The Battle of the Petitcodiac, September 2nd, 1755 By Brad Shoebottom Brad Shoebottom has an MA in War Studies from RMC and an MA in Atlantic Canadian History from UNB. The Seven Years War in North America (1755-63) is the war in which the British finally defeated the French throughout North America in battle, but also “won” the peace treaty negotiations, keeping all the battle won territory. The war is known for the great battles at Louisbourg, Quebec, Crown Point, and many other places. Most histories emphasize these great events in Central Canada with Louisbourg as the exception. However, battles also took place in New Brunswick, or Acadia during this war such as the capture of Beausejour near Sackville, NB and the Battle of the Restigouche in 1760.1 This war is also known for its military expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. John Mack Faragher’s recent book A Great and Noble Scheme fills this large void of a lack of comprehensive battle coverage in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.2 Faragher is very comprehensive in all the actions fought in south eastern New Brunswick and the isthmus portion of Nova Scotia for the period 1755-63. However, he limits himself to a brief page and a half to a battle of which few people are aware;3 a battle in which the French defeated a New England provincial military force in 1755 and prevented the expulsion of many of the Acadians on the Petitcodiac River for three years. This same battle saw significant casualties inflicted upon the British colonial troops. This is the “Battle of the Petitcodiac,” September 2nd, 1755. The impetus to attack French Acadia came at the insistence of Massachusetts Governor William Shirley, and his good friend 1 Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor, Charles Lawrence. The previous North American war, King George’s War 1745-9, taught them that their colonies had much to fear from French forces in Acadia. During this war, despite the capture of Louisbourg, French and First nations attacks on New England caused significant losses of life. Thus, both governors wanted to eliminate French military presence from Acadia. Governor Shirley wanted to prevent French and First Nation’s raids on present day Maine. He also wanted to be able to exploit the economic potential of Acadia for the benefit of Massachusetts’s traders.4 Lt Gov Lawrence had more ambitious plans. He realized that a continued French presence in Acadia would continue to threaten Nova Scotia’s security and growth. Thus, he wanted to defeat France militarily, thus solving the military problems of French forces and Indian raids which had been continuous since Halifax’s founding in 1749. He also wanted to rid Acadia of its French population to eliminate any pretence for France claiming Acadia during any peace negotiations.5 A successful military campaign in Eastern Canada required the defeat of Louisbourg: the bastion of French army and naval forces. The defeat Louisbourg could not be accomplished though without attacking its Acadian base of supplies. This meant that Fort Beauséjour had to be captured in the Chignecto isthmus. Fort Beausejour was built to ensure French pressure on Acadians to remain loyal to France and to defend against British Nova Scotia. This intermediate objective would cut the French lines of communications to Québec, and eliminate a valuable source of foodstuffs for the Louisbourg garrison. 2 in Nova Scotia were insufficient for a preemptive attack on Beausejour. The British were also unwilling to send troops for a minor theatre when war did not technically exist. Thus Lt Governor Lawrence and Governor Shirley created a plan for a joint colonial attack on Beauséjour. Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts (1741-57) Lieutenant Governor Charles Lawrence of Nova Scotia By 1755 war had not broken out in Europe, although many expected it soon. Battles were already being fought between the French and English on the 13 Colonies frontiers (Fort Necessity). The forces available Fort Beauséjour The military expedition launched by Massachusetts Governor William Shirley in the spring of 1755 was successful at capturing Fort Beauséjour on June 16. The French forces in the province of New Brunswick were primarily composed of troops at Fort Beauséjour, and small supporting garrisons at Bay Verte (Fort Gaspereau, 33 men) and Sainte Anne’s (Fredericton). The loss of Fort Beauséjour and the small garrison at Bay Verte placed the burden of the defence of continental Acadia (New Brunswick) in the hands of Captain Charles des Champs Boishébert. Boishébert had extensive experience in frontier warfare from his service in New Brunswick and Maine during the 1744-9 war. Boishébert had a small force of 100-150 Troops de Marine and Acadian militia centred on the St John River. He could also commanded the Acadian militia on the Petitcodiac River, the Shepody River, and the Memramcook River, in addition to others in the area around Fort Beauséjour. Boishébert also had as an ally the local First Nations, the Abenakis, for about 100 warriors; warriors who fanatically disliked the Protestant British after being successfully indoctrinated by Roman Catholic French priests in the previous 50 years.6 Capitaine Charles Boishébert, French Commander in Acadia after the fall of Fort Beauséjour After the capture of Fort Beauséjour on June 16th, Colonel Robert Monkton (who later was involved in the capture of Louisbourg and was one of General Wolfe’s brigadiers at Quebec), faced hit and run raids on the part of the First Nations, militia, and Troops de Marine. Wood gathering parties were often ambushed. Monkton knew Boishébert was out there somewhere in New Brunswick but was unaware as to his exact whereabouts. A naval reconnaissance of the St. John’s River in late June indicated Boishébert had burnt his fort at Sainte Anne’s (Fredericton). He disappeared with his troops at the sight of the British force sent to capture the fort.7 Boishébert realized the overwhelming strength of the British after the fall of Fort Beauséjour and sought to avoid 3 decisive battle. Vergor, the former commandant at Fort Beauséjour, had fully expected Boishébert to surrender as Vergor was his commanding officer. So thought the British too. However, Boishébert saw no sense in this. The fall of Beauséjour did not necessarily mean all of New Brunswick should fall to the British. There were many more opportunities to defeat the British as they would need to assert positive control over the Petitcodiac and Saint John’s River. Boishébert also had significant personal assets tied up in the New Brunswick fur trading industry; he could not just let his financial future be decided on one man’s lack of military fortitude. Without any other orders immediately forthcoming from France, Louisbourg or Quebec, Boishébert naturally chose to stand by the Acadians, his First Nations allies, and his personal interests. However, Monkton’s 2,000 plus provincial troops massively out numbered any force that Boishébert could put together. Robert Monkton After the fall of Beauséjour, Monkton received an order on August 5th from Nova Scotia Lt Gov Lawrence to expel the Acadians. His instructions were to burn the Acadians homes down, destroy their crops, kill their livestock, and then ship the inhabitants off to the Thirteen Colonies. Lawrence had long held a desire to rid the province of the Acadians. The Acadians had long held a steadfast neutrality in the part of Nova Scotia captured in 1713. Further, the French priests in Nova Scotia and New Brusnwick encouraged the Acadians to remain true to their faith. The priests also encouraged the Mikmaw of Nova Scotia to carry out attacks on the English settlers who arrived after the founding of Halifax in 1749. Lawrence wanted to remove the Acadian farmers as a source of food supplies for Louisbourg and a communication route from Louisbourg to Quebec. The removal of the Acadians would presuppose the need for a new source of farmers. Lawrence, with the active cooperation of Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, wanted to resettle these Acadian lands with land hungry Protestant s from New England. The removal of the Acadians and replacement with Protestant New Englanders would finally remove the loyalty threat to the crown. As part of the general expulsions of Acadians in the Minas Basin and the Chignecto area, Monkton ordered a Captain Sylvanus Cobb, his sloop, and 30 men to reconnoitre the Petitcodiac River for settlements that may be supporting the raids. Cobb had traded with the Acadians for years and new the upper Bay of Fundy well. Based on this intelligence, Monkton ordered an ad hoc force formed to go up the Petitcodiac River on August 28th. It had a 90 man company under the command of Thomas Speakman from Lieutenant Colonels John Winslow’s 1st Battalions, and a 94 man company under Captain William Britnall from Lieutenant Colonel George Scott’s’ 2nd Battalion. This party was the last of all the 4 expulsion parties deployed. Expulsion forces had already gone out to the Minas Basin and Chignecto Isthmus. The force would be under the command of the Second Battalion’s senior Major, Joseph Frye. These two companies would travel up the Petitcodiac River in separate vessels, the sloop York under Captain Cobb and the schooner Warren under Captain Abraham Adams. The British chose to travel by water using the ebb and flow of the tides to travel from Beauséjour, out into the Bay of Fundy, and back up the Petitcodiac River. This avoided having to march overland exposing the force to attack and crossing the Memramcook and Petitcodiac Rivers. Also, the Colonial force had no guides to direct them overland to the Petitcodiac settlements. Instead, the force would exploit British experience and capability for amphibious operations. Something the British were very used to doing. John Winslow The small force left Beauséjour on August 28th and entered the mouth of the Petitcodiac. It soon encountered the inhabitants of the Shepody River near the mouth on the western side of the river and burnt them out. The force recorded that they had burnt out 181 buildings at Shepody. It would appear the British may have been “generous” in what they called buildings, because the settlements on the lower Petitcodiac could only have these many buildings if all the chicken coops, sheds and outhouses were counted! Only 57 families (57 men, 58 women, 107 boys, and 144 girls) lived on the Shepody River so the 181 buildings-burnt figure seems a bit excessive.8 Unlike the expulsion raids in the Minas Basin and the Chignecto peninsula, there was no calling of the men to a church to inform them of the expulsion. For one, the communities were farther apart. Villages tended to be groups of 3 to 5 house of extended families. In the raid on the lower part of the Petitcodiac River, the force only discovered 23 women and children. Abijah Willard reports 30 Acadian women and children were brought back to Fort Beauséjour from the Petitcodiac River below Hillsborough.9 The question was: Where were the men? History does not record the reactions of the company commanders, but they must have realized the men had gone off to fight in the militia; a sign that they may expect resistance in the future. Given this operation was one of the last of the expulsion raids, and the inhabitants probably knew what was afoot. As the force moved up the river, the smoke columns appearing from downriver would have been ominous -- a signal that a retreat upriver or into the woods was necessary. From the Shepody, the force then moved up river to the French Petitcodiac, the Village-des-Blanchard (or modern Hillsborough), 24 miles or eight leagues from the mouth of the river. (French Petitcodiac is 5 not to be confused with the modern town of Petitcodiac that is 30 km west of modern Moncton.) Along the way they would have stopped to visit settlements in the area of the modern Hopewell Rocks and on the east side of the river. They bypassed the entrance to the north easterly Memramcook River on the east side of the Peticodiac River whose entrance was slightly south of the settlement at Hopewell Rocks. The Memramcook River settlements were a direct 20 km overland march from Beauséjour. They reported destroying more 253 buildings on the Hillsborough and east side of the River.10 This is a figure that once again seems exaggerated since only 54 families, (54 men, 50 women, 122 boys and 122 girls) lived on the whole upper river on both sides.11 Despite Monkton’s order that no troops from an individual transport were supposed to move off on an expulsion raid without all the other troops from the other schooners, Lieutenants John Indicott and Billings and 60 men and Lieutenant Surgeon Jacob March (Marsh) and 10 men unloaded at Hillsborough.12 They were in for a rude awakening. As the 70 troops prepared to burn the church at Hillsborough, they encountered the ready defence of about 80 of Boishébert’s Troops de Marine, some militia, and a group of First Nations.13 Paul Surette asserts that the landed force was actually split in two, with Dr March and his 10 men burning the church at Village-des-Blanchards while Lt’s Indicott and Billings and their men were over a kilometre south to Village-des-Bertrand burning another group of houses.14 The French opened fire at 4:30 in the afternoon.15 The ambush worked perfectly for the French. Due to superior positions of fire, surprise and numbers, the small provincial force withdrew to the dykes on the river. The church stood on ground that was 10 meters higher than the dyked marshland. However, the troops faced a 300 meter dash across open fields (which were likely harvested by this time of the year) to the dykes. The fields would have been intersected with slight drainage channels and deeper drains offering some protection from fire. The dykes offered more protection. From the dykes, it was still another 150-200 meters to the shores edge. Major Frye was still on board the transports which had been driven down the river three quarters of a mile by the current. (Due to the extreme tide ranges on the Petitcodiac (41 feet at Hopewell Cape), the current could easily exceed 10 knots when the tide was going out.) He offloaded his men, (at Village-des-Bertrand) and marched up to the beleaguered force and waited for the transports to move up the river again. The battle lasted for three hours while the expulsion party waited for the schooner to come back upriver. There is some debat as to the number of dead and wounded. The newspapers reported the British lost 23 dead and captured, including Doctor Jacob Marsh.16 The wounded totalled 11 others including the seriously wounded Lieutenant Billings.17 Captain Speakman reports that certainly five or six privates were killed in addition to Doctor Marsh.18 However, records only indicate two confirmed deaths: Lt Marsh and Private Hutson. The French estimated the British losses at 2 killed and 45 wounded.19 The French would be in the position to know the number of dead as they occupied the battlefield post action. Most of these serious casualties occurred in the initial attack and not at the defence of the dyke. The French had not pressed their advantage and attacked across the open marsh fields to the dykes. Such a military manoeuvre was contrary to Boishébert’s general inclination, would have been difficult to coordinate among the three forces under command, and would have thrown away Boishéberts key advantage of 6 snap engagements. However, Frye’s battalion suffered the most casualties and missing. Major Frye re-embarked in their schooner and sailed down the river. Boishébert suffered just three wounded.20 After the provincials withdrew, Boishébert organized the harvest and then evacuated 30 of the families to the Saint John River on September 12th and then onto Quebec.21 In a sense, Winslow succeeded in clearing the Petitcodiac of the Acadians, although he would not necessarily know it until a reconnaissance force could be dispatched. This in fact did not happen until November 1755 and the British continued to fear threats from the Petitcodiac. The Frye’s expulsion party returned to Beausejour since they likely did not know how many troops Boishébert had in the area. Thomas Speakman records though, that they had little powder, it was wet, and they only had provisions for two days.22 This was probably considered scarcely enough to face the resistance that had been offered. Major Frye probably felt the safest thing to do was to return to the protection of numbers and the defences at Fort Beausejour. In fact, the British garrison at Beauséjour expected an attack by Boishébert on September 5th, but they did not appear.23 The source of the information is not clear from Abijah Willard’s journal, but the British may have concluded it would take Boishébert that long to travel from Hillsborough to Fort Beauséjour by land. This was a stunning defeat for the provincials after the success of the capture of Beauséjour. The British lamented their defeat. Monkton blamed Frye for dividing his force. He reported to Lt Gov Spencer Phips of Massachusetts on September 10th saying “the men were some what confus’d at the cry the enemy set up & were oblig’ed to retire.” Monkton further blamed Frye for not using the dykes as a defensive position to cover the withdrawal causing many unnecessary casualties. However, Captain Thomas Speakman blames Doctor Marsh for having separated from the main force to go and burn the church and Lt Indicott for then joining Doctor Marsh. The Boston Gazette reported the sad news with casualty lists on October 6th. The battle even made the news in England as reported in the London Magazine.24 The tactical confusion begs the question: just how competent was the ad hoc force at Hillsborough? Christopher Hand’s research indicates the Provincials had poor camp routine resulting in much sickness, lacked tactical skill in drills, weapons handling, and marksmanship. Despite years of frontier warfare in New England, most of the men recruited had no prior campaigning experience. Thus, the Provincials tended to be used for labour as opposed to drilled formations. Their lack of weapons handling is particularly telling. Winslow want each man to fire at least one round before the attack on Beauséjour.25 The British learned their lesson well. The next raid on September 15th saw 300 men go to Gasperaux and later Aulac to evict the Acadians under Colonel Scott.26 In November, Colonel Scott returned to the Petitcodiac area with a 700-man force under the command of Colonel Scott. He would not be caught with his guard down and his force divided. He marched overland to Memramcock on November 17th, only to find nine women and children. There they burnt 30 houses, 200 cattle, and 20 horses.27 No militia, Indians or Troops de Marine were encountered since Boishébert was on the Saint John River. Most of the provincial troops returned to New England or Halifax that fall,28 and a small garrison were left for the winter. Numerous British defeats in New England, and a concentration of military effort in 7 Pennsylvania and New York for the next two years, meant that the local garrison in Beauséjour was unable to complete the expulsion due to its reduced strength and it only had the combat power to defend the fort. At times it even had to fear for its’ life as Boishébert and First Nations mounted harassing raids on work parties. The French even had a privateer operating out of the upper Petitcodiac.29 While this battle is little known, it did have far reaching consequences for the next few years of the war. The defeat of Major Frye caused the provincials to be more cautious in their attempts to expel the Acadians. Many Acadians correctly interpreted the British supremacy and left the Petitcodiac region to go to Quebec.30 However, Boishébert was still able to move between New Brunswick with some degree of ease—he was present outside the British perimeter during the siege of Louisbourg in 1758. Ile St. Jean did not fall under British control until after Louisbourg’s fall. That being said, few supplies found their way towards Luoisbourg. In fact, requests were made to Louisbourg for the opposite. The following summer, 50 provincials returned to lower Petitcodiac and the Shepody River and took 2 Acadians and their children.31 The upper Petitcodiac River above Hillsborough continued to serve as a place of resistance. The French maintained a privateer on the upper Petitcodiac River that was successful in raiding British shipping in the upper Bay of Fundy. In 1758, Lt Colonel Scott finally returned in force after the capture of Louisbourg. He finished the job the provincials had set out to do in 1755 and expelled or drove off the remainder of the Acadians in the southern part of the province of New Brunswick.32 8 1 See for example, Chris M. Hand, The Siege of Fort Beauséjour, (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2004); J.C. Webster, The Forts of Chignecto (Shediac, NB, 1930); C.H. Little (ed.) The Battle of the Restigouche, (Halifax: Maritime Museum of Canada, 1962); and Gilles Proulx, Fighting at Resitgouche, (Ottawa: Parks Canada, 1999). 2 John Mack Faragher, AGreat and Noble Scheme, (New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. 3 Faragher, AGreat and Noble Scheme, p 350-1. 4 William Shirley to Sir Thomas Robinson, May 8th, 1754, in Correspondence of William Shirley, Vol 2 edited by Charles Henry Lincoln, New York: Macmillan Company, 1912, pp 62-8. 5 For a comprehensive examination of the various reasons cited by Shirley and Lawrence, see Faragher, AGreat and Noble Scheme, chapters 10 and 11, pp 279-334. 6 See Faragher, AGreat and Noble Scheme. 7 J.C. Webster, The Forts of Chignecto (Shediac, NB, 1930), “Lt Colonel Monckton’s Journal of 1755," 2 July 1755. 8 Tintamarre 1752 Census, as transcribed on www.acadian-home.org, “Our Acadian and French Ancestral Home” by Lucie LeBlanc Consentino, 2000, accessed May 14th, 2003. 9 Journal of Abijah Willard, p 51. 10 The London Magazine, December 1755, p. 627, reports 253 buildings included those on the north side of the river. The forces geography was a bit off and they considered the east side of the river below Moncton, NB to be oriented to the north. 11 Tintamarre 1752 Census, as transcribed on www.acadian-home.org, “Our Acadian and French Ancestral Home” by Lucie LeBlanc Consentino, 2000, accessed May 14th, 2003. 12 “The Diary of Doctor John Thomas,” Report and Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, vol 1, 1878, Sept 1 & 2, 1755, pp 131-2. 13 In the Memorial on Behalf of the Sieur de Boishébert, translated by Louise Manny and edited by J.C. Webster, (Saint John, NB: The New Brunswick Museum, 1942), p. 18, Boishébert claims to have only had 90. All English accounts claim Boishébert had 300 Troops, militia and First Nations. Boishébert estimated the provincial force as having 300 men. The number is also reported as 125 Acadians and Indians. France. Archives des Colonies, Series C11A, Correspondence General, Canada Vol 100, folio 86-89. (or Canada, National Archives, C11A vol 100, p 101-107, (microfilm (mfm) F-100 or mfm C-2400). 14 Paul Surette, Atlas de l’établissement des Acadiens aux trios rivieres du Chignectou 16601755, (Moncton: Les Editions d’Acadie, 1996) p 107. 15 France. Archives des Colonies, Séries C11D, vol 8, pp. 222-225 (NAC microfilm number F-175). 16 Captain Thomas Speakman and Jebediah Prebble to Colonel John Winslow, September 5th, 1755 in “Winslow’s Journal of the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755”, Report and Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society for the Years 1882-1883, volume 3, Halifax: Morning Herald, 1883, pp 100-2. 17 The Boston Gazette, on October 6, p 2, column 1, reported the following casualties: Lt-Colonel John Winslow’s 1st Battalion: Major Jede Prebble’s Company: David Lindley wounded and William Mogaridge and Elish Gitchell missing; Major Benjamin Goldthwait’s Company: Lt. Billings wounded and Charles Babon missing; Capt John Malcolm’s Company: Joseph Poguite wounded and David Pike missing; Captain Thomas Speakman’s Company: Joseph Gibbs missing; Captain William Lamson’s Company: Samuel Stoddard and Samuel Chapman missing; Lt Colonel George Scott’s 2nd Battalion: Lt Jacob March killed; Lt Colonel Scott’s Company: Corporal Seth Miller wounded Nathaniel Stone, Elijah Rich, Joseph Bedunah, and Samuel Thompson missing; Major Joseph Frye’s Company: Samuel Clark wounded and Jesse Marble, James Chandler, Samuel McShannon, and John Barker missing; Major William Bourn’s Company: John Hamilton, David Renolds, Samuel Brackgross, and Elisha Sachan missing; Capt Enoch Bayley’s Company: Corporal James Emery and Reuben Greeley missing; Capt Willard’s Company; Hezekiah Stowell wounded, and William Hutson missing; Captain Samuel Gilbert’s Company: Timothy Brown wounded. Abijah Willard reports William Hutson as being killed. “Journal of Abijah Willard of Lancaster, Mass.” Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, Number 13, Saint John, NB, 1930, p. 51. 18 Letter of Captain Thomas Speakman, 5 September 1755 in Thomas C Haliburton, History of Nova 9 Scotia, vol 1, 1829, pp 336-8. 19 France, Archives des Colonies, Series C11A, Correspondence General, Canada, Vol 100, folio 8689, (mfm F-100), or Canada National Archives, MG1, Series C11A, vol 100, p 101-107, (microfilm C-2400). 20 In Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot, Charles. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol 4, p 212-5 there is a claim that Boishébert suffered one killed. In the Memorial on Behalf of the Sieur de Boishébert, Boishébert claims to have lost three men killed, p. 18. 21 France, Archives des Colonies, Series C11A, Correspondence General, Canada, Vol 100, folio 8689, (mfm F-100), or Canada National Archives, MG1, Series C11A, vol 100, p 101-107, (mfm C2400). 22 Thomas Speakman to Colonel John Winslow, September 5th, 1755 as reported in the History of Nova Scotia, volume 1, by Thomas C. Haliburton, (Halifax, 1829), pp 42-4. 23 Journal of Abijah Willard, pp 51-2. 24 The London Magazine, December 1755, p 627. This is the most comprehensive account of the battle in any one source. 25 Christopher M Hand, The Siege of Fort Beauséjour, 1755, (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2003), pp 50-3. 26 Journal of Abijah Willard, p 53-5. 27 “The Diary of Doctor John Thomas,” Report and Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, vol 1, 1878, Nov 17, 1755, pp 136. 28 Journal of Abijah Willard, p 71. See “The Report and Map of Major Scott’s Expedition to Remove the French from the Petitcodiac in 1758,” W.F. Ganong, New Brunswick Historical Society, V, 97, #9, 1930, pp 97-114. 30 In a letter by Abbé Pierre de la Rue to the Minister of the Colonies, November 29, 1755, he comments that he has taken his parish of 2897 inhabitants and moved them to Quebec. France, Archives des Colonies, Series C11A, Correspondence General, vol 29 100, folio 239-240, mfm (F-100) (or Canada, National Archives, MG 1 Series C11A vol 100, p 307-310 mfm (C-2400)). 31 Vaudraeul de Cavagnial to the Minister of the Colonies, August 6, 1756. France, Archives des Colonies, Series C11A, Correspondence General, Canada, Vol 101, folio 78-83, (mfm F-101), or Canada National Archives, MG1, Series C11A, vol 101, p 73-82, (mfm C-2400). 32 For Lt Colonel Scott’s removal of the Acadians on the Petitcodiac River in 1758 see “The Report and Map of Major George Scott’s Expedition to Remove the French From the Petitcodiac in 1758,” in the Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, No 13, 1930.