B. The Acadian Saga

From HCO Jr

Part 3. New France → A. Founding of New France → B. Acadian Saga → C. The Royal Colony → D. Fur Traders & Missionaries → E. Daily Life → F. Wars with the English

The First Colony

Quebec, as you learned earlier, was not the first French colony in Canada. The first colony was Acadia. Acadia today is the province of Nova Scotia. Samuel de Champlain was part of the first group that settled in the area in 1604. There is more information about early Acadia in Chapter 2D, "Cartier and Champlain."

Acadia has a long history. Long after Champlain left French settlers continued to come to Acadia and start new lives.

Acadia after Champlain

In 1608 Champlain left to found Quebec. France, however, did not give up on Acadia. It was an important area for a few reasons

The fur trade. The local Mi'kmaq people wanted to trade with the French.
Fishing in the area was very good. It was an important source of food for France.
A settlement provided French ships somewhere to stop, repair and get fresh food and water.

An important Mi'kmaq chief, Membertou, helped to protect the French settlement until more settlers returned. In 1610, Jean de Biencourt, Sieur de Poutrincourt (a French nobleman) returned to Port Royal.

Port Royal, like Quebec, was a very small settlement. In 1613 a pirate named Samuel Argall sailed north from Boston. He and his men attacked Port Royal. They burned the fort, houses and barns. Almost all of the settlers fled into the forest.

This did not stop the small French settlement from growing. In 1625 an important French leader in Acadia married one of Chief Membertou's daughters. This made the alliance between the French and Mi'kmaq even stronger. Settlers expanded their farms. Soon they grew enough food to feed themselves, and sell extra food to French ships that came to their small village.

England attacked Port Royal again in 1628. England and France were at war. It was common for one country to attack the colonies of the country it was at war with. Five brothers known as the Kirke Brothers (Lewis, Thomas, John, James and David) attacked both Quebec and Port Royal. They captured both settlements.

Acadian Life

Acadians lived rural lives. There were only small villages. Port Royale was the largest town. Most people lived on farms, and far apart from each other.

People had very large families. Men and women married when they were 20 years old. Many families had 10 or more children. Unlike France, many of these babies survived. Families in Acadia often had better food and water than families in France, and lived in cleaner homes. Since people lived spread apart it made it difficult for serious diseases to spread.

Acadia had very good soil for farming. Acadians worked very hard to drain salt marshes of water. A salt marsh is swampy land that is beside the ocean.

Acadian Dykes

Farmers built long walls of dirt called dikes. This held back water from the ocean so it did not flood the marsh at high tide. Tunnels and doors were built into the dikes. During low tide farmers opened these doors and water from the marsh drained back into the ocean. At high tide they closed the doors to keep water from running back in. This process took a few years, but it provided excellent farm land.

Unlike modern farms, Acadians grew many different types of food on their land: wheat,flax, oats, peas, and fruit (apples, pears or cherries). All families had cows, sheep or pigs.

Families grew enough food that they could sell or trade some of it. They often traded with English colonies to the south. Althought this was illegal (French colonies could only trade with France or other French colonies) it was impossible to stop. English towns such as Boston and New York were much close to Acadia than Quebec or Montreal.

Acadian families needed manufactured goods: tools for farming, cloth, needles, dishes and many other others. English merchants were very willing to trade with the Acadians even though this was also illegal for them.

The Fortress of Louisbourg

France knew that the St. Lawrence River was very important. There were a number of reasons why it was so important.

Every spring and autumn French ships arrived at or left Quebec. Without the St. Lawrence River no supplies would arrive at French settlements.
England and France were often at war. This meant that the French settlements on the St. Lawrence could be attacked. France needed some way to keep England war ships from entering the St. Lawrence River.
France also relied on the fisheries in the St. Lawrence River, and in the Atlantic Ocean. These fisheries supplied dried fish to the millions of people who lived in France.

France needed to protect the St. Lawrence River. In 1713 it became even more important. France lost the War of Spanish Succession to England. The Treaty of Utrecht ended the war. France ageed in the treaty to give England both Acadia and Newfoundland. England now had control of part of Canada. France only controlled Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island (called Isle Royale and Isle St. Jean at that time)

View of Louisbourg

France started building Fort Louisbourg on Isle Royale in 1719. It was very expensive to build: 20 million livres. Soon a small town grew up around it. Most of the men fished for cod. Others were involved in trade, or made money from the many soldiers that lived in the fort.

Many ships came to Louisbourg each year. Most years 154 ships arrived to trade fish and many other things. Louisbourg was part of a trading system called triangular trade. If one drew a line from Louisbourg, to France, then down to the Caribbean and then back to Louisbourg it would create a triangle. Goods came from many areas:

Caribbean: molasses, sugar, rum, tobacco
English Colonies (Boston, New York): Food and building supplies
France: manufactured goods, fishing supplies, food (wine and other luxuries)

Louisbourg soon became one of the most important trading ports.

Changing Loyalties

The Treaty of Utrecht gave Britain Acadia and Newfoundland. Acadia was renamed Nova Scotia. Some Acadians living there left when the British arrived. They did not want to live under English rule. Many Acadians stayed behind.

At first the Acadians did well with the British. The Treaty of Utrecht allowed them to keep their religion (Acadians were Catholic). In England at that time Catholics did not have the same rights as other people. Catholic priests stayed in the colony to minister to the Acadians.

Acadian farmers also kept their land and their farms. Very soon their population began to grow. In 1711 there were 2500 Acadians living in the maritimes. By 1755 there were 13,000 Acadians living in Nova Scotia.

When war broke out between England and France the Acadians remained neutral. This means they did not fight for either side. This worked well for a while. In 1744 another war broke out between England and France. Mi'kmaq warriors attacked English trading ships.

Edward Cornwallis was governor of Nova Scotia. He worried that the Acadians might attack the British in Nova Scotia. He had no proof that this would happen. In 1749 Cornwallis ordered all Acadians to take an oath of allegiance to England. The oath they had to take read as:

We Promise and Swear, sincerely and in a Christian manner that we will be entirely loyal and that we submit completely to His Majesty George the Second, King of Great Britain, whom we recognize as the sovereign lord of Nova Scotia and Acadia. So help us God.

All of the Acadians refused to take the oath.

Cornwallis did not force the Acadians to take the oath. The war ended. In 1753 Nova Scotia received a new governor: Colonel Charles Lawrence. Lawrence wanted the Acadians to take the oath. He wanted to Acadians to promise to support England during any time of war against the French.

The Deportation of the Acadians

In 1754 Lawrence again tried to force the Acadians to take the oath. The Seven Years War had not yet started in Europe, but English and French forces were fighting in the Ohio Valley. It seemed likely that a war might break out again between England and France (in fact it did, in 1756). Lawrence believed the Acadians might side with the French if war started.

Again the Acadians refused to take the oath. Acadian leaders travelled to the town of Halifax. British leaders told them all Acadians had to take a new oath of allegiance to the King of Britain (King George II). The Acadians refused. They said they had not helped the French during any wars since 1713, and would not help them now. Acadian leaders said they would stay neutral. They would not help the French or the British.

Lawrence did not think this was enough. Lawrence and the Halifax Council (his advisors) decided to expel all the Acadians living in Nova Soctia. Acadian families were taken from their homes and farms. British soldiers burned down barns, destroyed fields and houses. Some Acadians fled to Prince Edward Island (Ile Saint-Jean). When the British conquered Fort Louisbourg in 1758 they expelled all of the Acadians living there.

Expulsion begins

Many Acadians were forced onto ships. Many died at sea from starvation and disease. Those that lived went to French colonies in the Caribbean. Others returned to France. Some Acadians went to the French colony of Louisiana. The descendants of these Acadians still live there today. They are called Cajuns (a short form of the word Acadian). Some Acadians settled in France, but left after a few years and settled in Lousiana with other Acadians. After many generations living in North America they found life in France very different and difficult from life in Canada.

Louisbourg Beseiged

As you read above, war broke out again between England and France in 1756. This war is known as the Seven Years War (1756-1763). In the United States history books refer to it as the French and Indian Wars. It is called this because England was at war with the French, but in North America many First Nations were allies with the French. They fought against the English.

England's generals knew that capturing Fort Louisbourg was an important step towards defeating the French in Canada. In Europe the British navy blockaded French ports. This prevented the French navy from sailing to Fort Louisbourg to help protect it from invasion.

A large British naval force was gathered. It was made up of 150 transport ships and 40 warships. The transport ships and warships combined carried almost 27,000 soldiers and sailors. General Jeffrey Amherst led the British attack on Louisbourg on 8 June 1758. For seven weeks British cannons fired on the fort. British soldiers landed away from the fort, and dragged more cannons onto a small hill overlooking the fort.

Eventually the commander of Louisbourg, the Chevalier de Dracour, had to surrender. The British navy had Louisbourg surrounded. Dracour could not receive supplies or men to help him. He did avoid defeat for seven weeks. This prevented the English from attacking Quebec right away. If they won there would not be enough time for the British to supply Quebec for the winter.

On 26 July 1758 Fort Louisbourg surrendered. In 1760-1761 the British completely destroyed the fort. Britain did not want the fort to still be there if France was allowed to keep Cape Breton Island at the end of the Seven Years War. Many of the original stones were used to make other buildings in Nova Scotia.

Fort Louisbourg was rebuilt one hundred years later. Prime Minister Diefenbaker's government had it rebuilt as an historical site.