How the convocation and arrest of the Acadians succeeded in other places.—A few vessels arrive at Grand Pre.—Winslow decides to put all young men on board—They resist but finally obey. —Scenes of woe and distress—Correspondence between Murray, Winslow and Prebble showing their state of mind—Seven more vessels arrive four weeks later—Departure of the fleet on the 31st of October—Other incidents—Computations about the cattle of the Acadians.

I now go back to Grand I’r<S and other Acadian settlements to resume my narrative in connection with the proceedings to carry out the deportation. Whether it was that the details had not been conceived and executed with so much skill, or that the people were more suspicious, the success of the conspiracy in the other places was not so remarkable as at. Grand Pr<5. Handheld complained to Winslow that several families had taken refuge in the woods: there had even been resistance and some men had been killed.

At Beausjour, where Monckton was commandant, the failure was more striking. The proclamation which convoked all the inhabitants, was generally disobeyed; and Monckton could get together on his transports only about twelve hundred persons. This was about one third of the population. Major Frye, whom he had sent to the settlements of Cliipody, Peticodiac and Memrancook, with orders to bum all the houses and carry off with him the women and children, could execute only the first part of his instructions. At his approach, the entire population, having learnt the fate of those who had obeyed the proclamation, bad fled to the woods. After burning 120 houses at Chipody, the church included, he entered the Peticodiac River and ascended it some distance, burning all the buildings on both sides of the stream. Reaching the principal village, he cast anchor and ordered Captain Adams, with sixty men, to join the detachments of Lieutenants Endicott and Billings, which were inarching up the river along its banks. “Two hundred and fifty houses,” says Haliburton, “were on fire at one time, in which a great quantity of wheat and flax were consumed. The miserable inhabitants beheld, from the adjoining woods, the destruction of their buildings and household goods with horror and dismay; nor did they venture to offer any resistance, until the wanton attempt was made to burn their chapel. This they considered as adding insult to injury, and rushing upon the party, who were too intent on the execution of their orders to observe the necessary precautions to prevent a surprise, they killed and wounded twenty-nine rank and file, and then retreated again to the cover of the forest.”

Major Frye, feeling unable to do any more, withdrew, carrying off with him twenty-five infirm or invalid women found in the houses that were burned.

Abbe Le Guerne, who was in the neighborhood of Beausejour before and after the deportation, related these events n detail at the very time in a letter to the commandant of Louisburg.

“After the taking of Beausejour,” says he, “I thought I perceived that the officers of the Fort were hiding sinister designs, while seeming to be interested in improving the settlements. An order came that all should go to the Fort, to make arrangements, it was said, about the lands. I felt tempted to advise disobedience to this order which, to my mind, boded ill; but, apart from the fact that I had promised the authorities not to meddle in temporal affairs, I feared that the Acadians would not listen to me. For they regarded the English as their masters; they thought themselves secure under the solemn pledge of the capitulation; they thought themselves bound to obedience. For these reasons I could not. dissuade them therefrom without running the risk of bearing the responsibility of all the misfortunes that have befallen them, for this disobedience of some would have been a specious and solitary pretext for severity against all.

“As soon as those that went to the Fort were made prisoners, I saw clearly that concessions became useless. The English commandant, by his tempting promises, by captious offers, and even by presents, thought he had won me over to his interest. Thinking himself sure of me, he sent me word that he wished to see me. I took good care not to fall into the snare he had got ready for me; 1 replied that I did not mistrust him, but that he might receive orders against the missionaries, which he would be obliged to execute against me, and, since he was ordered to deport the Acadians, the only course left for me to adopt was to withdraw; but that 1 should gladly remain if he received contrary orders. To a letter in which he urged me again to banish all distrust, I answered that Mr. Maillard had been put on board ship in spite of the positive assurance of a governor, and that I deemed it better to withdraw than to expose myself in any way.”

Murray, at Pigiguit, fulfilled his task with a success fairly equal to that of Winslow at Grand Pre. The inhabitants did not submit to the proclamation with the same unanimity; yet they all finally yielded without making any resistance. On the very evening of the convocation, lie thus reported his success to Winslow:

“I have succeeded finely, and have got one hundred and eighty-three men in my possession. I believe there are but very few left, except their sick. I am hopeful yon have had equally as good luck; should be glad you would send me Transports as soon as possible. I should also esteem it a favor, if you could also send me an officer and thirty men more, as I shall be obliged to send to some distant rivers, where they are not all come yet.”

The day after the arrest, the prisoners of Grand Pr6 begged Winslow to allow a certain number of them to visit their families in order to acquaint them with what had occurred and to console them. After consulting with his officers, Winslow consented to let twenty prisoners, of whom ten were from Riviere aux Canards and ten from Grand Pro, go every day, by turns, to visit their families, on condition that the others be responsible for their return.

Patrols scoured the country in every direction to seize on such as had not responded to the call. With the exception of some who were killed while trying to run away, and of some others who succeeded in escaping, all those who had held back gave themselves up as prisoners. In a few days the number of prisoners was over five hundred.

Winslow's Journal contains a petition that was addressed to him by the captives a few days after their arrest. It is eloquent in its simplicity, touching by the sentiments it expresses. Strong as was their attachment to their property, to their country; great as were their woes and griefs, what they were most anxious about was their spiritual welfare. In this overwhelming disaster, when it would seem that nature stifles every feeling except the sense of present evil, the last and only favor they begged of their tormentors, who refused it, referred to their religious interests.

“At the sight,” wrote they, “of the evils that seem to threaten us on every side, we are obliged to implore your protection and to beg of you to intercede with His Majesty, that he may have a care for those amongst us who have inviolably kept the fidelity and submission promised to His Majesty ; and, as you have given us to understand that the King lias ordered us to be transported out of this Province, we beg of you that, if we must forsake our lands, we may at least be allowed to go to places where we shall find fellow-countrymen, all expenses being defrayed by ourselves; and that we may be granted a suitable length of time therefor; and all the more because, by this means, we shall be able to preserve our religion, which we have deeply at heart, and for which we are content to sacrifice our property.”

Did Winslow understand the sublimity of the sentiments expressed in this petition ? His Journal does not tell us. He moves on without a word of comment.' He was engaged upon a job that allowed him neither to turn back nor to open his heart to pity. He had orders to arrest the men and lads above ten years, to put them on board the ships and to send them away. He had successfully performed the first part of his task; there now remained the embarkation, which was to be the greatest wrench of all. Lawrence’s pitiless edict willed it so; everything must be sacrificed to ensure the safe accomplishment of his plan.

As indignation was openly expressed at his hardheartedness, he took advantage of the arrival of five vessels to proceed immediately with the embarkation. In the forenoon of September 10th, he sent word to the prisoners by Pere Landry, who acted as interpreter, that two hundred and fifty of them, beginning by the young men. would be put on board ship directly; that they hud but one hour to get ready, seeing that the tide was on the point of ebbing. “Landry was extremely surprised,” says Winslow, “but I told him that the thing must be done, and that I was going to give my orders.” As I have not; access to Winslow’s Journal, I will let Casgrain relate the episode of this embarkation.

“The prisoners were brought before the garrison and drawn up in column, six abreast. Then the officers ordered all the unmarried men, to the number of a hundred and fifty-one, to step out of the ranks ; and, after having put these latter in order of march, they flanked them on all sides with eighty soldiers of the garrison under command of Captain Adams.

“Up to this moment all these unfortunate men had submitted without resistance; but, when they were told to march towards the shore and be there put on board ship, they protested and refused to obey. It was no use commanding and threatening them ; all were obstinate in their revolt, with cries and extreme excitement, saying truly that, by this barbarous measure, sons were-separated from their fathers, brothers from their brothers. This was the beginning of that inexcusable dismemberment of families which has' stained with an indelible blot the name of its authors.

“When one knows that some of these young people were mere lads from ten to twelve years old, and therefore much less to he feared than married men in the vigor of manhood, who had greater interests to protect, it is impossible to understand this refinement of cruelty.”

Let Winslow himself relate this part of the incident:

“I ordered ye prisoners to march. They all answered they would not go without their fathers. I told them that was a word I did not understand, for that the King’s command was to me absolute and ' should be absolutely obeyed and that I did not love harsh means, but that the time did not admit of parlies or delays, and then ordered the whole troops to fix their bayonets aud advance towards the Acadians, and bid the 4 right hand files of the prisoners, consisting of 24 men, which I told off myself to divide from the rest, one of whom I took hold of who opposed the marching, and bid march; he obeyed and the rest followed, though slowly, and wTent off praying, singing, and crying, being met by the women and children all the way (which is mile) with great lamentations upon their knees, praying, etc., etc.”

“Another squad,” Casgrain continues, “composed of a hundred married men, was embarked directly after the first amid similar scenes. Fathers inquired of their wives on the shore where their sons were, brothers asked about their brothers, who had just been led into the ships; and they begged the officers to put them together. By way of answer the soldiers thrust their bayonets forward and pushed the captives into the boats.”

Two days before this lirst embarkation Murray wrote to Winslow:

“I received your favor, and am extremely pleased that things are so clever at Grand Pre, and thaf the poor devils are so resigned; here they are more patient than I could have expected for persons so circumstanced, and, what still surprises me, quite unconcerned. When I think of those at Annapolis, I appear over thoughtful of summoning them in; I am afraid there will be some difficulty in getting them together ; you know our soldiers hate them, and if they can but find a pretext to kill them they will. I am really glad to think your camp is so well secured—as the French said, at least a good prison for inhabitants. I long much to see the poor wretches embarked, and our affairs a little settled, and then I will do myself the pleasure of meeting you and drinking their good voyage."

The vessels that were to bring provisions and transport the captives were very late in arriving. Murray and Winslow were getting impatient; the pressing letters written by the latter to the Commissary, Saul, remained unanswered. After <i long delay a ship laden with provisions appeared before Grand Pr6: but the transports for the Acadians and the ships that were to convoy them did not come till much later. Winslow, writing to a friend at Halifax, thus describes his impressions: “I know they deserve all and more than they feel; yet, it hurts me to hear their weepings and wailings and gnashing of teeth. I am in hopes our affairs will soon put on another face, and we get transports, and I rid of the worst piece of service that ever I was in.”

At last, after four interminable weeks, seven vessels hove in sight, three of which were sent to Murray, who could not contain his joy: “Thank God! ” says he, “the transports are come at last. So soon as I have shipped oil my rascals, I will come down and settle matters with you, and enjoy ourselves a little".

In fairness to Winslow I choose in preference those parts of his Journal which exhibit him in the most favorable light. Where facts that are positively horrible fill so large a space, one eagerly greets a semblance of humane feelings. These are so rare that one need not be squeamish. Such as they are, however, they refresh the soul and cheer the sight like a green oasis after the burning sands of the desert. One longs for them as the diver rising to the surface longs for a breath of air. Nevertheless it is expedient to show what a vile fellow was that Murray who, for many years past, had been in charge of this district, the most populous in Acadia. His letters invariably end with a fervent wish to drink and make merry. Prebble, at least, though he never forgets the enjoyment he hopes to secure, “ the good things of this world,” does not forget spiritual things either, albeit he makes them a text for mockery of the Acadians’ belief. Murray’s mind grovels in gross pleasures alone. He is always thirsty; he is always ready to start the nunc est bihendum, and this thought haunts him ever. Such is the man after his own heart whom Lawrence chose to rule and exasperate this people, to prepare and execute the dark designs he had long been meditating. Think how the oppression of such a sensualist must have weighed on the Acadians, and then wonder at their unvaryingly peaceful submission to the caprices of this despot.

Winslow prepared everything for the embarkation and gave notice to the prisoners to be ready for October 8th: “Even after this warning,” says he, “I could not persuade them I was in earnest.”

I cannot attempt to describe the scenes that marked the embarking of the rest of the people. Winslow thus reports them in his Journal: “Began to embark the inhabitants, who went off very solentarily (sic) and unwillingly ; the women in great distress, carrying off their children in their arms; others carrying their decrepit parents in their carts with all their goods, moving in great confusion, and appeared a scene of woe and distress.”

The four vessels with their human cargo lingered in the roadstead until the 29tli of the same month (October). Meanwhile there remained yet upon the shore more than half the population who had not been able to find place on board.

Some were still hiding in the woods. In order to force them to surrender, Winslow issued the following order, which needs no comment: “If within-days the absent ones were not delivered up, military execution would be immediately visited upon the next of kin.”

“In short,” says Haliburton, “so operative were the terrors that surrounded them, that, of twenty-four young men who deserted from a Transport, twenty-two were glad to return of themselves, the others being shot by sentinels; and one of their friends, Francois Hubert, believed to have been an accessory to their escape, was carried on shore to behold the destruction of his house and effects, which were burned in his presence, as a punishment for his temerity and his perfidious aid to his comrades.”

We have no written proof that acts of cruelty other than those necessitated by the very nature of the enterprise were committed by the soldiers ; but, when we take into account Lawrence’s instructions “to distress them as much as possible,” and the hatred entertained against everything French and Catholic, when the soldiers had about full scope to act as they pleased, the experience of history is there to prove that there must have occurred scenes of cruelty more revolting than those which have been chronicled in Winslow’s Journal.

It must have been to put an end to abuses of this sort that he ordered the soldiers and sailors, under pain of severe chastisements, not to absent themselves any more without leave from their quarters, “that an end may be put to distressing this distressed people.”

Haliburton has supposed that the first vessels which received on October 10th their shipment of young and married men, were sent off directly. This was, indeed according to Lawrence’s orders; but, for want of provisions, and perhaps also because it was thought more prudent to have the vessels accompanied by convoys, they did not set sail till the bulk of the fleet did, at the end of October. Parkman has rightly pointed out this mistake, which tended to demonstrate that the separation of families was general and intentional. True, this evil intention can be demonstrated, whatever may be the time at which the ships set sail: for I have reason to believe that the prisoners remained exactly as they were distributed on board the ships on the 10th of October and that no change was made between that date and the departure. I will give, further on, some instances referring to members of my own family, which seem to settle the question. However, I wish to correct Haliburton’s mistake and to give the reader an opportunity of doubting, if he thinks he honestly can, the correctness of my opinion. There are enough, horrors m this story without exaggerating the reality.

In Winslow’s instructions as to the destination of the Acadians of the Mines District, we read:

To North Carolina, so many.

To Virginia id.

To Maryland such a number of vessels as will transport 500 per-pons, or in proportion, if the number to be shipped off should exceed 2,000.

Now, the total number, from Pigiguit and Grand Pro, exceeded 3,000, and perhaps 3,600. Other vessels followed the first, and the embarkation took place as they arrived, amid the same scenes of desolation and despair. Then, on October 29th, the fleet set sail.

All that vast bay, around which but lately an industrious people worked like a swarm of bees, was now deserted. In the silent villages, where the doors swung idly in the wind, nothing was heard but the tramp of soldiery and the lowing of cattle wandering anxiously around the stables as if looking for their masters.

Lawrence’s orders were that all buildings be destroyed. The last ships that carried off the exiles had not yet passed the entrance to the Mines Basin, when these poor people, casting a farewell glance on their dear native land, perceived clouds of smoke rising from their own roofs. In a few moments all the shore, from Cape Blomedon to Gaspereau was in flames. This was truly an eternal farewell, the utter annihilation of whatever illusions might still have haunted their minds.2

The convoys of the fleet were : the Nightingale, Captain Diggs; the Snow (Halifax), Captain Taggert; the armed schooner, JVarron, Captain Adams, with the following transports:—

that the total number deported from Pigiguit was 1,100, and that, after this first departure, there still remained more than 600 at Grand Pre, we should have to admit that the total number deported from the Hines District would be nearer 4,000 than 2,921, which is, with a variation of units only, the figure invariably given by historians.

Furthermore, Winslow’s Journal, under date of November 3rd, four days after the sailing of the fleet, gives the number deported from Grand Pr<5 as 1,510 in 9 vessels; whereas the list produced above shows 10 vessels instead of 9. Besides, Winslow adds: “ I put more than two to a ton, and the people greatly crowded; there is more than 600 remaining i:i my District.”

If this figure, 1,510, is correct, then there would not be quite two persons to a ton.

It is not easy to account for these discrepancies; still, as we know, from a memorial of Abbe de l’lsle-Dieu, that the population of Mines Basin was, two years before, about 4,500, we may, with more likelihood, I think, estimate the total number deported from this district as between 3,600, and 4,000, and very likely nearer the former than the latter figure. The remainder must either have quitted the country during Lawrence’s administration, or have run away at the time of the deportation.

According to Winslow’s Journal, Murray completed his task about the end of October, having sent off 1.100 persons “in four frightfully crowded Transports." This is strikingly at variance with Bulkeley’s estimate, which gives the number contained in these four vessels as 674, and with my correction raising it to 856. There would still be at least 244 persons to be accounted for, so as to equal Winslow’s eleven hundred. I am inclined to think that, after the sailing of his four1 ships, Murray decided to add his prisoners to the shipment from Grand Pie. The two places were near each other; the departure of so many people had made the doubling of garrisons useless; and it was now more convenient to operate from one point. This would explain how it happened that his task was ended, when we know for a certainty that he still had between two and three hundred prisoners to dispose of. Murray was gasping with thirst; he was burning with desire to join Winslow and enjoy himself.

Though Winslow and Bulkeley’s reports do not agree in the details, they do in the total of the first departure, which they state, respectively, as 2,921 and 2,923. Winslow says he still had 600 to deport; Bulkeley declares he knows nothing of the number embarked later on. The only doubtful point apparently is, whether or not the 600 still with Winslow comprised the 244 needed to complete Murray’s 1,100. Winslow’s task was not done till December 20th, when two vessels laden with 232 persons carried off the remnant of the population.

The total of deported persons at Annapolis, generally estimated at 1,654, seems to agree with what we know of the total population minus the number of those who escaped the deportation. At Cobequid (Truro) the people had been alarmed in time and had taken refuge in Prince Edward Island.

We have seen how, at Chipody and Peticodiac, Major Frye had been able only to burn the houses and arrest a few women. In: the district of Beaubassin those who fell into the hands of the authorities were the inhabitants who dwelt in the immediate neighborhood of Beausejour. Monckton vaguely estimates their number at more than a thousand. This district contained at least 4,000 souls. The total number of Acadians deported at this time may be put down as, at least, 6,500 and, at the utmost, 7,500. We shall see later that this number was ultimately doubled, and that the deportations did not cease till after the peace of 1763.

Six hundred and eighty-six buildings, not including eleven mills and two churches, were burned at Grand Pre and at Riviere aux Canards. The families carried off from these two parishes owned, according to Winslow’s estimate, 7,833 head of cattleyj493 horses, 8,690 sheep and 4,197 pigs. The total amount of live stock owned by the Acadians at the time of the deportation has been variously estimated by different historians, or, to speak more correctly, very few have paid any attention to this subject. Raynal, who cannot be considered a safe guide in this matter, goes as high as 200,000. This figure is altogether too large. Rameau, who has made a much deeper study than any other historian of the domestic history of the Acadians, sets the total at 130,000, comprising horned cattle, horses, sheep and pigs. Whoever will take the trouble to follow this author in tlie patient researches to which he has devoted himself for nearly forty years, cannot help assigning to his opinion on these statistical questions considerable authority. Leaving out of our calculation the few thousand Acadians who then lived in Prince Edward Island, there were, in the Peninsula and in the Beaubassin district, about 13,000 souls. Now, taking Winslow’s figures, both for the population and the live stock at Grand Prd, and applying the same proportion to the entire population of Acadia, we get the following result:

2,300 inhabitants at Grand Pre owned—

Horned cattle 7,838
Sheep 8,690
Pigs 4,197
Horses 493
21,213

Therefore, we may not unreasonably suppose, taking as a basis Winslow’s estimate at Grand Pr6, that the Acadians residing in English territory at the time of the deportation, viz. :

13,000 inhabitants, owned—

Horned cattle 43,500
Sheep 48,500
Pigs 23,500
Horses 2,800
118,300

Rosalie Boure (Bourg), my great-grandmother, wife of Jean Le Prince and mother of Jean Charles Prince, bishop of St. Hyacinthe, P. Q., was then five years old. The impression caused' by the burning of their habitations, when the fleet was going out of the Basin remained always vivid in her mind. She died in 1846 at the age of ninety-six. An oil portrait of her is in my possession.

This report, as well as those of other places, had disappeared from the Archives at the time when Dr. Brown was writing; this one was given him by the Secretary of the Council under Lawrence, Richard Bulkeley, who was still living in 1790. At the bottom of his report he adds :

“N. B. I have made some blunder by the loss of the principal list of those who embarked, but the number of souls that embarked on board the Transports were 2,921. How many embarked afterwards I know not. The remainder of the Neutrals remained until more Transports arrived.”

By some researches I have succeeded in rectifying the list furnished by Bulkeley, with regard to the vessels that sailed from Pigiguit. I have added 182 for this place; my additions are to be found in the extreme right hand column of the list. To equal Bulkeley’s total, 416 would have also to be added for Grand Pre But, as, on the other hand, we know from Winslow’s Journal.