| Battle of Grand-Pré | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of King George's War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| France | Great Britain | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay (overall French commander) Nicholas Antoine Coulon de Villiers (French commander), Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot |
Arthur Noble † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 250-300 | 500 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 22 dead and wounded, 50 missing | 75 Killed, 60 wounded, 69 captured | ||||||
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The Battle of Grand Pré, also known as the Battle of Minas, was a battle in King George's War that took place between British and French forces near present-day Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia in the winter of 1747 during the War of the Austrian Succession. Led by Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay, French forces surprised and defeated a company of Massachusetts militia that were quartered in the village.
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In the aftermath of the British capture of Louisbourg in 1745, De Ramezay had been sent from Québec to Acadia to aid the Duc d’Anville Expedition in retaking Acadia from the British. When the failure of the Expedition became apparent, De Ramezay retired to Beaubassin.
In response to the threat of the Duc d'Anville Expedition, Governor Shirley sent Colonel Arthur Noble and hundreds of New England soldiers to secure control over Acadia by removing De Ramezay. Noble's unit was billeted in houses in the Acadian settlement of Grand-Pré, in the Minas Basin at the top of the Bay of Fundy.
De Ramezay delegated command of the attack to Captain Coulon de Villiers. The French made a swift winter march to Grand Pre where they were sheltered and fed by local Acadian families who provided information on the New England positions. The French attackers were outnumbered by the British but used the element of surprise, attacking on the night of February 10 in a blinding snowstorm while most of the British personnel were asleep.[1]
The French attack was initially successful in the close range fighting that followed, killing many New England troops, including the New England commander Col. Noble. However the British force rallied and established a stonghold in a stone house in the village as the fighting continued until the next morning.
After a cease fire, both sides agreed to terms that allowed the British to return to Annapolis Royal with full military honours. The French later retired from Grand-Pré, tending to their wounded in Noel, Nova Scotia (the Cobequid region).[2] The peace settlement retained the status quo in Nova Scotia until the total victory by British forces in 1755 and the Great Expulsion that followed in its wake.
The location of the battle was designated by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in 1924 and marked by a plaque in 1938.[3]
A number of authors have explored the battle in literature. The historian and poet Mary Jane Katzmann Lawson wrote the poem "The Battle of Grand Pre" about 1820[4] Merrill Denison who wrote a radio play "The Raid on Grand Pre" in 1931 and Archibald MacMechan wrote a book "Red Snow on Grand Pré" in the same year.