I dedicate this article to the brave Acadian souls who sadly perished in the years of 1755-1762, fiercely loyal to their faith, folk and King Louis XIV of France

Introduction

Acadia was a French colony in northeastern North America, encompassing present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and parts of Maine. Established in the early 17th century, it developed as a distinct settlement separate from Quebec, forming a unique French maritime society along the Atlantic coast.

The Acadians were among the first French settlers in North America, and like all ethnic Canadians, they underwent ethnogenesis in the New World, shaping a culture and identity distinct from both their French ancestors and the neighbouring Québécois. Descended primarily from northwestern French settlers, they developed their own dialect, traditions, and way of life. A common misconception is that the Acadians were primarily of Occitan (southern French) descent. This belief likely stems from the fact that many expelled Acadians later resettled in Louisiana, where they mingled with Occitan settlers, helping shape the unique Cajun culture, which blends Acadian and southern French influences.

Acadian society thrived on agriculture, dike construction, trade, and salt mining. Their first permanent settlement was established in Port-Royal in 1605, just four years before Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City. Over time, they adapted to the rugged environment, building strong ties with Indigenous peoples, particularly the Mi’kmaq, and establishing a self-sufficient economy.

But the Acadians' refusal to pledge unconditional loyalty to the British Crown led to their forced deportation during the Grand Dérangement (1755–1764). As the British sought to secure control of volatile Acadia, they expelled thousands from their homeland. Many were scattered across the Thirteen Colonies, France, and the Caribbean, while others found refuge in Quebec or Louisiana, where they became the ancestors of the Cajuns. Despite the hardships, most eventually returned to the Maritimes, where their descendants live on.

Today, the Acadian people remain a resilient and distinct community in Canada. National Acadian Day is celebrated with festivals, music, dance, and cultural gatherings, the most famous tradition being the Tintamarre—a lively parade where participants make as much noise as possible using bells, horns, and pots and pans. The largest celebrations take place in Caraquet, New Brunswick, though similar events occur across the Maritimes.

Despite their forced removal, the Acadians rebuilt their communities and maintained their unique identity. Today, they number more than 11,000 in Nova Scotia and 25,000 in New Brunswick. They forged a strong, self-sufficient society, achieving a higher standard of living than most French peasants of the colonial era, while maintaining a fierce independence and resistance to external rule. Their refusal to submit led to their expulsion—but not their extinction.

Early History

Acadia was founded in 1604, but the colony faced extreme hardship, and most of the first settlers were forced to return to France. Some years later in 1611, an attempt was made to resettle with 20 new colonists and a large family, but the effort failed.

The colony remained fragile throughout the early 17th century. From 1635 to 1654, a Civil War broke out between rival governors Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour and Charles de Menou d'Aulnay, who fought for control of the territory. Their conflict led to military clashes, shifting alliances, and the destruction of settlements. The war ended when d’Aulnay died, and La Tour married his widow, and succeeded in consolidating power and bringing stability to the colony.

It was not until 1651 that Acadia saw a lasting presence. Around 50 families, numbering roughly 500 settlers, arrived and took root in the region. After 1671, another 40 families were recruited from France, bringing the population to over 800 by 1686, and by 1710, there were approximately 2,000 Acadians, most of them born in North America. The text Origins reveals that “the average Acadian couple usually married in their early twenties and had ten or eleven children, most of whom survived to adulthood.” Although Acadia had stopped receiving new settlers due to the difficulty of colonizing the peninsula, the population continued to grow. Dr. Ricardo Duchesne, in Canada in Decay, notes that their numbers multiplied nearly thirtyfold between 1671 and 1755, surpassing 10,000 before the expulsion, with 3,500 concentrated in the fortified city of Louisbourg. Most of what is now Nova Scotia remained under French control.

The expulsion of the Acadians remains a low point in Anglo-French Canadian history. It serves as a stark reminder that these brother peoples were not always allies and were sometimes capable of egregious cruelty toward one another. This era was shaped by centuries of rivalry, zero-sum struggles for power and dominance between the Two Solitudes, before they ultimately merged into the Canadian peoples. Much has been said about the Acadians, their tragic expulsion, and the thousands of deaths that followed. Yet, the true story and sequence of events leading up to it are rarely told.

For generations, the expulsion has been weaponized by the enemies of Canada to deliberately drive a wedge between the brother peoples. Many facts have been obscured, figures inflated, and events exaggerated for atrocity propaganda, particularly by those hostile to Anglo-French unity. In this essay, we will explore the historical context behind the expulsion so that the full truth may be known—a truth that, while perhaps unjustifiable, was not entirely without precedent given the circumstances.

Without further ado, let us begin.

Background

First and foremost, perhaps the most important reality about this period, is that Britain and France were in a state of complete and total war. I’m talking full-blown, irreconcilable conflict, full dehumanization of the enemy, and a bloodlust to completely obliterate the opposing force. Combat was vicious, brutal, and characteristic of what has been called “frontier warfare.” Much of this spurred on by the relatively low population numbers in general, where even the smallest loss could be catastrophic. This fact is intentionally left out—historically by communists in Canada, and more recently by Quebec left-patriots and sovereigntists of the Quiet Revolution, who have exploited the expulsion and propagate a myth that it was unprecedented, random, or unfairly targeted civilians and non-combatants. This mythology is still unknowingly propagated today by social democrats, as well as right-wing Quebecois nationalists groups. In fairness, the details of history in primordial Canada are not well-known by even the most ardent of nationalists

Conflicts between the British and French preceded the expulsions and arguably go back a century, at least indirectly. In 1608, Champlain the Conqueror, the Father of French Canada, founder of Quebec City (the second-oldest European settlement in North America), outnumbered 3:1, ambushed and charged an Iroquois warband on the shores of what is now Lake Champlain, and vanquished two Iroquois war chiefs with a single shot of his arquebus. This skirmish sparked a century-long conflict between French settlers and the Iroquois, who from this moment onward were hell-bent on acquiring the firepower used against them.

To do this, they needed animal furs, especially beaver, which they first sought by annihilating their immediate Indigenous neighbours and rivals. Through the 1650s, the Iroquois would then use these furs to trade with the Dutch to the south in their colony of New Netherland. After the acquisition of New Netherland by the English, the Iroquois primarily traded furs for firearms with them instead, and this mutual relationship turned into an alliance. The Iroquois sought absolute supremacy over their ancient Huron enemy, who were allied to the French, while the English were seriously alarmed by the French alliance, and the rest is history.

Nationally Reconciling the Truth

Fortissax

·

October 21, 2024

Introduction

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King William’s War

In 1688, King William’s War popped off in North America, the first of many colonial throwdowns between New France and New England. While part of a larger European conflict, the real fight here was over land, resources, and influence. The war was fueled by territorial disputes, economic competition, and Indigenous alliances, with both sides fighting for control over the fur trade, key waterways, and westward expansion. Just two years earlier, England had united its northern colonies into the Dominion of New England, aiming to centralize control. Meanwhile, New France was divided into three main colonies—Canada, Acadia, and Louisiana. Despite being outnumbered 12:1, the French were politically unified and had a proportionally higher number of experienced fighters, giving them an edge in battle.

Neither side hesitated to use terror, scorched-earth tactics, and Indigenous proxies to gain the upper hand. The French, backed by the Wabanaki Confederacy and other Algonquian tribes, launched a string of deadly attacks on New England settlements, aiming to contain English expansion into Acadia and the interior. Meanwhile, the English, allied with the Iroquois Confederacy, retaliated just as brutally, seeking to break the French fur trade monopoly and push westward. The war quickly devolved into brutality, with both sides unleashing massacres and raids designed to destroy communities, take captives, and burn enemy settlements to the ground. These weren’t conventional European battles—they were campaigns of terror, leaving a trail of destruction across the frontier. Though the Treaty of Ryswick (1697) ended the war, it resolved nothing, setting the stage for even bloodier conflicts to come. Here is a rough chronology of the events in this conflict:

Edmund Andros' Raid on Saint-Castin's Home

One of the earliest sparks of the war was Governor Edmund Andros’ 1688 raid on the home of Baron Jean-Vincent de Saint-Castin, a French officer-turned-war chief. Andros, leading English troops from Massachusetts, plundered Saint-Castin’s trading post in Penobscot Bay (modern-day Castine, Maine), trying to disrupt the French-Wabanaki alliance. Instead, the attack only further united the Wabanaki Confederacy against New England, leading to devastating retaliatory raids on English settlements.

Salmon Falls Massacre – March 27, 1690

In March 1690, a force of French soldiers, Canadien militia, and Wabanaki warriors raided Salmon Falls (modern-day Berwick, Maine). The settlement was burned to the ground, with 34 settlers killed and 54 taken captive. Many of the prisoners were force-marched to Canada, where they were either assimilated into Iroquois communities. They would face the infamous gauntlet, endure ritual torture and cannibalism or be ransomed back to the English. This attack left New England reeling, and the English quickly plotted retaliation.

The Schenectady Massacre – February 8–9, 1690

A month earlier, in February 1690, a force of 114 French soldiers, Canadien militia, and Mohawk warriors had attacked Schenectady, New York, another major English frontier settlement. The town had left its gates open and posted no night watch, making it an easy target. The raiders stormed in, slaughtering 60 settlers, including men, women, and children. Survivors fled into the snow, where many froze to death. The attackers burned most of the town and took 27 captives back to Canada.

The Raid on Port Royal and the Assault on Acadia

In response to Berwick and Schenectady, Sir William Phips led an English force to attack Acadia.

• In May 1690, Phips raided Port Royal (Acadia’s capital) and plundered the settlement, though he failed to capture the region.

• English forces also burned smaller Acadian villages and terrorized the population.

• Unlike French and Indigenous raids, the English often looted and left rather than permanently wiping out communities, but not always.

At the same time, the Iroquois Confederacy launched a massive raid on Lachine, New France, which is part of Montreal today. In August 1689, massacring between 80 and 150 French settlers and taking captives back to their villages for ritual torture or adoption. This event was known as the Lachine Massacre.

The English Invasion of Canada – 1690

Determined to break French power in North America, New England launched a two-pronged attack in late 1690:

1. One army marched north toward Montreal, but fell apart due to supply issues, bad planning, and constant ambushes by French and Indigenous forces.

2. The other force, led by Sir William Phips, sailed up the St. Lawrence to capture Quebec.

Both campaigns ended in disaster. Frontenac’s forces crushed the English at Quebec, forcing them to retreat in humiliation. Meanwhile, the land invasion never even reached Montreal.

The Ongoing Cycle of Raids

The war continued with more raids and massacres on both sides. Some of the worst included:

• York Massacre (1692) – A combined French-Wabanaki force destroyed York, Maine, killing 100 settlers and taking dozens captive.

• The Raid on Wells (1692) – Another French and Indigenous attack failed to fully destroy the town but still caused heavy casualties.

• Oyster River Massacre (1694) – A French-Abanaki force slaughtered 104 settlers in modern-day Durham, New Hampshire.

The English hit back with more raids on Acadian villages, but they could never break French resistance. By the time the war ended in 1697, neither side had gained anything, but the sheer brutality of the conflict changed the nature of warfare in North America.

• Entire villages were wiped off the map.

• Captives were force-marched through the wilderness to be either ransomed or assimilated into enemy communities.

• Indigenous alliances had solidified on both sides, ensuring that the next war would be just as brutal—if not worse.

King William’s War proved that New France and New England were locked in a death struggle for the continent. The next round of fighting was just over the horizon, and when it came, it would be even bloodier than the last.

Queen Anne’s War

In 1701, Queen Anne’s War broke out, which occurred only five years later and was equally vicious. It was the second of all major open conflicts between the English and French. Like the first conflict, this was rooted in Europe, and had spilled over to North America, with the colonies of New France and New England taking the opportunity to attempt wiping out each other.

This war was part of the larger War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) in Europe. King Louis XIV of France, the ‘Sun King’ placed his grandson, Philip of Anjou, on the Spanish throne. England and its allies declared war on France and Spain to prevent a Franco-Spanish superpower. As a result, Britain, France, and Spain found themselves at war across the world. The North American theatre was defined by brutal frontier warfare. It engulfed the entire Atlantic seaboard, with fighting stretching from Newfoundland and Acadia in the north to Carolina and Spanish Florida in the south. It would be one of the most destructive conflicts of the colonial period, reshaping the balance of power in North America.

But in North America, the war wasn’t just about European politics. It was driven by territorial disputes, economic rivalry, and Indigenous auxilliaries:

• The English wanted to expand into French-controlled Acadia (Nova Scotia) and Spanish Florida.

• The French wanted to protect their fur trade routes and stop English encroachment into Canada.

• Both the French and English relied on Indigenous auxilliaries, such as the Wabanaki Confederacy, Mohawks, a dominant tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy to wage war through raids and skirmishes rather than large battles.

The majority of the conflict would be fought not on open battlefields, but in forests, frontier settlements, and remote outposts, where massacres, kidnappings, and scorched-earth campaigns became the norm. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll disregard the English conflict with the Spanish in the south, and focus on the northern campaign. Queen Anne’s War was one of the most brutal conflicts of the colonial era, marked by massacres, scorched-earth campaigns, and the widespread targeting of civilians. Unlike traditional European wars, which were fought between standing armies, this war was defined by raids on settlements, the killing of non-combatants, and the taking of captives. Both New France and New England, along with their Indigenous allies, engaged in total war, where frontier towns were burned, entire communities were displaced, and thousands of men, women, and children were either slaughtered or taken as prisoners.