Battle at Chignecto

Battle at Chignecto
Part of Father Le Loutre’s War

Charles Lawrence
Date September 3, 1750
Location Chignecto, Nova Scotia
Result British victory
Belligerents
Mi'kmaq
Acadians
Great Britain
British America
Commanders and leaders
Jean-Louis Le Loutre, Louis de La Corne, Joseph Broussard (Beausoliel) Charles Lawrence, John Gorham, Captain John Rous
Strength
300 Mi'kmaq and Acadians 700 British regulars and New England Rangers
Casualties and losses
unknown 20 killed

The Battle at Chignecto happened during Father Le Loutre’s War and was fought by 700 troops made up of British regulars led by Charles Lawrence, New England Rangers led by John Gorham and Captain John Rous led the navy. They fought against a militia made up of Mi’kmaq and Acadians led by Jean-Louis Le Loutre and Joseph Broussard (Beausoliel). The battle happened at Isthmus of Chignecto, Nova Scotia on 3 September 1750.

Contents

Historical context

Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. To prevent the establishment of Protestant settlements in the region, Mi'kmaq raided the early British settlements of present-day Shelburne (1715) and Canso (1720). A generation later, Father Le Loutre's War began when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports on June 21, 1749.[1] By unilaterally establishing Halifax the British were violating earlier treaties with the Mi'kmaq (1726), which were signed after Father Rale's War.[2]

Within 18 months of establishing Halifax, the British also took firm control of peninsula Nova Scotia by building fortifications in all the major Acadian communities: present-day Windsor (Fort Edward); Grand Pre (Fort Vieux Logis) and Chignecto (Fort Lawrence). (A British fort already existed at the other major Acadian centre of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Cobequid remained without a fort.)

After the raid in Dartmouth in 1749, on October 2, 1749, Cornwallis offered a bounty on the head of every Mi'kmaq. He set the amount at the same rate that the Mi'kmaq received from the French for British scalps. As well, to carry out this task, two companies of rangers were raised, one led by Captain Francis Bartelo and the other by Captain William Clapham. These two companies served along side that of John Gorham's company. The three companies scoured the land around looking for Mi'kmaq.[3] After the destruction of Mirligueche (later known as Lunenburg, Nova Scotia), the Siege of Grand Pre was the first recorded conflict after Cornwallis’ bounty proclamation.

In May 1750, Lawrence was unsuccessful in getting a base at Chignecto because Le Loutre burned the village of Beaubassin, preventing Lawrence from using its supplies to establish a fort. (According to the historian Frank Patterson, the Acadians at Cobequid also burned their homes as they retreated from the British to Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia in 1754.[4]) Lawrence retreated, but he returned in September 1750.

The Battle

On September 3, 1750 Captain John Rous, Lawrence and Gorham led over 700 men to Chignecto, where Mi’kmaq and Acadians opposed their landing. They had thrown up a breastwork from behind which they opposed the landing. They killed twenty British, who in turn killed several Mi’kmaq. Le Loutre's militia eventually withdrew to Beausejour, burning the rest of the Acadians' crops and houses as they went.[5]

Aftermath

After the battle, the British built Fort Lawrence at Chignecto and the Mi'kmaq people and Acadians continued with numerous raids on Dartmouth and Halifax.

References

Endnotes

  1. ^ Grenier, John. The Far Reaches of Empire. War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2008; Thomas Beamish Akins. History of Halifax, Brookhouse Press. 1895. (2002 edition). p 7
  2. ^ Wicken, p. 181; Griffith, p. 390; Also see http://www.northeastarch.com/vieux_logis.html
  3. ^ Thomas Beamish Akins. History of Halifax, Brookhouse Press. 1895. (2002 edition). p 19.
  4. ^ Frank Harris Patterson. History of Tatamagouche, Halifax: Royal Print & Litho., 1917 (also Mika, Belleville: 1973), p. 19
  5. ^ Grenier, p. 159

Primary Sources

Literature cited