Book #1: Acadia. TOC
Part 6 -- The Deportation of the Acadians TOC
Ch. 11 --
"Grand Pré, Part I."

On September the 15th Winslow verified a count of the local Acadians. He was to incorporate this count into a reporting letter which he sent along to Governor Lawrence at Halifax.1 This report has come down to us and shows the total number of Acadians with which Winslow was to deal, to be, 2793 people. The document set forth the names of all the males in the area, viz.. Minas (excluding Piziquid) through which run the rivers: Pereaux, Habitant, Canard, St. Antoine (Cornwallis, these days) and the Gaspereau. On it, run the names, page after page. The more common surnames to be found are: Aucoin, Boudrot, Commeau, Dupuis, Granger, Hebert, Landry, LeBlanc, Melanson, and Terriot. Listed are the names of 483 men. From it, we can see that there were in these districts: 387 married women, 527 sons, 576 daughters and 820 "old & infirmed." A count of the live-stock was also set out: 1131 bullocks, 1422 cows, 1959 young cattle, 7210 sheep, 3827 hogs and 419 horses.2

Prior to getting the Acadian count, on September 2nd, a citation had gone out to all the Acadian Habitants of the Minas area. All men, both old and young, including "lads of ten years of age" were ordered, to attend at the church in Grand Pré on Friday, September the 5th, at three of the clock in the afternoon, so that, they might hear of the English king's intentions; and that no excuse will be admitted if they should not appear as ordered, "on pain of forfeiting goods and chattels in default."3

The idea, of course, was, up to this point, to leave the unsuspecting Acadian farmers in their fields so to get as much of the harvest in as was possible; though, as the British knew, not for the benefit of the Acadians. The plan called for taking the well exercised Acadian men into custody before they had too much time to think about things. Their guns had been taken away from them earlier that summer by order of Captain Murray, the commander at nearby Fort Edward (Piziquid, the Windsor of today) Thus, it was hoped that the scheme would come off without shedding blood, nonetheless, extra powder and ball were served out to the men, and, for that day, the fifth, they were ordered to "lye upon their arms."4

They came in: in all, 418 of them. Men and boys from all of the surrounding villages. They all had the same solemn expressions; and dressed, much alike, in rough woolen clothes spun by their women. Some may have arrived the day before, to be put up for the night by their relatives in the Grand Pré area.5 Some traveled directly from their homes varying at distances of up to several miles away. They had time, as the appointed hour was not until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Likely, just after noon a crowd around the pickets of the English camp began to thickened up. They were to be let in, so as to assemble within the church which was now at the centre of the English camp. Best, I am sure the English thought, to leave the Acadians outside of the pickets until it was near the appointed hour.

Winslow had ordered a table to be set up in the middle of the Church. At the desk sat, amply backed with armed men in their red coats, the bewigged 53 year old commander with "double chin, smooth forehead, arched eyebrows, close powdered wig, and round, rubicund face; and there, now at 3 o'clock, there is a congregation of peasants, simply clad, tanned faces, anxious and intent. A motion was made for quiet. Colonel John Winslow, dressed and groomed for the occasioned, with a number of pieces of paper parchment before him and one in hand, then, spoke:

"Gentlemen,
I have received from His Excellency, Governor Lawrence, royal instructions which I have in my hand. You have been ordered to come here together to hear his Majesty's final decision as to what is to become of the French inhabitants of this his Province of Nova Scotia. His majesty, for almost half a century, has extended more indulgences to the inhabitants of this province than to any of his subjects in any other part of his dominions. What use you have made of them, you yourself best know.
The duty I am now upon, though necessary, is very disagreeable to my nature and temper, as I know it must be grievous to you.
But it is not my business to make observations on his majesty's commands, but rather it is my duty to obey them; and, therefore, without hesitation, I shall read to you His Majesty's instructions and commands, to wit,
That your lands and tenements, cattle and live-stock of all kinds are forfeited to the Crown, together with all your other effects, except money and household goods, and that you yourselves are to be removed from this his province."
"That you will now shortly be removed from the province is certain and without appeal. However, through his majesty's goodness, I am directed to allow you the liberty of carrying with you your money and as much of your household goods as you can take without overloading the vessels you go in. I shall do everything in my power that all these goods be secured to you, and that 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 is His Majesty's pleasure that you remain in security under the inspection and direction of the troops that I have the honour to command."6

And thus, almost as an afterthought, the corralled Acadian men were all declared to be prisoners and as such to be detained under guard. The English soldiers stepped forward with guns cocked and flash-pans at the ready. It was as if lightning had struck the audience. Winslow promptly took his leave of the church and proceeded out and over to his quarters at the priest's house. He was, however, unable to elude pleading French elders who managed to follow him. "Our families must be told of what is happening." Winslow then consulted with his red suited officers and it was "arranged that the Acadians should choose twenty of their number each day to revisit their homes, the rest being answerable for their return." The situation, in respect to the Acadian men, as of September 5th, 1755, was that their church was their prison. Additional arrangements were also made so as to allow for family visits; a compassionate move no doubt, but one that was to relieve the English from the trouble and the expense of seeing to their prisoners. Thereafter, during daylight hours, there was to be a steady stream of Acadian women and children who were allowed to come into the church yard. They came to see to their captured husbands, fathers and brothers; they brought baskets of food; and generally to do what they could do to keep their men well.7

I shall come to describe this in greater detail under the Deportation at Chignecto; but, what should be generally known of the Chignecto deportation, was, that, the Acadians at Chignecto were to resist the English as they did in no other place. The Acadians at Chignecto, being for most of its history located well away from English soldiers, were the most independent of all Acadians. There, too, at Chignecto, could be found regular French military officers, such as Boishébert, who, despite the Fall of Fort Beauséjour, were able to keep pressure on the English and generally lead the resistance. One example of this was, where, on August 28th, an English officer, Major Frye, together with 200 New Englanders had been sent to destroy the villages of "Chipody, Memweamcook & Pitcondiack" and to bring in the inhabitants of those areas. He was surprised by a number of Acadians and in the ensuing fight Frye had 24 of his men killed.8 By September the 5th, it is likely that this news of the troubles at the isthmus would have come to Winslow's attention; and it undoubtedly unnerved him. The fact is that Windslow had under his charge near 500 Acadian men; and he had but 300 British soldiers to control them.9

As for Grand Pré, due to smart moves at first, Winslow was to lessen the risk of injury to himself and his men. Straight away, on his arrival at Grand Pré on the 19th of August, he picketed in his camp. Every move was carefully coordinated with his fellow commander at Piziquid, Captain Murray. On the 5th of September, in Machiavellian fashion10, both Murray and Winslow locked up the Acadian men and effectively disabled the communities. The best thing, of course, for the English, was to get all the Acadians aboard the transports and clear them out and away. But, a considerable time was to pass before this was to be accomplished. The delay, due to the late arrival of the transports ships, was not only long and painful to the distressed Acadians; but, so too, to the anxious English officers. It was, incidently, not just the seeming inability to get a sufficient number of transport vessels to Minas, but, also, the general need for supplies for the English soldiers and for the growing number of people being brought under their charge. Winslow's pleas to Colonel Monckton at Chignecto were completely ignored; and those made directly to Governor Lawrence were eventually to be responded to but only after an interminable delay.

Winslow was persuaded that "the government has not provided sufficient vessels."11 Further, he was of the view that what was to come was to come from Chignecto where Monckton was in charge. And further, Winslow was persuaded, that it was Monckton who was responsible for the delay, -- though, officer like, he made no direct statements to that effect.12 On August 31st, Winslow despatched Lt. Crooker in the "large whale boat" with despatches that had come up from Halifax and a letter from himself to Monckton: "I apprehend you have directions to supply us with ammunition of which we stand in present need ... let not flints & cartridges be forgotten ... [also] molasses."13 Within the week a vessel came in from Chignecto. The requested supplies were aboard, together with 50 men, presumably sent to reenforce Winslow. This was done, clearly on Governor Lawrence's orders, not because of any request made by Winslow. There was a letter delivered to Winslow by Monckton's commissary; it is telling that there was, at this time, no note from Monckton himself.

Winslow and Murray waited. They both had prisoners now under guard. What was needed were the transports in sufficient number to carry the inhabitants off. But where were they? They had five, but three times that number would be needed. Though apprehensive, due to the reported difficulties at Chignecto, Winslow experienced no trouble with his Acadians. On September the 8th Captain Murray was to write from Fort Edward: "I ... am extremely pleased that things are so clever at Grand Pré and that the poor devils are so resigned. Here [Piziquid] they are more patient than I could have expected for people in their circumstances, and, which still surprises me more, is the indifference of the women who really seem quite unconcerned."14

The differences between the characters of Murray and Winslow may well be perceived in the reading of the two short biographical sketches I have made. The correspondence between the two certainly show that Winslow, though conscious of his duty, was compassionate in the manner in which he carried it out. This conclusion is supported by all of his actions and is readily spotted in his writings, for example, in writing Murray on September 5th, "Things are now very heavy on my heart."15 Another example is to be had in his letter to Hinshelwood at Halifax, dated September 29th, 1755, "it hurts me to hear their weeping & waling and nashing of teeth, I am in hopes our affairs will soon put on another face and we get transports and I [am] rid of the worst peace of service ever I was in."16 Murray, on the other hand, treated the Acadians as a sub-species: "you know our soldiers hate them and if they can find a pretense to kill them, they will ... I long much to see the poor wretches embarked and our affair a little settled and then I will do myself the pleasure of meeting you and drinking your good voyage."17

I mentioned that Winslow experienced no trouble with his Acadians, and, generally, throughout all of this, that seemed to have been the case; though, there were a couple of times when he was obliged to tangle with his prisoners. The first time was to occur on September the 10th. Early on that day, there was a disturbance of which we have no details. This was to bring home once again to Winslow's mind the danger of keeping 500 men prisoners when all he had was but 300 men to do the job. He hardly had enough men to act as around-the-clock guards. Then, there was the business of sending out patrols to the surrounding areas to see if indeed all the Acadian men had responded to the order to come in, to verify counts and to check on the families. And, so too, at any given time there was a detachment of men out on courier service, either to Fort Edward, or Annapolis Royal, or off in the whale boat to Chignecto. As we have seen, the transport vessels that Governor Lawrence had arranged to come up from Boston had begun to arrive on August the 30th, three of them arrived: the Mary, the Endeavour and the Industry. The number was to come up to five, when, the Elizabeth came in on the 4th and the Leynord on the 6th. Now, when his concern about the trouble in camp was combined with the observation that he had five empty transports hanging on their rodes just at the mouth of the Gaspereau, a switch was thrown in Winslow's head. Why! He would, -- he would use these five vessels as floating prisons. These transports couldn't swallow up all the Acadian men that he had by then imprisoned; but, if he could get a couple of hundred of them onto the vessels, then, that would relieve his situation considerably.

Winslow called his officers together and informed them of his plans which he wished to carry out without delay on that day, the 10th. He would put fifty French men on each of the five transports. The youngest and strongest would be chosen. To bolster the crew of the vessels he would put aboard six soldiers on each. An armed vessel, the Warren (Capt. Adams) was also at the mouth of the Gaspereau River and it could act as a shepherd. The five transports and the Warren once loaded would then drop down into deeper water. The trick would be to get these men embarked.

At Grand Pré there was a sixty-five year old Acadian by the name of François Landry. He had a farm at la rivière des Habitants and had come, in response to the English order, to the church at Grand Pré with his sons, only to be captured there along with all the rest of the Acadian adult men. He was to become the spokesman for his fellows; this, mainly, I suppose, because he could speak English.18 Winslow sent for Landry on the morning of the 10th and he was soon standing before Winslow, likely with cap in hand. Winslow "told him the time was come for part of the inhabitants to embark and that the number concluded for this day was 250 and that we should begin with the young men and desired he would inform his brethren of it." Landry was, as Winslow explains, "greatly surprised." Winslow responded, "it must be done." Landry was to get the Acadian men lined up in the yard six deep with the young men to the left. Winslow then told Landry that there was not much time as the transports would be pulled up at high tide, -- they had but an hour to get themselves ready. Now, it seems clear that Winslow did not tell Landry that he was taking this step for security reasons, seemingly not wanting to give the Acadians any idea that they, the English, were at all concerned about their position; for, every one in the camp and soon the women outside the camp came to the idea that the men were to be shipped away as a separate lot.19 This belief on the part of the Acadians was to cause quite a scene.

All of Winslow's men, I would say a couple of hundred, were lined up with guns at the ready.20 The Acadians were assembled. The young Acadian men, as had been directed were to the left; they were separated out and a count was made: 141 of them. Captain Adams, with eighty men, was ordered to put them under guard and march them to the vessels. These young men were ordered to march. They were all possessed with the idea that they were to be torn from their families and sent away at once; and they all, in great excitement, refused to obey the marching order. These men did not want to be separated from their fathers who were then just opposite them and on the right. These young men continued to assert they would not move without their fathers. They responded in unison, No, no, -- they would not move. Winslow wanted most of all to avoid blood shed, and, knew that he must take the matter firmly into his hands for the sake of his own men and that of the prisoners. He dramatically stepped up and with firm resolve rudely grabbed a young French demonstrator. "I do not understand the word, "No" in the face of the king's command and shoved him with great force in the direction of the path they were to take. "There would be no parleys or delays." Winslow called out to his line of soldiers to advance with fixed bayonets. The young man picked himself up and started to move down the path, fearfully looking back over his shoulder; the rest followed, albeit slowly. They went off, as Winslow was to write in his diary, "praying, singing, and crying." The families of these men were stationed, it seems on route, one that extended for a mile and a half from the church to the bank of the river mouth. The women were inconsolable, thinking, as they did, that these dearly loved young men were to be taken away from them. They were there at stations, along the route, "in great lamentation, upon their knees, praying" with unallayed grief stamped on their faces.21

Soon, there followed the second lot under escort of 80 men and Captain Osgood. The married men followed along, and, as Winslow was to put it, "the ice being broken," they did so without incident. The second group amounted to 89 men, so with the 141 young men, the English had successfully embarked 230 Acadian men aboard the five transports.22

Maintaining the 250 men aboard the vessels might have proven to be a problem for the English, but a simple solution was struck upon; Winslow was to allow the Acadian women who were ashore to take care of their men aboard the ships. He would "permit them to have their familys and friends provide for them their victuals and dress it and send it on board." To accomplish this, the transports would move up once a day on the high tide near the shore, and -- well, Winslow explains:

"I ordered all the boats to attend on the top of every tide that should happen in the day time to receive such provisions as should be brought by the women and children for those on board their respective vessels, and that a French man come in every boat to receive and see that the provisions be delivered to each person to whom it was sent and to permit as many French people to go on board to see their friends as their several boats could carry."23