The Chignecto Isthmus and its First Settlers/Chapter 1

CHAPTER I

THE CHIGNECTO  ISTHMUS.

The discovery of America added nearly a third to the then known land surface of the earth, and opened up two of its richest continents. If such an extent of territory were thrown into the world's market to-day, the rapidity with which it would be exploited and explored, and its wealth made tributary to the world's requirements, would astonish, if they were here, the men who pioneered the settlement of the new country and left so royal a heritage to their descendants. To those who cross the Atlantic in the great ocean liners of our time, and think them none too safe, the fleet with which Sir Humphrey Gilbert crossed the sea to plant his colony in the new land must seem a frail protection indeed against the dangers of the western ocean.

Perhaps in no way can the progress made since the beginning of the nineteenth century be more forcibly brought before the mind than by comparing the immense iron steamships of the present day with the small wooden vessels with which commerce was carried on and battles were fought and won a hundred and fifty years ago.

The Isthmus of Chignecto separates the waters of the Bay of Fundy from those of Bay Verte, and constitutes the neck of land which saves Nova Scotia from being an island. It is seventeen miles between the two bays at the narrowest point, and considering the town of Amherst the south- eastern limit, and the village of Sackville the north-western, it may be put down as a little less than ten miles in width.

The southern slope is drained by four tidal rivers or creeks, namely, La Planche, Missiquash, Aulac and the Tantramar. These rivers empty into Cumberland Basin, and their general course is from north-east to south-west. In length they are from twelve to fifteen miles, and run through narrow valleys, the soil of which is made up largely from a rich sediment carried by the tide from the muddy waters of the basin. These valleys are separated from each other by ridges of high land ranging from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet above the sea level.

The Tidnish River, and several streams emptying into the Bay Verte, drain the Isthmus on its northern slope. The Missiquash and Tidnish rivers, each for some part of its course, form the boundary between the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The tides at the head of the Bay of Fundy rise to the height of sixty feet, or even higher, and are said to be the highest in the world. The mud deposit from the overflow of these tidal waters, laid down along the river valleys, is from one foot to eighty feet deep, varying as the soil beneath rises and falls.

Between Sackville and Amherst there is an area of some fifty thousand acres of these alluvial lands, reclaimed and unreclaimed. Some of this marsh has been cutting large crops of hay for one hundred and fifty years, and there is no evidence of diminished fertility, although no fertilizer has been used in that time; other sections have become exhausted and the tide has been allowed to overflow them. This treatment will restore them to their original fertility.

Cartier was the first of the early navigators to drop anchor in a New Brunswick harbor. This was in the summer of 1534, and the place was on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near the mouth of the Miramich River. This was on the 30th of June. Landing the next day and finding the country well wooded, he was delighted and spoke of it in glowing terms.

The first white men to visit the Isthmus with a view to trade and settlement came from Port Royal in the summer of 1612.

In 1670, Jacob Bourgeois, a resident of Port Royal, and a few other restless spirits, were the first to make a permanent settlement. These were followed by another contingent under the leadership of Pierre Arsenault.

In 1676, the King of France gave a large grant of territory in Acadia to a French nobleman, Michael Le Neuf, Sieur de La Valliere. This grant included all the Chignecto Isthmus. Tonge's Island, a small islet in the marsh near the mouth of the Missiquash River, is called Isle La Valliere on the old maps, and was probably occupied by La Valliere himself when he lived on the Isthmus.

From this date Chignecto began to take a prominent place in the history of Acadia, and continued for a hundred and fifty years to be one of the principal centres of influence under the rule both of France and Great Britain.

It was here that France made her last stand for the possession of Acadia. It was here that Jonathan Eddy, twenty years later, raised the standard of the revolted colonies, and made a gallant but unsuccessful effort to carry Nova Scotia over to the rebel cause.

From 1713 to 1750 was the most prosperous period of the French occupation. The population increased rapidly for those times. The market at Louisbourg furnished an outlet for the surplus produce of the soil. The wants of the people were few. The Acadians were thrifty and frugal, the rod and gun supplying a large part of the necessaries of life in many a home. The complaint was made by those who at that time were interested in the circulation of the King's silver that the people hoarded it up, and once they got possession of it the public were never allowed to see it again. The houses were small and destitute of many of the furnishings their descendants now think indispensable, but perhaps they enjoyed life quite as well as those of later generations.

Bay Verte at this time was a place of considerable importance. The Abbe Le Loutre lived here a part of the time, and owned a store kept by an agent. The trade between Quebec and Louisbourg and the settlements on the Isthmus was carried on through the Port of Bay Verte, and from there the farmers of Chignecto shipped their cattle and farm products. The Acadians were quick to see the benefits that would arise from reclaiming the rich river valleys, and they drew their revenues chiefly from this land. They did not readily take to the cutting down of the forests and preparing the upland for growing crops; they were more at home with the dyking-spade than the axe. A description of their methods of dyking and constructing aboideaux, written in 1710, is interesting to those who are doing the same work now.

The writer of 1710 says: "They stopped the current of the sea by creating large dykes, which they called aboideaux. The method was to plant five or six large trees in the places where the sea enters the marshes, and between each row to lay down other trees lengthways on top of each other, and fill the vacant places with mud so well beaten down that the tide could not pass through it. In the middle they adjusted a flood-gate in such a way as to allow the water from the marsh to flow out at low water without permitting the water from the sea to flow in at high tide." The writer adds that the work was expensive, but the second year's crop repaid them for the outlay. This is more than can be said for present-day experience in the same kind of work.

The land reclaimed on the Aulac was confined principally to the upper portion of the river. The Abbe Le Loutre saw that the benefit would be great if this river were dammed near its mouth, and he was at work at a large aboideau, for which he had received money from France, when the fall of Beausejour forever put a stop to his enterprise.

Wheat seems to have grown very abundantly on the marsh when it was first dyked, judging from the census reports of those days and the traditions handed down.

The old French maps of 1750 and earlier show settlements at Beaubassin (Fort Lawrence), Pont a Buot (Point de Bute), Le Lac (Jolicure), We-He- Kauk (Westcock), We-He-Kauk-Chis (Little Westcock), Tantramar (Upper Sackville), Pre Du Bourge (Middle Sackville), We-He-Kage (Amherst Point) and Amherst or Upper Amherst, Vill-La-Butte, and La Planche. There were settlements also at Maccan, Nappan and Minudie. The statement that the village of Beaubassin, in 1750, contained a hundred and forty houses, and a population numbering a thousand, seems improbable under the circumstances.

Fort Lawrence, the site of old Beaubassin, contains to-day less than forty houses, and not more than three hundred inhabitants, yet more land is under cultivation now than in any previous time in its history. It is highly probable that the whole population on the south side of the Isthmus was reckoned as belonging to Beaubassin.

There is good reason for saying that the population of the district embraced in the parish of Westmoreland, excepting Port Elgin, was much larger from 1750 to 1755 than it has ever been since.

The Seigneur La Valliere was, no doubt, the most prominent man, politically, on the Isthmus during the French period. He was appointed commandant of Acadia in 1678, by Count Frontenac, and just missed being made governor. He was a man of broader views than most of his contemporaries. He encouraged trade, and was willing that others beside his own countrymen should reap the benefits if they were ready to pay the price. He anticipated the MODUS VIVENDI system now in force between this country and the United States in dealing with the fisheries, and instead of keeping a large fleet to patrol the coast and drive the English from the fishing ground, he charged them a license fee of five pistoles (about twenty-five dollars) for each vessel, thus giving them a free hand in the business.

La Valliere's farm was probably on the island marked on the old maps, "Isle La Valliere," and here he lived when not in other parts of the colony on public business. He had a son called Beaubassin, who was always ready to take a hand in any expedition that required courage and promised danger. In 1703, this Beaubassin was the leader of a party of French and Indians that attacked Casco and would have captured the place but for the timely arrival of a British man-of-war.

On the 11th April, 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed. This gave all Nova Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended within its ancient boundaries, as also the city of Port Royal, now called Annapolis Royal, to the Queen of Great Britain. The English claimed this to include all the territory east of a line drawn from north of the Kennebec River to Quebec, taking in all the south shore of the St. Lawrence, Gaspe, the Island of St. John, and Cape Breton. The French contended that Acadia only included the southern half of the present Province of Nova Scotia. Views so divergent held by the contracting parties to an agreement, could scarcely fail to produce irritation and ultimately result in war.

In 1740, the Abbe Le Loutre, Vicar-General of Acadia under the Bishop of Quebec, and missionary to the Micmacs, came to Acadia to take charge of his mission. It soon became apparent that the Rev. Father was more anxious to advance the power and prestige of the King of France than he was to minister to the spiritual elevation of the benighted Indians. The course pursued by the Abbe defeated the end he had in view. His aim was to make Acadia a French colony; but in reality he helped to make it the most loyal British territory in North America.

The successful raid of de Villiers, in the winter of 1747, convinced the English that so long as Chignecto was in possession of the French, and was used as a base of operations to defy the English Government, there could be no lasting peace or security for settlers of British blood. Taking this view of the matter, Governor Cornwallis determined to take measures to drive the French from the Isthmus. The unsettled state of the French population through the Province contributed to this decision.

In November, 1754, Governor Lawrence wrote to Shirley, at Boston, that he had reason to believe the French were contemplating aggressive measures at Chignecto, and he thought it was quite time an effort was made to drive them from the north side of the Bay of Fundy. Col. Monckton carried this letter to Governor Shirley. The governor entirely agreed with the suggestion it contained, and had already taken some steps to bring about so desirable an end to the troubles the Government was experiencing on the Isthmus.

The matter was kept as secret as possible, but efforts were immediately made to raise a force to capture Fort Beausejour, the new fort built by the French on the high ground overlooking Beaubassin, on the north-west side of the Missiquash. So successful were they in getting up the expedition that, on the 23rd of May, everything was ready and the force set sail from Boston.

The expedition numbered two thousand men, under the command of Lieut.- Col. Monckton, with Lieutenants Winslow and Scott under him. They called at Annapolis, and were joined there by three hundred regulars of Warburton's regiment, and got a small train of artillery. Fort Lawrence* was reached on 2nd June, and the next day all the troops were landed and camped around the fort.

[FOOTNOTE: *The fort at Fort Lawrence, was situate on the high land that separates the valleys of the Missiquash and La Planche rivers, a little less than two miles distant from Fort Beausejour. It was constructed in the month of September, 1750. Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence arrived at the Isthmus with a strong force, consisting of the 48th Regiment, and three hundred men of the 45th Regiment. "The Indians and some of the French were rash enough to oppose the landing of so formidable a body of troops, but they were driven off after a sharp skirmish, in which the English lost about twenty killed and wounded." A short distance from where they landed Colonel Lawrence erected a picketal fort with block-houses, which was named for himself. A garrison of six hundred men was maintained here until the fall of Beausejour. END OF FOOTNOTE]

Vergor, the French General in command at Beausejour, called on all the Acadians capable of bearing arms to come into the fort and assist in its defence. The Acadians, however, would not obey this order unless Vergor would make a refusal to comply punishable with death. This would given them an excuse with which to meet the English if the fort were taken.

On the 4th June, the English broke camp and marched north from Fort Lawrence, a distance of about two miles along the ridge of high land; then, entering the Missiquash valley, they crossed over to Pont a Buot, or Buot's Bridge, which spanned the Missiquash River. This bridge was near what is now Point de Bute Corner. Here the French had a blockhouse garrisoned with thirty men. There was also a breastwork of timber. This place was defended for an hour by the French, and then, setting fire to the little fort, they left the English to cross over without opposition. The victorious force camped that night on the Point de Bute side of the Missiquash River.

At this day it is difficult to account for the slight value the Acadian seemed to place upon his home. He appears to have been always ready to set it on fire at the least danger of its falling into the hands of the English. The sixty houses that stood between Buot's Bridge and Beausejour all went up in flame that night, fired by the French soldiers as they retired before the English.

From the 4th until the 13th of June the English were engaged in cutting roads, building bridges, transporting cannon, and getting these into position north of the fort, on the high ground, within shelling distance. During this time the French had been strengthening their defences and making other arrangements for withstanding a seige (sic). The Abbe Le Loutre ceased work on his "abateau" and set his men to assist at the fort.

Scouting parties from either camp met once or twice, and the Indians captured an English officer named Hay, who was passing from Fort Lawrence to the English camp. On the 13th the English threw a few shells into the fort, and continued to shell the place on the 14th, without much apparent result. On that day Vergor received tidings that no help could be sent from Louisbourg. This news was more disastrous to the French than the English shells. The Acadians lost all heart and began to slip away into the woods and the settlements to the northward.

The next day, the 15th, larger shells were thrown, some falling into the fort. One shell killed the English officer, Hay, who was a prisoner, and several French officers, while they were at breakfast. This decided the matter. Vergor sent an officer to Monckton asking for a suspension of hostilities. That afternoon the following terms of surrender were agreed upon:

"1st. The commandant, officers, staff and others employed for the King and garrison of Beausejour, shall go out with arms and baggage, drums beating. 2nd. The garrison shall be sent to Louisbourg at the expense of the King of Great Britain. 3rd. The Governor shall have provisions sufficient to last them until they get to Louisbourg. 4th. As to the Acadians, as they were forced to bear arms under pain of death, they shall be pardoned. 5th. The garrison shall not bear arms in America for the space of six months. 6th. The foregoing are granted on condition that the garrison shall surrender to the troops of Great Britain by 7 p.m. this afternoon. Signed, Robert Monckton. At the camp before Beausejour, 16th June, 1755."

As soon as the British were in possession at Beausejour, Monckton sent a detachment of three hundred men, under Col. Winslow, to demand the surrender of the fort at Bay Verte. Capt. Villeray accepted the same terms as Vergor, and on the 18th of June, 1755, the Isthmus passed for ever out of the possession of the King of France. A large amount of supplies was found in both forts.

Monckton changed the name of Fort Beausejour to Fort Cumberland, in honor of the Royal Duke who won the victory at Culloden, and as it was a much better fort than the one on the south side of the Missiquash, the troops were ordered to remain at Fort Cumberland.

This fort stands in a commanding position on the south-west summit of the high ridge of upland that separates the Missiquash from the Aulac valley. It was a fort of five bastions, with casemates, and was capable of accommodating eight hundred men. It mounted thirty guns. After it fell into the hands of the English it was great improved. A stone magazine (a part of which is still standing) was built outside the southern embankment. The moat was excavated to a much greater depth. Of late years the place has been shamefully neglected. On account of its historic associations many yearly visit the "Old Fort," and efforts have been made to enclose the grounds and make them more presentable.

The Acadians were still to be dealt with. Whether they should remain in the country and in the possession of their lands depended entirely on whether they would take the oath of allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain. This one condition accepted, they would be guaranteed all the privileges and immunities of British subjects. They refused, and the Expulsion followed. It was a hard and cruel measure, but they had had forty years of grace, and those who had thus long borne with them now decided their day of grace had ended.

One hundred and fifty years have since passed, but we find the Acadians are still here and are exercising an influence in Canada that is felt in all its Provinces. They are British subjects now, however, and while they have not lost their love for the country from which they sprang, nor for the flag for which their ancestors sacrificed so much, they are ready to stand by the Empire of Britain in war as well as in peace.