Raid on Grand Pré
Raid on Grand Pré | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of American ranging"[1] | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Indian allies
| Indian allies | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Unknown |
Benjamin Church John Gorham (Grandfather of John Gorham) Winthrop Hilton Cyprian Southack | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | 500 volunteers and warriors | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
About 6 killed, unknown wounded[2] 45 captured | 6 killed, unknown wounded[2] |
The Raid on Grand Pré was the major action of a raiding expedition conducted by the New England militia Colonel Benjamin Church against French Acadia in June 1704, during Queen Anne's War. The expedition was allegedly in retaliation for a French and Indian raid against the Massachusetts frontier community of Deerfield earlier that year.
Departing Boston on 25 May 1704 with 500 provincial militia and some Indian allies, the expedition reached the Minas Basin on 24 June, after raiding smaller settlements at Penobscot Bay and Passamaquoddy Bay. Although he lost surprise due to the famously high tides of the Bay of Fundy, Church quickly gained control of Grand-Pré, and spent three days destroying the town and attempting to destroy the dikes and levees that protected its croplands. The croplands were flooded by salt water, but the local Acadians quickly repaired the dikes after the raiders left, and the land was returned to production. Church continued his raiding expedition, striking at Beaubassin and other communities before finally returning to Boston in late July.
Context
When the
Acadia was at the time dominated by a series of settlements dotting the shores of the
Start of the expedition
Church had previously led expeditions against Acadia during King William's War, and Governor Dudley issued him a colonel's commission for the effort,[13] giving him specific orders to obtain Acadian prisoners that could be exchanged for the English prisoners taken in the Deerfield raid. The expedition was also to be one of punishment: "Use all possible methods for the burning and destroying of the enemies houses and breaking the dams of their corn grounds, and make what other spoil you can upon them".[14] Dudley, however, specifically denied Church permission to attack Port Royal, the Acadian capital, citing the need to get permission from London before taking such a step.[15]
The force Church raised consisted of about 500 volunteers from coastal areas of Massachusetts, including some Indians.
The expedition first sailed for
Grand Pré
The principal detailed account of these events was provided by Colonel Church in his memoirs, first published in 1716.[23] French military officers later summarized the damage caused by the raiders.[2]
Day 1: Arrival
On 24 June/3 July 1704, Church arrived at Grand Pré on the frigate Adventure.[21] Hoping to take advantage of the element of surprise, Church secretly approached the village from behind the heavily wooded Boot Island. His men unloaded the whaleboats to go ashore late in the day and started to move quickly toward the village. Church sent Lieut. Giles ahead with a flag of truce and a written notice demanding the village's complete surrender.[24]
We do also declare, that we have already made some beginnings of killing and scalping some Canada men, which we have not been wont to do or allow, and are now come with a great number of English and Indians, all volunteers, with resolutions to subdue you, and make you sensible of your cruelties to us, by treating you after the same manner.
— Proclamation of Benjamin Church[25]
Church stipulated the Acadians and
Because Church's forces were stuck in the mud exposed by the retreating tide, they lost any element of surprise, and the Acadians took the opportunity to evacuate Grand Pré with some of their cattle and the "best of their goods".
Day 2: Inhabitants driven off
Having withdrawn from the village, the next morning the Acadian and Mi'kmaq militia waited in the woods for Church and his men to arrive. At the break of day, the New Englanders again set off toward the village, under orders from Church to drive any resistance before them. The largest body of defenders fired on the raiders' right flank from behind trees and logs, but their fire was ineffective and they were driven off. The raiders then entered the village and began plundering. Some of the men broke into the liquor stores they found and began drinking, but Colonel Church quickly put a stop to that activity. They spent the rest of the day destroying much of the village.[27] According to one of Church's dispatches, they destroyed 60 houses, 6 mills, and many barns, along with about 70 cattle.[28]
At one point some of the men noticed that some of the Acadians were nearby, driving off some of their cattle. Church detached Lieutenant Barker and some men to give chase, warning them to advance with care. However, Barker was somewhat rash in pursuing the chase, and he and another man were killed before the raiders retreated back to the village.[29]
That evening the raiders built a fortification out of logs while burning the church and the rest of the village. Church reported that "the whole town seemed to be on fire all at once."[29] All but one home was burned.[2]
Day 3: Destruction of the harvest
On the morning of the third day, Church gave the orders to destroy the dykes and, in turn, all of the crops. Seven dykes were broken, destroying most of the harvest and ruining over 200 hogsheads of stored wheat.[2]
To give the impression to the Acadians and Mi'kmaq that his forces were leaving, Church had his soldiers burn the fortifications they had built the day before.[29] He also had them load themselves and the whale boats back onto their transport vessels. Some of the Acadians returned in the night and immediately began to mend the broken dykes. However, Church had anticipated this, and sent men back to the town to drive the Acadians off.[30]
End of the expedition
The next day Church left Grand Pré and went on to raid Pisiguit (present day Windsor and Falmouth, Nova Scotia, not far from Grand Pré), where he took 45 prisoners.[31] He then sailed for Port Royal to rejoin the fleet blockading Port Royal.[2] According to uncorroborated French reports, the blockaders had made some landings in the vicinity of Port Royal, burning a few isolated houses and taking some prisoners. Governor Brouillan organized defenses that successfully prevented further landings.[32]
After rejoining the warships, Church held a council to discuss whether or not to launch a large-scale attack against Port Royal. The council decided that their force was "inferiour to the strength of the enemy", and that they would "quit it [Port Royal] wholly and go about [their] other business".
Aftermath
The prisoners that Church took were brought to Boston, where they were at first given relatively free access to the town. The town selectman complained, and the Acadians were then confined to
The direct effects of the raid were fairly short-lived. Because of the destruction of the crop and stored grain, the colony suffered a flour shortage that winter, although it was not severe enough to cause significant hardship. Grand Pré was rebuilt, the dykes were repaired, and there was a successful harvest in 1706.[35] The memory of the raid however, lasted in the population. As late as the 1740s (after Acadia had become British Nova Scotia) Grand Pré's inhabitants worried about a return of English raiders, and were cautious in their dealing with British authorities.[36]
Dudley's decision to deny Church permission to attack Port Royal had political ramifications: his opponents in Massachusetts accused him of protecting Port Royal because he was benefiting from illicit trade with Acadia. These allegations continued for several years, and Dudley eventually chose to deal with them by launching the failed attacks on Port Royal in 1707.[37]
See also
- Military history of Nova Scotia
- Military history of the Acadians
- Military history of the Miꞌkmaq
Notes
- ^ English records, including Church's accounts, record the dates of these events in the Julian calendar, while French records have them in the Gregorian calendar. At the time, the Gregorian dates were 11 days later than the Julian dates; dates in this article are in the Julian calendar unless both dates are provided.
References
Footnotes
- ^ Grenier (2005), p. 35.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Griffiths (2005), p. 208.
- ^ Drake (1897), p. 141.
- ^ Drake (1897), p. 150.
- ^ Drake (1897), pp. 142, 153.
- ^ Drake (1897), pp. 154–168.
- ^ Haefeli & Sweeney (2003), p. 92.
- ^ Drake (1897), p. 193; Haefeli & Sweeney (2003), p. 122.
- ^ Griffiths (2005), pp. 189, 198–201.
- ^ Herbin (1907), pp. 32–34.
- ^ Herbin (1907), pp. 30–32, 165.
- ^ Griffiths (2005), p. 187.
- ^ Peckham (1982).
- ^ Faragher (2005), p. 109.
- ^ Plank (2001), p. 37.
- ^ a b Griffiths (2005), p. 206.
- ^ Acts and Resolves (1895), p. 332.
- ^ Griffiths (2005), p. 206; Murdoch (1865), p. 272.
- ^ Chard (1974).
- ^ MacNutt (1974).
- ^ a b Griffiths (2005), p. 207.
- ^ a b Rawlyk (1973), p. 98.
- ^ Church (1825), p. iii.
- ^ Church (1825), p. 271.
- ^ Church (1825), p. 272.
- ^ a b Church (1825), p. 273.
- ^ a b c Church (1825), p. 274.
- ^ Weeks & Bacon (1911), p. 108.
- ^ a b c Church (1825), p. 275.
- ^ Church (1825), p. 276.
- ^ Scott & Scott (2008), p. 53.
- ^ Baudry (1982).
- ^ Baillargeon (1982).
- ^ Scott & Scott (2008), p. 53; Drake (1897), p. 212.
- ^ Griffiths (2005), p. 209.
- ^ Faragher (2005), p. 112.
- ^ Griffiths (2005), pp. 213–217.
Bibliography
- The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. Vol. 8. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 1895. OCLC 174120967.
- ISBN 978-1-59233-375-2.
- Baillargeon, Noël (1982) [1969]. "Trouvé, Claude". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 2 (online ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- Baudry, René (1982) [1969]. "Monbeton de Brouillan, Jacques-François de". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 2 (online ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
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- ISBN 978-0-393-05135-3.
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- ISBN 978-0-7735-2699-0.
- Haefeli, Evan; Sweeney, Kevin (2003). Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1-55849-503-6.
- Herbin, John Frederic (1907). The History of Grand-Pré. Toronto: W. Briggs.
- MacNutt, W. S. (1974). "Gyles, John". In Halpenny, Francess G. (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 3 (online ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- Murdoch, Beamish (1865). A History of Nova-Scotia, Or Acadie. Vol. 1. Halifax, Nova Scotia: James Barnes.
- Peckham, Howard H. (1982) [1969]. "Church, Benjamin". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 2 (online ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
- Plank, Geoffrey (2001). An Unsettled Conquest: The British Campaign Against the Peoples of Acadia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-0710-1.
- Rawlyk, George A. (1973). Nova Scotia's Massachusetts. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-8404-4.
- Scott, Shawn; Scott, Tod (2008). "Noel Doiron and the East Hants Acadians". Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. 11: 45ff. Archived from the original on 2 July 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
- Weeks, Lyman Horace; Bacon, Edwin M. (1911). An Historical Digest of the Provincial Press... Massachusetts Series. Vol. 1. Boston: Society for Americana.