613, during a time of peace, with a British fleet of eleven boats to attack the Acadia settlement. The colony at Port Royal was captured and burned. Sir William Alexander, friend of King James I of England, was presented in 1621 with a patent to all the land known as Acadia. Being a Scotchman, Alexander renamed the region Nova Scotia, latin for New Scotland. By 1629 Alexander’s son built a new fort at Port Royal, however it only lasted until 1632. At that time, the English returned Port Royal to France under the Treaty of St. Germain-en-laye.  In 1630 the Sieur Isaac de Razilly received  a commission to found a settlement on the southern shore of Acadia at La Hève (now LaHave, in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia).   A group of settlers, both males and females, was sent by the French to take control of Port Royal. Among the people he brought over from France were tenant farmers from inland agricultural areas like Poitou and others from places on the coast of France such as Saint-Onge and Aunis. The settlers numbered about 300 men and 12 to 15 women. These colonists, which were to become known as Acadians, came aboard the vessel SAINT-JEHAN arriving on April 1, 1636, along with hired men recruited from Champagne, Anjou, LaRochelle, and Britanny.

The passenger list of the SAINT-JEHAN is all the more important because in all probability this ship brought the first families to settle in Acadia. The fact that there is no record of any birth from 1632 to 1636 would seem to indicate that the early settlers under Razilly were soldiers and builders instead of settlers with wives and children.

The list included:

The following are carpenters who came to Acadia to build boats:

Names of Sauniers (salt makers) who came to colonize the land:

All together,approximately 50 families arrived during the next two decades.

La Hève, with its natural harbour and sheltered inlets, was a very good base for the fishing industry. But in order to survive, the new settlers had to farm as well and La Hève was not nearly as ideal a setting for agriculture as it was for the fishery. Following de Razilly’s death in 1635, his successor moved the La Hève settlers to the area around Port Royal on the Bay of Fundy side of Nova Scotia.
Unlike the rocky Atlantic coast, the shoreline of the Annapolis Basin and along the Annapolis River had many tidal marshes. These marshlands were large, treeless, stone-free plains that were well suited to farming, once dykes had been built to prevent the high Fundy tides from flooding them twice daily.

By the early part of the 1700s, Acadian settlements had spread to similar marshlands around the rest of the Bay of Fundy.  So as time went on, the Acadians developed a unique way of life which found expression in their own language, customs and beliefs.

Three family names from this group turned up in the 1671 census. They were Pierre Martin and Guillaume Trahan, both of Bourgueil, and Issac Pesselin, of Champagne. Two other names, Bugaret and Blanchard, of La Rochelle, are listed without furthur identification.

Register records from 1626 to 1650 include family names of:

Other early settlers were:

Others included

New arrivals from 1686 to 1698 bore the names of:

From 1698 to 1714, they arrived with names of:

The crossing of the Atlantic Ocean from the ports of France to Acadia was usually done in the spring, so that the ships would arrive in the summer months. The voyage usually took about seven weeks. The crews as well as passengers could expect storms that could occur without notice at any given moment and although their ships were not involved in the lucrative trade of gold, sugar, or coffee that other ships of the southern seas were, they were none the less in danger of being attacked by pirates and corsairs, who would lay in wait on the Grand Banks to prey on the cargoes of fish, furs, and goods from the rich territory of Acadia.

During the years of war, attack by enemy ships happened more often, but on the whole, life was pleasant aboard the vessels and in the evenings, before vespres were sung, the sailors danced with each other, while the passengers were able to walk on deck and go on the bridge for a breath of fresh air.

In order to establish a supply of livestock in New-France, animals such as horses, pigs, oxen, cows, sheep, chickens, etc. were transported from France to New-France in the holds of the French ships. The holds also contained seed grains of all types, flour, casks of wine, and the personal effects of the passengers.

With the onset of the colonization, the major concern for the Acadians was survival in a hostile environment. They provided for themselves through farming, trading, and fishing. Despite these activities, life was very difficult and colonists died from scurvy, infections, and malnutrition.

With the help of the Micmac Indians, the Acadians were better able to adapt to the land and survival became somewhat easier for subsequent generations. The Acadians focused their attention more on the family, their crops, and religion which they held very dear.

"According to the genealogical research of Geneviéve Massigon ("Les Parles Français d'Acadie", 1962,  vol 1, p. 55), "the progeitors of at least sixteen families of different surnames (including LANDRY) came from three small villages -LaChaussée, Martaizé and Aulnay-south of the town of Loudon, province of Poitou).  In these villages, during the early seventeenth century, lived the ancestors of Babin, Breaux (Brault), Gautreau, Hebert, LeBlanc, Landry, Savoie, and other families, whose descendants comprise a large portion of the Acadian and Louisiana French today"

These villages formed a part of the estate of Charles de Menou, Sieur d'Aulnay, who was governor of Acadia from 1635 to 1650. During this time, his chief colonial recruiter, notary Vincent LANDRY, was stationed at the Poitevin town of LaChausée, where he recuited a number of his workers in France to colonize Acadia, and many families from the Loudun continued to migrate to the colony of Acadia. She is quoted by many researchers, including Robert C. West and Carl Brasseau.

In his book, THE FOUNDING OF A NEW ACADIA, Carl Brasseau states "The rugged individualism of the early settlers was tempered by a strong sense of group identity and loyality, particularly within the Aulnay faction. Many of the families brought to Acadia by Razilly in 1632 were bound together by blood and cultural ties.  Establishing themselves in the Port Royal area after the deportation of the Scotish invaders, these related families effectively constituted a clan; the boundaries of the sociological units, however, were quite fluid, and the Loundunaise group quickly absorbed through intermarriage most of the bachelors who subsequently entered the colony as engages, or endentured servants".

"The assimilation of the French immigrants did not compromise the integrity of the mother culture. On the contrary, because Aulnay’s chief colonial recruiter, notary Vincent Landry, was stationed at the Poitevin town of LaChauseee, approximately 55 percent of Acadia’s "first families" were drawn from France’s Centre-Ouest provinces of the Loire River valley and coastal area between LaRochelle and Rochefort while at least 47 percent of the early seventeeenth-century immigrants were former residents of the LaChausse area of Poitou alone. In addition, it is apparent that throughout the early seventeenth century, the engages were drawn consistently from a particular stratum of rural French society—the peasant class—and were destined to serve as laborers in the New World.  Most early French settlers in Acadia thus shared, not only the same subregional culture and language, but also the same agrarian background and non-materialistic values."

And Robert C. West, "The cradle of a large number of Acadian colonists migrated to Acadia from west-central France, in particular the Loire River Valley and the coastal area between LaRochelle and Rochefort (provinces of Aunis and Saintonge)".

Like many people isolated by circumstances, the Acadians had a strong sense of community and performed many tasks together. One of the most important of these was the regular maintenance of the dykes. Another, which was much enjoyed, occurred when a young couple married. The whole village would gather to help clear land and to build a house for them. It became an occasion for work, fun, food and celebration. Music on these occasions was often provided by fiddles and jew’s harps.

For more than a hundred years the Acadians were able to maintain their self-contained lifestyle, enjoying their large families and peaceful communities, strengthened by a firm sense of religion. They lived on friendly terms with their immediate neighbors, the Mi’kmaq Indians, and profited from their trading links with New England and other French settlements. By preference, they had no strong ties with either France or England, and tried to avoid confrontation with them.

In some sense, it was their very isolation from the influence of these major colonial powers, coupled with the impact of the marshland landscape which was their home, which helped the Acadians to establish and maintain their unique way of life.

Therefore, the majority of the Acadians lived by farming and depended tremendously on the fertile land for their livelihood. Throughout history, when the Acadians were discussed by non Acadians, particularily the British settlers, they were referred to as just short of being dumb, lazy, incompetent fools. They were called lazy and were referred to as "Les Defrichheurs D’eau", or movers of water. It was thought that instead of felling trees and clearing the higher ground of stones, which took many hours of very hard work, they chose to drain the low lying land that flooded twice a day and build their farms there instead.  But in actuality, they had developed an innovative method based on old European methods of turning the salt marshes into arable land by the use of adyke system. The dyke was constructed in such a manner as to prevent the tides from flooding the marshes at high tide while allowing the rainwater and melted snow to flow out. This natural "washing" of the marsh over a period of years fostered an expansion of Acadian farmlands. A tremendous amount of labor went into the construction of the dykes and only the concerted efforts of an entire community could endure their construction and the periodic repairs. Although Acadians knew little of the luxuries of life, their prosperous farms assured that they would be spared the ravages of famine. The facts are that these "Les Defrichheurs D’eau" developed the most productive farmland and herds of livestock in all of North America. And some believe it was for this reason that they were removed from this productive land, by a covetous few, who later apportioned this land to "proper protestant British subjects" from New England, who were referred to as the "Planters".

Although the Acadians were remarkably self-sufficient, there were some things they could not make or grow themselves, and for these needs they established trading links with New England and with other French settlements. Molasses, cooking pots, board axes, clay pipes, gunpowder, fabrics, and rum came through New England. Through Louisbourg they obtained cottons, thread, lace, firearms and religious items from France. The Acadians were fond of smoking (both men and women smoked): their clay pipes came mostly from England, although at times they did make their own, using local red clay. In return for these items, the Acadians traded grain from the fertile marshlands, cattle well-fed on salt-marsh hay, and furs they had obtained from trapping and trade with the Mi’kmaq.

But despite the settlement progress made in Acadia, the continuing struggle for supremacy among European countries was carried over to the New World. In 1690 a repeat of itself occurred when English troops under Sir Willaim Phips attacked and captured Port Royal.  Under the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, Port Royal was returned to France.

With the outbreak of Queen Anne’s War in 1710, English and colonist troops again took control of Port Royal. Upon doing so, the name of Port Royal was changed to Annapolis. Under in took control of Port Royal. Upon doing so, the name of Port Royal was changed to Annapolis. Under the Treaty of Utrecht signed in 1713, the French finally gave up Terre-Neuve, the baie d’Hudson and Acadie to the English. This treaty made British subjects of the French Acadians in Nova Scotia.

The French really never accepted the treaty asking the Acadians to leave this land and to go to the Isle Royale or on the shores of the Saint-Laurent river. In time, some Acadians became a source of trouble because of their loyality to France. Some Missionaries, like the abbe’ Le Loutre, played a questionable role as they evangelized the Indians and at the same time pushed them into a holy war aginst the English Protestants.

In 1748, the treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle returned Louisbourg to France, and would have left to special commission the task to redraw the frontiers of Acadie. Since he wasn’t interested in waiting for a possibly infavorable decision the gouverneur La Galissonniere redrew the new borders himself in favor of la France, giving her the isthme de Shediac, all of the baie Francaise.

His successor, La Jonquiere, built on a new border to the forts Beausejour and Gaspereau. But the British were not interested in getting Acadie, renamed Nova Scotia, to tolerate the French claims no matter how legitimate they were. Their first action was to intensify British immigration.

In 1749, Governor Cornwallis brought in 2500 British colonists and built the Halifax settlement.

In the spring of 1750, the Acadians asked permission to leave Nova Scotia.  Governor Cornwallis, realizing that those Acadians may eventaully reinforce the French forces refused and told them that the passports couldn’t be delivered as long as peace wasn’t restored in the province.

The year 1753 marked a change of command and policy in Acadia. Colonel Charles Lawrence took direct charge of the colony.

An arrogant and violent individual, Colonel Lawrence believed that exile was the only solution for the half hearted allegience to the British Crown, the Acadians had exhibited over the past forty-odd years.  So, in July 1755, Lawrence informed London of his decision to deport the Acadians, and, by August 1755, political procedures and military machinery were readied for the deportation of the Acadians.  (Gregory A. Wood - THE FRENCH PRESENCE IN MARYLAND _ 1524-1800 - p. 65-66)

By 1755, the English and French were at what was considered an undeclared war which the next year became what was to be the French and Indian War. Things were going badly for the English colonists in America. In July 1755 word had come of General Braddock’s terrible defeat at Fort Duquesne, during which only young Col. George Washington of Virginia had shown military skill. All along the frontiers, the French and Indians were on the attack, murdering settlers, burning forts and houses, capturing livestock and carrying off scalps as trophies of war. In the wake of this disastrous news a wave of rumors had swept through Maryland that Roman Catholics were plotting.  The Governor’s Council was told in July that there had been "tumultuous Meetings and Caballings among the Negroes" and that some Roman Catholics had "misbehaved in such a manner in some counties as to give his Majesty’s Loyal Subjects just Cause to fear an Insurrection." It asked justices in each county to report whether any such goings-on had occurred in their area. If the rumors were true, they were to arrest the plotters; if false they were to arrest whoever was spreading to stir up an insurrection among Negro slaves, capture the colony, and turn it over to Catholic France. During this occurance, the British tried to compel the Acadians to live up to the terms of the Treaty by having them swear allegiance to the king of England. Due to their refusal to do so the Acadians became victim to England’s attempt to kill their faith and nationality. Determined to exterminate them as a race, England thus began action to exile the Acadians from Nova Scotia.

On the 6th of June, during the seige of Beausejour, Governor Lawrence sent Captain Alexander Murray with 100 soldiers from Ft. Edward (Windsor) and 50 from the garrison at Halifax, to Minas, supposedly on a visit to go fishing. They entered Grand Pre in the evening and distributed themselves two to a house as guests. At midnight, when their hosts were asleep, they seized all of the boats, arms and ammunition they could find and left. (Edouard Richard: "ACADIA", vol. II - Montreal, 1895, p.6) (also "Acadian Miracle" - Dudley LeBlanc - p. 117)   Capt. Alexander Murray, above mentioned, and a resident of Windsor, was born in England and was one of Wolfe's officers at the capture of Quebec.   (He was promoted to a Lt. Col of the 48th Regiment, and with Rodney in the capture of Martinique in 1762.  In recognition of his gallantry, Nova Scotia granted him extensive property in and about Cheverie, Hants County, which remained in his family until 1843 when it was deeded to James Nutting of Halifax.)

The English captured Fort Beausejour, on the neck of the Acadian Peninsula on June 16, 1755.  Shortly after the fall of Fort Beausejour, Fort Gaspereau, which was 12 miles away, surrendered. The French fort at St. John was burned and abandoned, placing Acadia under British control.  Now without fear of reprisals they could get rid of the Acadians. The fall of Fort Beausejour and the subsequent events, together with the news of the defeat of General Braddock in the Ohio valley, sealed the fate of the Acadians.  Governor Charles Lawrence, and his council resolved that it was necessary to deport the Acadians who refused to take an unqualified oath of allegience to the British Crown. This was the "Le Grand Derangement".

After the fall of Fort Beausejour and Gaspereau in the spring of 1755, events progressed rapidly toward deportation. The British authorities in Halifax continued to ban Acadians from using their guns and canoes and in the late summer the plan was put into motion. A delegation of residents of the Minas area were summoned to Halifax by Governor Lawrence and he demanded that they get an unqualified oath of allegience from the Acadians they represented.  When they refused to take the loyalty oath, they were imprisoned on July 3, 1755.  A second group was summoned on July 25 and 28, and they too refused to take the oath. Lawrence and his council then ordered the Acadians' arrest, confinement and dispersal amongst the English Colonies.

The Military were ordered to seize the inhabitants and burn their houses after the completion of the harvest and the hay, grain and produce was stored and secured for the winter.  The principal act of arrest and expulsion at Grand Pre, was carried out by Colonel John Winslow, with Captain Alexander Murray directing the expulsion at Fort Edward at Pisiquid.

Earlier on August 9, 1755 at Fort Cumberland (Fort Beausejour) Col. Robert Moncton captured 250 to 400 Acadians that had been tricked by being summoned to the Fort ostensibly for an important gubernatorial decree regarding their lands and then arrested.

On August 18, 1755, Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow in command of 313  New England and British troops with orders to oversee the deportation of the Acadians from the Minas area, reached the Minas Basin.  They entered Grand Pre and set up a military base at the Church of St. Charles and surrounding land. The Acadians were occupied with the year's harvest and paid little attention to the military build-up.

The story of the "Expulsion of the Acadians" from Pizaquid was in the days of cruel deeds and cruel laws when people were hanged for robbery, imprisoned for debt and goverened by arbitrary officials. Commenting on the expulsion a letter appeared in the New York Gazette under date Monday Monday Aug. 25, 1755 which gives the viewpoint of the English people then in this Province: "We are now upon a great and noble scheme of sending the neutral French out of the Province who have always been secret enemies and have encouraged our savages to cut our throats. If we can effect their expulsion it will be one of the greatest things that ever did the English in America".

On Tuesday, September 2, 1755 - Colonel John Winslow enters in his journal: "Set out early this morning for Fort Edwards having with me Dr. Whitworth and Adjt. Kennedy to consult with Capt. Murrray in this critical situation. Confirmed our proposed plan and determined three in the afternoon to be the time. Made out a citation to the inhabitants to convene them, viz. Those in my district at the church in Grand Pre, those of Capt. Alexander Murray at Fort Edward at Pizaquid. Got it translated into French by Isaac Deschamps, a merchant."

Following is a copy of an ammendment of this summons used by Captain Alexander Murray to summon the male residents of Pisiquid to Fort Edward: (p.73 - Edouard Richard, vol II. -  "Acadia")

"To the inhabitants of Pizaquid as well as ancient as young men and ladies. "Whereas, His, Excellency the Governor has instructed us in his last resolution respecting the matters lately proposed to the inhabitants and has ordered us to communicate the same to the inhabitants in general in person. His Excellency being desirous that each of them should be fully satisfied of His Majesty's intentions which he has also ordered us to communicate to you such as they have been given him."
"I therefore order and strictly injoiyne by these presents, to all the inhabitants as well of the above District as all the other districts both old and young men as well as all lads of ten years of age to attend at Fort Edward at Pizaquid on Friday, by the 5th day of September, 1755, at three o'clock in the afternoon, that we may inpart to them what we are ordered to communicate to them: declaring that no excuse will be admitted on any pretence whatever on pain of forfeiting goods and chattels on default."
Given at Fort Edward in Pizaquid the 2nd day of September in the 29th year of His Majesty's reign A.D., 1755" -  (Signed) Alexander Murray)

The summons were posted the next day, Wednesday, September 3, 1755, for the Acadians to read. (The above was taken from a photo copy of an article that appeared in the Windsor, N.S. newspaper entitled "EXPULSION OF ACADIANS ORGANIZED AT WINDSOR")

Although the Acadians were suspicious of all of the military build-up in the area they were assured that they had nothing to fear and they continued with their harvest and other preparations for the winter.

On Thursday September 4th, 1755, the day after the summons was issued, Colonel John Winslow writes in his journal that September 4th is a good day and the Acadians are busy with the harvest.

On Friday September 5, 1755 at 3:00 p.m., as the crisp cold autum wind chilled the country side and stirred the dry grass of the meadows of the Minas area, the leading citizens, farmers, blacksmiths, priests and notaries, millers and other craftsmen, including all boys over 10 years of age who resided in "la parriosse de Sainte Famille de Pisiquid", had been summoned to gather at Fort Edward. Some 183 men and boys from Pisiquid appeared at Fort Edward in answer to the summons.

When all of the men and boys had gathered at Fort Edward in Pisiquid, Captain Alexander Murray, commander of Fort Edward, dressed in full uniform and wearing a wig, approached the gathering inside the fort.  He was surrounded by his officers and armed militia when he read them their cruel fate. His orders, written by Colonel Winslow, on orders from Governor Lawrence, had been translated into French by Isaac Deschamps, a Hugenot collaborationist merchant.

"GENTLEMEN,- I have received from His Excellency Governor Lawrence, the King's instructions, which I have in my hand. By his orders you are called together to hear His Majesty's final resolution concernming the French inhabitants of this Province of Nova Scotia, who for more than half a century have had more indulgence granted them than any of his subjects in any part of his dominions. What use you have made of it, you yourselves best know."
"The duty I am now upon, though necessary, is very disagreeable to my natural make and temper, as I know it must be grevous to you, who are of the same species. But it is not my business to animadvert on the orders I have received, but to obey them; and therefore, without hesitation, I shall deliver to you His Majesty's instructions and commands, which are, that your lands and tenements and cattle and live stock of all kinds are forfeited to the crown, with all your other effects, except money and household goods, and that you yourselves are to be removed from this his Province."
"The premptory orders of His Majesty are, that all the French inhabitants of these districts be removed, and through His Majesty's goodness, I am directed to allow you your money and household goods, and all of your money and as many of your household goods as you can take without overloading the vessels you go in. I shall do everything in my poweer that all these goods be secured to you, and thast you be not molested in carrying them away, and also that whole families shall go in the same vessel: so that this removal, which I am sensible must give you a great deal of trouble, may be made as easy as His Majesty's service will admit; and I hope that in whatever part of the world your lot may fall, you may be faithful subjects and a peaceable and happy people."
"I must also inform you, that it His Majesty's pleasure that you remain in security under the inspection and direction of troops that I have the honor to command" (see p. 86 - Edourd Richard, vol II - "Acadia")

On Friday,September 5, 1755, Colonel John Winslow also ordered that all males aged 10 years and older in the area gather in the Grand Pre’ Church for an important message from His Excellency, Charles Lawrence, the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. Lured to the church under the surveillance of armed soldiers were 418 Acadians.

Like the decree read in Pisquid, t he decree that was read to the assembled Acadians in Grand Pre stated in part:

"Gentlemen I have received from His Excellency Governor Lawrence the King’s commission which I have in my hand and by whose orders you are conveyed together to manifest to you His Majesty’s final resolution to the French inhabitants of this his province of Nova Scotia who for almost half a century have had more indulgence granted them then any of his subjects in any part of his Dominions. What you have made of them you yourself best know."

Winslow continued and announced the decision of Lawrence:

"I announce you, without any hesitation the orders and instruction of His Majesty, that all your land and houses, animals, constructions of any kind are confiscated by the crown, as well as all of your belongings except your money and your furniture, and that you will be removed from this province which is now his property. But Winslow didn’t tell them where they were being deported to. Then he added: I hope that wherever in the world you will end up at that you will beloyal subjects, a happy and peaceful people"

On Friday, September 5, 1755, when the Acadians were taken into custody, Lieutenant Colonel John Winslow ordered their villages, homes and farms destroyed so they could not return. Winslow’s own journal records burning in one section, 255 homes, 276 barns, 155 outhouses, 11 mills and one church.

The Acadians were made to gather on the shore, where the sight of their homes, farms and church could be seen burning as they left. The beaches were piled with boxes, baskets, bundles, weeping children, some crying for their mothers, mothers looking for their children, sick men and bedridden women being carried by strong maidens or carts. The flames roared for six days in Grand Pre and Coquebid, where 700 houses, 2 churches, 11 mills, and all of the barns and outbuildings were burning.

Those unlucky families already split apart before leaving for their exile had to live through a worst nightmare yet: Governor Lawrence had suggested that the Acadian children be taken away from their parents to make English and Protestant subjects out of them! The English didn’t hesitate to remove and by force, if need, the very young kids away from their already persecuted and devasted mothers.

Murray writes to Winslow on Sept. 5th: "I have suceeded finely and have 183 men in my possession and believe there are very few left excepting the sick. I am hopeful you have had equal good luck. I should be glad you send me transports as soon as possible as you know our fort is but small."

Saturday - September 6, 1755 The LEOPARD - Captain Thomas Church arrives at Minas Basin
The promise made to the Acadians that families were not to be divided during the process were not kept. Lawrence’s motives were not at all sympathetic to the Acadian plight as evidenced in a letter sent to Colonel Robert Monckton:

"I would have you not wait for the wives and the children coming in but ship off the men without them" (quoted in Naomi Griffiths, The Acadian Deportation; Causes and Development, Ph.D thesis)  It was his plan to ultimately strip the Acadians of their lands, goods, guns, children, and even their very names!

Winslow writes Murray: Fort Edward, Sept. 8, 1755 "I have received your favor and am extremely pleased. Here they are more patient than I could have expected for people in their circumstances and what surprises me more is the indifference of the women who are or seem quite unconcerned.  When I think of those at Annapolis I applaud our thoughts of summoning them in. I am afraid there will be some lives lost before they get together. I long to see the poor wretches embarked and the affair a little settled. Then I will do myself the pleasure of meeting you."

It was on September 10th that the first phase of the deportation started…. The manhunt. Hunted from all sides, a defenseless population was brought to the shores. Luckily, warned by those who escaped, a good number of Acadians managed to flee before the soldiers arrived, while others were hiding in small groups in the woods.

Preparing for the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia (Acadia), Governor Shirley and Colonel Lawrence had contracted, or chartered a fleet of about 24 sailing vessels, by the month, for a flat fee per head, from Charles Apthorp and Thomas Hancock of the Boston Mercantile firm of Apthrop and Hancock. It appears that the ships used for the expulsion were a variety of makeshift second hand cargo vessels. And, after they were outfitted and converted in Boston to hold 2 persons per ton (in some cases 300 to 500 persons), they were brought over from Boston to Nova Scotia. The transports were ready on the 11th of October. (Maryland Historical Magazine Vol III #1 March 1908 - The Acadians (French Neutrals) Transported to Maryland - Basil Sollers - p. 7)

The conversion of a schooner of 150 tons cargo, is described by William Faulkner Rushton in "THE CAJUNS - From Acadia to Louisiana" - Noonday Press -New York - p. 51., as follows:

"Before leaving Boston the ships had been renovated by removing the balast stones and the bulk heads of the holds.  In the case of a ship designed to carry 150 tons of cargo, the hold that usually measured approximately 24 feet wide and 48 feet long was lengthened by approximately 12 feet, creating a large area in the hold of the vessel measuring approximately 24 feet wide by 60 feet long. The removal of the floor timbers and the balast stones increased the heigth to approximately 15 feet high. This enlarged hold space was then divided into three levels of just at or slightly over 4 feet high without windows for light or ventilation. The holds were locked creating a prison with no windows for light or ventilation, no sanitary conditions and no heat, except that of the huddled bodies."  Since the ship was designed to hold 150 tons of cargo, and Lawrence had ordered his field commanders to load the ships at 2 persons per ton, 300 people, some times more, were crowded into this space for a voyage in rough seas for up to 3 months.

Friday - September 19, 1755 - 230 prisoners had embarked and 300 or more returned from Halifax and were placed aboard ships.  The whole population of Minas, about 2,000 (excluding Cobequit and Piziquid) was under armed force of 363 men. The wives and mothers of the captives were allowed to go aboard the ships to bring food.

Thursday - October 9, 1755 - Removed the several men that were embarked in three different vessels so as to commode each neighbour for their families to join them when other transports arrived.  (THE HANTS JOURNAL VOL. LXX No. 52 of the WINDSOR, HANTS COUNTY, NOVA SCOTIA, Wednesday, May 12, 1937. - "EXPULSION OF ACADIANS ORGANIZED AT WINDSOR", p. 1 and 12)
Saturday - October 11, 1755 - The transports were made ready and during the months of October and November, in the midst of mass hysteria and Francophobia that followed the defeat of Braddock and the prejudicial reporting of the Maryland Gazette, and when the excitement was on the increase and the minds of the peolple of Maryland were occupied with these real or imaginary dangers, that were supposed to be  so near at hand, the sailing of the ships of the expulsion began the operation of expelling some 913 Acadians to Maryland.

Monday - October 13, 1755 - The sailing orders for the Leopold were givin to Captain Thomas Church by John Winslow. The same orders were given to Captain Milbury of the Elizabeth.

Tuesday - October 14, 1755 - Although Captain Murray, "longed much to see them embarked, and this was on the 8th of September", it was not until the 14th October he was able to get the first lot away. The shipping point was at the north end of Pisiquid at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix rivers. THE HANTS JOURNAL VOL. LXX No. 52 of the WINDSOR, HANTS COUNTY, NOVA SCOTIA, Wednesday, May 12, 1937. - "EXPULSION OF ACADIANS ORGANIZED AT WINDSOR", p. 1 and 12) Upwards to 1000 Acadians were embarked on transports from the King’s Wharf at the foot of Fort Edward, at Pisiquid for deportation to the colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. (John V. Duncanson - Rawdon/Douglas: Two Loyalist Townships in Nova Scotia)

Captain Murray writes on that fateful Oct. 14th: "I am at this moment embarking the people on board the two sloops: the "Three Friends" and the "Dolphin" and had I vessels they should all go on board tomorrow. The third Sloop you said you would send me has not yet arrived. I earnestly entreat you to send her with all dispatch. The season advances and the weather is bad, as for Davis, he is gone away without my knowledge by which means I can do nothing. I am afraid the Governor will think us dilatory. My people are all ready and if you think I may venture to put the inhabitants on board "Davis" I will do it. Even then, with the three sloops and his scooner they will be stowed in bulk." - (Photocopy of THE HANTS JOURNAL VOL. LXX No. 52 of the WINDSOR, HANTS COUNTY, NOVA SCOTIA, Wednesday, May 12, 1937. - "EXPULSION OF ACADIANS ORGANIZED AT WINDSOR", p. 1 and 12)

Tuesday - October 14, 1755 - Fort Edward Oct. 14, 1755 : The vessels here are two sloops of 156 tons, Davis schooner 90 tons. This cannot do. (photocopy of THE HANTS JOURNAL VOL. LXX No. 52 of the WINDSOR, HANTS COUNTY, NOVA SCOTIA, Wednesday, May 12, 1937. - "EXPULSION OF ACADIANS ORGANIZED AT WINDSOR", p. 1 and 12)

Thursday - October 16, 1755 - Captain Murray further states: "Two days later, (on October 16, 1755), the other transport "Ranger" arrived (in Pisiquid). Davis was captain of the "Neptune" and he was replaced by the owner William Ford as master."  (THE HANTS JOURNAL VOL. LXX No. 52 of the WINDSOR, HANTS COUNTY, NOVA SCOTIA, Wednesday, May 12, 1937. - "EXPULSION OF ACADIANS ORGANIZED AT WINDSOR", p. 1 and 12)

Sunday - October 19, 1755 - Because of overcrowding, Captain Alexander Murray wrote Lt. Colonial Winslow reporting on the overcrowding of the vessels assigned to him for the debarking of the Acadians and requested additional transports. (page 9 - Maryland Historical Magazine - Vol. III No. 1, March1908 - "The Acadians (French Neutrals) Transported to Maryland" – Basil Sollers)

It is believed that in Pisiquid, the Acadians were permitted to live in their homes until the transports arrived. This probably accounted for the fact that the Acadian buildings on both sides of the Pisiquid River were not burned, as was the case at Grand-Pre.  Because they were not held prisoner in one central location, as was the case of Grand Pre, it is impossible to establish an accurate list of the persons who were deported from Pisiquid. (John V.Duncanson, - FALMOUTH - A NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP IN NOVA SCOTIA - p.7) (John Wilson, president of Windsor, West Hants Historical Society on videotape).

Tuesday - October 21 1755 - About 1000 Acadians were gathered at Pisiquid on or about Tuesday 21 October, 1755 during the chill of the autumn wind, under the charge of Captain Alexander Murray.  The Acadians were surrounded by British soldiers with fixed bayonets.   It is believed that they were embarked or deported to the colonies along the Atlantic seaboard on the transports Ranger and Dolphin from the Public Landing Place at Pisiquid, (King’s Wharf at the foot of Fort Edward), which is now located at the foot of King Street. After the expulsion, the tidal marshes at the base of Fort Edward were dyked and turned into farmland, and today the location of the expulsion site is well inland.

Tuesday - October 21, 1755 - On that date, Winslow reported that the commander at Fort Edward had arrived off Grand Pre with upwards of 1000 people in Four vessels. The ships remained in the Minas Basin until the other transports carrying Acadian inhabitants from the Grand PrT area were ready to sail and "fell down under the convoy of Captain Adams . . .". (John V. Duncanson - Newport - A Rhode Island Township, p. 4)

Thursday - October 23, 1755 - It is reported that Captain Murray has shipped from Pizaquid his whole and upwards of eleven hundred. (Photo copy of the THE HANTS JOURNAL VOL. LXX No. 52 of the WINDSOR, HANTS COUNTY, NOVA SCOTIA, Wednesday, May 12, 1937. - "EXPULSION OF ACADIANS ORGANIZED AT WINDSOR", p. 1and 12

Monday - October 27, 1755 - 493 Acadians from the parishes of St. Famille and L’Assomption in Pisiguit - and 420 Acadians from the parishes of St. Charles in Grand Pre and Riviere-Aux-Canards and St. Joseph in Grand Pre (for a total of 913 Acadians) boarded six ships, with orders that two persons per ton burden were to be placed on the transports, and sailed for Maryland. Among them were the Ranger, (90 tons burden, Francis Peirey, master) with about 323 (or 263), 83 over her compliment aboard, and  the Dolphin (87 tons burden, Zebad Farman, master) with 227 (or 230), 56 over her compliment aboard.

In order to hasten the undertaking, the ships were overloaded and to make room for even more, the Acadians were forced to leave practically all of their goods on shore, where they were found still lying on the shore by the English settlers who came six years later.  The crowding of the ships in excess of their complement, made conditions aboard the vessel dangerous to health and prevented the Acadians from carrying much of their household goods with them. (page 7 - Maryland Historical Magazine - Vol. III No. 1, March 1908 - "The Acadians (French Neutrals) Transported to Maryland" - Basil Sollers) When the transports that had been assigned to the Minas Bay area were loaded, all 24 ships of the expulsion departed on October 28, 1755. (Albert N. Lafreniere - "ACADIAN DEPORTATION SHIPS" - "Connecticut Maple Leaf", volume 6, published by the French-Canadian Genealogical Society of Connecticut, Inc.). This fleet of 24 ships (14 ships, with 1600 exiles from Grand PrT and 10 ships with 1300 from Beaubassin) were escorted by 3 British warships the "Nightingale", the "Halifax" and the "Warren", and sailed through the Bay of Fundy transporting the exiles to the eastern seabord of New England.

"At the time of weighing anchor, the wind being at East South East - soon blew a violent gale of wind - it overtook them immediately after they passed Cape Porcupine or Blowmedown - both men & women became sick unable to move, which together with the Darkness of the night prevented their design - and they remained sick until they were so far in the ocean as to be out of their knowledge what course to steer when the Storm was over it blew excessive hard at North West Winter coming on, that many of the transports were obliged to send before the wind." (Naomi E.S. Griffiths - "THE ACADIAN DEPORTATION: Deliberate Perfidy or Cruel Necessity" - p.144)

Throughout Acadia, orders were given to continue destroying remaining homes and to roundup livestock. . In this way, Acadians who had escaped, or were planning to, would not have their former homes to run to nor would they have their cattle and sheep to rely on for food.  For those who did run, ingenious ways were contrived by the authorities to force  them out of hiding.  Winslow had warned Acadians that if within 2 days the absent ones are not delivered up, military execution would be immediately visited upon the nex of kin. In the years that immediately followed, Fort Edward was a place of detention for those French who had escaped the first deportation. In 1761 there were 82 Acadian prisoners at Fort Edward, and in the next year 91. Acadian families at Fort Edward, Oct. 5, 1761, 231 and 217 on Oct. 11, 1762. Between June 1763 and March 1764 the average number actually at the fort was 343. These were all eventually removed from Windsor making a greater total than were sent from Grand PrT.

Once these ships put out at sea, many difficulties were encountered.  Bad weather, overcrowding, and sickness are just to name a few! Many died at sea and among the already sick and weakened by the trip, many died after they arrived in the colonies!

Wednesday November 5, 1755 - Six transports with French Neutrals aboard having met with a furious gale after their departure from Mines Basin, had entered the harbor of Boston, to seek shelter for a number of days. Among these five ships were the Ranger and Dolphin. They had also sought shelter in Boston Harbour for a few days and the delay further depleted their supplies which were low since the start of the voyage. The Ranger, Captain Piery, evidently a smaller vessel than either of the other two, arrived with 208, eighty one persons beyond the proper compliment (Nova Scotia Doc., I, 42-4).   While in Boston, the vessels were inspected and it was reported that the passengers aboard the Dolphin were "sickley, occasioned by being too much crowded, 40 lying on deck;" and those on the Ranger were "Sickley and their water bad. They want an allow’e of Rum &c." "Their provisions were reported as short, being 1 lb. Of beef, 5 lb. Flour and 2 lb. Bread per man per week and too small a quantity to that allowance to carry them to the Parts they are bound to especially at this season of the year; and their water is very bad.ö (page 9 - Maryland Historical Magazine - Vol. III No. 1, March 1908 - "The Acadians (French Neutrals) Transported to Maryland" - Basil Sollers) Fresh water and minimal supplies and assistance was given to the passengers by the Massachusetts Bay authorities and the vessels sailed southward.

Tuesday November 18 and Thursday November 20, 1755 - one of the four ships that left from the Minas Bay never arrived at its destination in Pennsylvania and was reported to have been lost during a hurricane and disappeared with all on board, when only three arrived on November 21 and 22, 1755. (THE BRITISH EMPIRE BEFORE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION - Gipson - p. 309)
 
Thursday November 20, 1755 - The Maryland Gazette announced the arrival of the Leopard (87 tons burden, Thomas Church, master) with 178 passengers , an excess of 4 arrived in Annapolis harbor on November 20, 1755, followed by the Elizabeth (93 tons burden, Nathaniel Milbury, master), with 242 passengers, an excess of 56 over her complement.  These two ships carried the Acadians from Grand PrT. (page 7 - Maryland Historical Magazine - Vol. III No. 1, March 1908 "The Acadians (French Neutrals) Transported to Maryland" - Basil Sollers) Thursday November 20, 1755, the Maryland Gazette reported that two ships with Neutral French had arrived at Philidelphia. Of the 454 who landed in Philadelphia in November 1755, smallpox killed 237 in a few weeks.

On December 1, 1755 about 900 Acadians arrived at Annapolis aboard five ships. Governor Horatio Sharpe, who had agreed to let them come in, was off in New York attending an intercolonial council of war. Nobody knew what to do with them. The Acadians themselves asked to be treated as prisoners of war, but this was refused because England and France were not yet legally at war, which was not declared until the next year. Against the advice of Colonel Lloyd, who wanted them kept under restraint, the Council majority voted to let them go "at large and to their own liberty." Council President Benjamin Tasker decided to scatter them around the colony; he sent one shipload to the Patuxent River, one to the Wicomico, one to Baltimore, one to Oxford, and kept one in Annapolis.

A sloop carrying 181 of them anchored in Oxford harbor December 8, 1755, and the captain unceremoniously dumped them on the wharf, gruffly telling them he had no more provisions to give them. As far as he was concerned, they could starve! Then he sailed away, leaving them to the tender mercies of a group of people who hated everything they stood for. In an English colony which was overwhelmingly Protestant in religion, they were French and Catholic.  Their legal states uncertain, their attitude unrelentingly hostile, their homes destroyed, their possessions gone, their language and religion foreign, and with no provision made to furnish them with clothing, shelter and food , the provincial government at Annapolis had made no financial arrangement for then. So hard cash was going to have to be laid out to keep them from starving, if anybody could be found who cared.

At Oxford, one man at least was moved to action by compassion for their plight. Henry Calister, factor (merchant) for the English shipping firm of Faster Cunliffe & Sons, was shocked at their condition. He used his own funds to provide them food and clothing, and immediately started trying to find temporary shelter for them. On Christmas Day, 1755, he sent Anthony Bacon of London, a brother of Rev. Thomas Bacon of Whitemarsh Church an address to be presented to King George II asking for their relief. In a letter accompanying it he said:

"Nothing yet has been done for them by the public…Nobody knows what to do; and few have charity for them. I see no one interested in them but myself…The aversion we have to their principles as Papists, seems to have destroyed the seeds of charity in us."

And in January Callister wrote a lengthy letter to Maryland Governor Horatio Sharpe, who had been out of the colony when the Acadians arrived, telling of the "extraordinary" trouble and expense he had gone to in helping them, and enclosing an itemized bill for which he expected to be reimbursed.

He complained to Gov. Sharpe about the opposition to his efforts by Col. Edward Lloyd, who had wanted the Acadians to be treated as prisoners of war and kept under restraint but said nothing about the fact that Lloyd was contributing five pounds sterling a week toward their support. According to Colonel Lloyd, he also helped out despite his disapproval, ordering his Oxford storekeeper to pay Callister five pounds sterling a week for their subsistence "in order to prevent their starving or being too heavy a burden on the town of Oxford."

The grateful Acadians later wrote Governor Sharpe that they would have died of hunger if it hadn’t been for Calister. "We can say with truth that he has saved our lives" they said.

But Lloyd was furious when Callister, seeking shelter for the refugees, hired young Jeremiah Banning to take a boatload of them up to Wye River and deposit them at the Lloyd plantation. Banning dropped off a few at the Rich Neck estate of Matthew Tilghman and more at Philemon Hambleton’s Martingham, but about 50 were saddled on Lloyd. He was afraid they would be there all winter, for the weather was "very sharp and the sloop froze up in the river." If so, he wrote angrily to Hollyday, it would cost him an additional 12 pounds a week to feed them.

Other Talbot Countians were even tighter with their purse strings. Rev. Thomas Bacon preached a sermon on "charity" at Whitemarsh Church Sunday, Dec. 14, and a collection was taken up "for the relief of the poor, distressed exiles of Acadia." But. He reported sadly, it turned out that his personal contribution was three times as large as that of his entire congregation.

But as a matter of fact, many other persons in Talbot, Queen Anne’s and Dorchester counties, despite their distaste for "Papists," had given Acadian famlies shelter on their estates.  By January 17, Callister reported, all but five of the 27 families had been "placed in good houses for the winter," and most of them were in good health. "There’s on an old woman dead In Dorset (Dorchester County), aged 87." A boatload which he had sent up to the Wye River estate of Colonel Lloyd all had been lodged, but be did not know at what houses.
On Tuesday December 9, 1755 the inhabitants of Port Royal and the remaining 900 from Grand Pre were deported.

Saturday - December 13, 1755 - In Grand Pre, there were some Adacians deported on the scooner DOVE and about 200 on the Brigantine SWALLOW.

Saturday December 20 - 120 Acadians were deported on the scooner RACEHORSE and 112 on the scooner Ranger, for a total of 732 that were embarked on the wintry nights of December, 1755 from Grand Pre.

In his article, "The Acadian Fugitives", which was published in the ,"The New Brunswick Magazine", January, 1899, Placide Gaudet tells of the sufferings of those who escaped deportation in 1755.
"Towards the end of August, on the arrival of the first vessels ordered from Boston to Port Royal to trans-port the Acadians, all the inhabitants residing above the fort on the Annapolis river took flight to the woods. A few days later many of them returned to their dwelling houses, and there remained until they were embarked, on the 4th day of December, on board of the transports.
Twas December, 1755. The once prosperous and flourishing Acadian villages and hamlets in whatare now Annapolis, Kings, Hants, Colchester and Cumberland counties, in Nova Scotia, were no more. An unmerciful soldierly had turned them into flames, and most of their inhabitants were transported on board of vessels to the four points of the compass.
In the depth of the forest could be found here and there small groups of Acadian families, who had escaped deportation by taking refuge in the woods. Others had fled to the St. John, Miramichi and Resti- gouche Rivers, and even to Quebec.  Some had crossed to Cape Breton and Isle St. Jean. A few from Annapolis River had reached Yarmouth county, whilst others had taken refuge on the shores of St. Mary’s Bay, where they remained during the winter of 1755-6.
In the beginning of the month of December a caravan of one hundred and twenty Acadians landed on the south side of Belliveau’s Cove, Digby county, on a small island, which afterwards was called Ile-des-Piau (Piau’s Island-pronounced Peeo), in honor of the leader of these unfortunate fugitives.
Here there was then a small island, and they decided to land and encamp on it for the rest of the winter. I believe it must have been in the evening of the 11th of December they arrived there.  Thomas, in his diary, tells us that it snowed that night in Halifax, and in all probability it is what caused these poor fugitives to choose this lonely spot, for here there was an Indian camp, and they could take shelter in the wigwams of the children of the forest during that night."
What a terrible catastrophe had fallen on the Acadian people.  Pastors and flocks were being tossed at the same time on the rolling waves of an angry sea. The members of families were separated and embarked on different transports.  Their houses and churches were given to flames.  The inhabitants of the peninsula who had escaped deportation were wandering in the forest and shivering with cold and exposure, whilst the perpetrators of these misfortunes and miseries were rejoicing on this Christmas day over the result of their inhuman and cruel work.  The heart-rending sufferings of the unfortunate Acadians were nothing to Lawrence and his associates.
These unfortunate ones, poorly clad, sleeping on beds of twigs spread on bare ground for pillows, often covered with snow after stormy nights, destitute of proper aliment and starving, were often visited by the angel of death, which mercifully ended the sufferings of many. Thus they passed the bleak winter of 1755-6."

Monday February 2, 1756 - Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania wrote to Maryland’s Governor Sharpe and discussed the granting of leaves for Acadians that had been seperated from their families to go and search for them in the other colonies. ("THE BRITISH  EMPIRE BEFORE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION" - Gipson - p. 308 - footnotes)

On March 16, 1756, Maryland’s Governor Sharpe ran into a stone wall when he tried to get money from the General Assembly to repay Callister and others for out-of-pocket expenses. He presented Callister’s bill to the lower house.  He sent a copy of an Act of the Pennsylvania Assembly which regulates the conduct, movement and activities of the Acadians and suggests that they be made to support themselves by their own labors.  (page 12-15 – Maryland Historical Magazine - Vol. III No. 1, March 1908 - "The Acadians (French Neutrals) Transported to Maryland" - Basil Sollers)  They debated it and decided to do nothing about it. Eventually it appears that the governor paid Callister out of his own funds.  Sharpe also fought a losing battle to get the Assembly to vote money for Acadian relief. The tide of anti-French and anti-Papist feeling in Maryland was too high. He appealed to the House to heed the "plight of these unfortunate French neutrals” and even sent a copy of an act passed by the Pennsylvania legislature as a model. But the stubborn Marylanders refused to vote any money for such a purpose. Instead, the Assembly in May passed an act pointing out that it was the governor of Nova Scotia who had saddled the colony with the Acadians in the first place. It declared that although Maryland, "out of compassion," had permitted them to land "in order that they might earn their living by their own labor and industry," some through "obstinacy" refused to support themselves and their children. Therefore the county commissioners were empowered, if they saw fit, to treat the Acadians as objects of charity just as they treated their own poor. Children whose parents could not or would not support them were to be "suitably apprenticed." No Acadian was to be permitted to travel more than ten miles from his place of residence. Under this less then generous arrangement, several of the refugee families in Talbot County applied to the County Justices for relief. They were in desperate straits.

Thursday May 14, 1756 - In Acadia, Lawrence set up a bounty of 30 pounds sterling for each male scalp over 16, and 25 for younger males or women and children. Although this was ostensibly limited to Indians, in practice, the English paid the bounties without inquiring into the race of the original owners of the scalps.

Wednesday May 27, 1756 - The Acadians were quartered virtually as prisoners, not to leave town without a written  permit of the selectmen under penalty of five days in prison or ten lashes. They depended on the cold hand of the public for food clothes and lodging and were given some provisions. (27 May 1756, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland -[Baltimore, 1930] 24: 542 ff. - also Sollers "The Acadians (French Neutrals) Transported to Maryland" - Maryland Historical Magazine 3 (1907): 18.

On July 1, 1756, an order was given by Governor Sharp to destroy any and all vessels that had been prepared by the Acadians for their return to Acadia. (page 16 - Maryland Historical Magazine - Vol. III No. 1, March 1908 - "TheAcadians (French Neutrals) Transported to Maryland" - Basil Sollers)

August, 1756 - While at Oxford, the Acadians petitioned the Maryland legislature for relief and in August 1756, at the Talbot County Court, a petition was presented : "… setting forth that Joseph Bujiale, Fermee and Charles Landree, French neutrals, have each three small children, the oldest of which is not over five years of age… that they cannot support their families, and can hardley get bread for themselves." The justices of the court allowed each 500 pounds of tobacco, then used as money in Maryland, in modern terms about $20.00. Later they alloted 750 pounds of tobacco to Abraham Landry. (Oswald Tilghman, comp., History of Talbot County Maryland, 2 vol., Baltimore, 1915, v.II, p. 500)

A law voted at the legislature of Massachusetts on August 28, 1756, about the Acadians, stated "It is stipulated that if the previous French residents of Nova Scotia are found outside of the town limits that the legislature ordered them to live, for the first offense, they will be at the block for a period of three hours and for a second offense, will receive on their bare back, ten lashes."

On September 21, 1756 the "Mass House" and 2 other houses and a barn were burned at the village Trahan at St. Croi, and on September 23, 1756 the "Mass House", the priest's house and another dwelling were burned at Village Forest (Foret) in Falmouth. (John V. Duncanson - Newport, Nova Scotia - A Rhode Island Township, p.3) The foundation of the "Mass House" is apparently the stone foundation that was found on the Sainte Famille Winery property in Falmouth.

Many smaller deportations continued to occur between 1755 and 1763. Some Acadians from Cap-Sable were made prisoners during British raids and deported either to Boston or to France. Probably the largest deportation occurred after the fall of Louisbourg in July of 1758.  Three thousand five hundred Acadians were deported from I’Ile’ Saint-Jean (today Prince Edward Island) to France. Seven hundred of these perished when two boats were lost at sea.  It was also decided that the Acadians of Ile Royale (now Cape Breton), Ile St-Jean (Prince Edward Island) be transported to France. Between September 8, 1758 and November 5, 1758 it was believed that 2,200 Acadians were embarked on 16 ships destined for France. The transports from Ile Royale and Ile St.-Jean were assembled in November, 1758. However, soon after their departure, the transports were delayed in the Gut of Canso until November 25, 1758 when they finally set sail for France.  After three days at sea a storm blew at night with rough and high seas and sleet and rain, and these stormy conditions seperated the ships. The storm lasted a couple of days.  On December 10, 1758, the DUKE WILLIAM came upon the VIOLET that was listing and in danger of sinking. While assisting the Violet, there was a violent explosion aboard the DUKE WILLIAM. The Violet sank on December 12, 1758 and the DUKE WILLIAM sank on December 13, 1758. Some survivors from the DUKE WILLIAM reached the seaport of Penzanet, England in a life boat. Of the 346 aboard the Duke William, only 4 Acadians and a priest survived. It was reported that 199 Acadians disembarked from the DUKE WILLIAM at St. Malo on November, 1758. This caused some confusion, unless there were two ships named DUKE WILLIAM. An account of the ships that are believed to have sunk with all of the Acadians aboard, can be found in the Acadian Genealogy Exchange, Vol XIX # 3 p. 75 and again In the AGE, Vol XIX # 2 1990 p. 38-40 and in the publication, "The Acadian Exile in St. Malo". Steven White and Father d’Entremont discuss the sinking of the Duke William and the Violet.

The Acadians that were shipped directly to France, disembarked at St. Malo on January 23, 1759 from the "five ships", later identified as the YARMOUTH, MATHIAS, RESTORATION, PATIENCE and JOHN SAMUEL.  After the loss of the DUKE WILLIAM and VIOLET, 9 ships were reported to be in the convoy.

Those sent to Virginia were permitted to remain there only 4 months. The reason they stayed there for such a short time is because the governor of Virginia refused to allow the Acadians to disembark in Virginia. They were forced to stay aboard the ship, where because of the shortage of food and water and unsanitary conditions, outbreaks of Cholera decimated about half of their number. After all attempts to have them disembark in Virginia and with the other colonies likewise refusing them also, they were then sent to England and placed in concentration camps in the port cities of England.  After the Treaty of Paris of 1763, they were released and sent to the maritime ports of Normandy and Britanny. A lot of these the Acadians where amongst the group of Acadians that traveled to Louisiana aboard the seven ships in 1785.

In Baltimore, some exiles lived in an abandoned 2 story house. Able bodied men hired out as fishermen and longshoreman or other day-laborers, while the old and disabled lived on charity.
In summation, the number of Acadians relocated from the expulsion to New England territories is best accounted accordingly:

In November, 1759, one of the worst gales in history of the Province raised the level of the water in the Bay of Funday 6 to 8 feet higher than normal and piled the already high tides against the levees which overflowed the dikes, rendering great areas of the low lying areas unfit for farming for three years. (pages 3-5 - HISTORIC WINDSOR - A Town and County Abounding in Interesting Events - ANCIENT PESSAQUITH , by Florence Anslow)

In 1760, the first settlers from New England began to arrive in Nova Scotia. It was interesting to note that only 35 persons were carried on one sloop and 23 on another. This is in sharp contrast to the 300 or more Acadians (2 per ton) that were packed aboard ships of similar size during the Expulsion of 1755. However, it has been brought to my attention that this is not a fair comparison, since the Planter vessels carried the Planter's livestock as well as the New England Planters.  In Pisiquid (Falmouth), the Acadian buildings and materials which had been left by the Acadians were distributed to the newly arrived New England settlers on July 17, 1760.(John V. Duncanson, - FALMOUTH - A NEW ENGLAND TOWNSHIP IN NOVA SCOTIA - p. 19 )

Following the French deportation about 1760 this section, now the town of Windsor, was granted to Halifax residents who at the time were members of His Majesty's Council.  Following is the list: Hon. Jonathan Belcher, Benjamine Green, John Collier, Charles Morris, Richard Bulkley, Thomas Saul, Joseph Gerrish.

After the deportation, there were about 1500 Acadians quartered or stationed at Fort Edward between 1760 and 1768. By special arrangement, these Acadians were hired as cheap skilled labor to repair and maintain the dikes in the area in return for their rations.  After 1764, when the Acadians were again permitted to own land in Nova Scotia, the Planters wanted the government to continue to supply them with provisions in an attempt to encourage them to stay in the area to work on the Planters' farms.

Following the treaty of 1763, the Acadians who were in England were re-patriated to France and joined the Acadians who were in France established a settlement on a section of land comprised of 57 houses known as the "Ligne Acadienne". This group of 57 farms were built in 1773 by the Marquis De Perusse des Cars, Lord of Monthoiron (Vienne) an intimate of Louis XIV in order to receive the 1500 Acadians that had been in exile for 15 years in the ports at Brittany since their expulsion from Canada in 1755.

In 1785, following many administrative complications, 1,400 of these Acadians left Poitou for Nantes or embarked for Louisiana.

In 1793 the twelve remaining families composed of 73 souls stayed in Archigny and became the owners of their 17 hectare farms. This small group of settlers merged rapidly with the Poitou population and lost their links or ties with their families who stayed in Acadia or left for Louisiana.

Between 1763 and 1790 the exiled Acadians longed for a place where they could be reunited with fellow Acadians and live in peace. That place they longed for was to be Louisiana. Between these years, about 4000 settlers from Canada arrived in Louisiana. Between 1765 and 1770, there were about 1500 Acadians that left the New England coast bound for Louisiana. Another 1600 left the New England coast in 1785 for Louisiana. After enduring much hardships in Europe, some returned to Acadia under the Treaty of Paris (1763).
Between 1763 and 1783, many Acadians drifted about in France under the government welfare system. After several unsuccessful colony attempts by the French government, these despaired people found hope in 1784 in the Spanish government. The king of Spain directed Jose’ de Galvez, Governor of Louisiana, to provide every Acadian family willing to relocate to Louisiana necessary farming implements as quickly as possible and to continue doing so that His Catholic Majesty’s intentions to populate the fertile province of Louisiana might not fail.
On May 10, 1785, the first of seven vessels left France for Louisiana in the process of relocating the Acadians. The seven vessels were:

When the voyage was completed it was reported that approximately 1624 Acadians had been transported to Louisiana.

Upon arriving at New Orleans, the Acadians were quick to go about searching for relatives and friends who had settled earlier throughout Louisiana. They went to The Cajun Coast of Donaldsonville, the Attakapas District, the Opelousas Post, St. Martinville, Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles, and countless other settlements. All-in-all, it is estimated that the number of Acadians forced into exile by the British’s efforts approached twelve-thousand!

Ironically, twenty-one years after the deportation of the Acadians from Acadia, the Colonists revolted against the tyranny of England, and one of their first acts was to seek the aid of France in their war of independence from England. As a matter of fact, the Massachusetts Colony had to repeal her law of prohibiting French people from entering her border in order that Count Rochambeau and his French troops could join Washington and the Colonists in their war against England.

On February 6, 1778, as the Revolutionary war raged on in the New England colonies,  France signed an alliance with the United States and enters the war against the English. Lafayette declares that the plight of the Acadians helped convince him to join Washington in the Revolutionary War against England.

On June 1779, Spain declared war on Great Britain and ordered Spanish Colonial Governor of Louisiana, Bernado de Galvez to organize an expedition and capture the forts at Mobile and Pensacola and to attack and clear the English from the banks of the Mississippi, and the Acadians are called to defend their homes against the British in the American Revolution.

Galvez organizes an expedition which included Acadians from the Acadian Coast, the Attakapas and Opelousas posts and Pointe Coupeee. (Gayarre - History of Louisiana vol. III p. 125-126)

Galvez and his army of Louisiana French volunteers (including many Acadians) capture the British strongholds of Fort Bute at Bayou Manchac, across from the Acadian settlement at St. Gabriel. And on September 21, they attack and capture Baton Rouge and then Natchez. The Opelousas Militia was in the detachment that captured Natchez.  (Citizen Soldiers: Southwest Louisianans Defend the Nation  By. Milke Jones - Lake Charles Press)

"The Louisiana Militia behaved with extraordinary disipline and fortitude. It was found difficult to restrain their ardor, particularly that of the Acadians, who, at the sight of the British troops, being in flamed with rage at their recollection of their old injuries, were eager to rush on those who had desecrated their hearths, burned their paternal roofs to the ground, and driven them into exile like miserable outlaws and outcasts". (Gayarre - History of Louisiana vol. III p. 131)