Acadias Warrior Priest

"In recent years, it has become fashionable to judge people and events from the past on the basis of the values of the present. Accordingly, in reviewing the history of Nova Scotia, no person has been maligned to the extent to which the Founder of Halifax, Governor Edward Cornwallis, has been villainized. There is no question, Cornwallis was a tough - some would say, ruthless - individual; ask any Scot who survived the Battle of Culloden or the Jacobite 'pacification' that followed. But, was Cornwallis, in fact, as much of a villain within this region that he has been portrayed in recent years, especially by modern writers and columnists? Through Treaties signed in Utrecht during 1713-1714, France and England agreed that the territory now known as the Maritime Provinces of Canada, with the exception of the islands in the great Gulf of St. Lawrence, were yielded by France to England. At that time, to the extent that there was European settlement in what is now the mainland of Nova Scotia, it was both French and Roman Catholic, know as Acadié. This, of course, as was the European standard of the times, gave no consideration to the people who had populated these areas for several thousands of years, the people of the Mi'kmaq Nation. Consideration was given, by the English to the Roman Catholicism of the predominantly French-speaking settlers who were there, and, indeed, in most cases, had been there for several generations going back into the 17th century. So, the British agreed that French Roman Catholic priests would be licensed to reside within the territory, which they renamed, Nova Scotia, on behalf of their Scottish king, provided that they administered solely to the spiritual needs of the European residents of their newly achieved territory. The capital, and virtually the only substantive settlement, Port-Royale, was re-named, Annapolis Royal. But, for several decades, the British did little to take control of this new territory by introducing their own settlers, who, if not English, were at least Protestant. After a time, the French kind of decided that maybe they had made a mistake in giving up Nova Scotia, the gateway, as it were, to the St. Lawrence River, and the lucrative fur trade. So, they encouraged their 'missionaries', not only to befriend the Mi'kmaq people, but to seek to convince them that the British were their enemies, who simply wanted to eliminate them and take their land. It so happened that in 1737, the French sent out a young priest/missionary, a man with no love for the English. He soon developed a close relationship with Mi'kmaq leaders, and ultimately became the guerilla strategist who gave essential advice and direction to Mi'kmaq leaders in making life difficult for the English - to say the least. In 1745, a force from New England captured Louisbourg, which was meant to be the French fortress that would protect the route up the St. Lawrence River to Quebec, and the lucrative fur trade. However, it was returned to the French in 1748. By that time, Le Loutre had his spurs, and quietly, from behind the scenes, dispensed advice and direction to the Mi'kmaq leaders in carrying out devastating raids, involving brutal deaths, including scalping (a scare tactic as well as proof of payment) to keep the English from really gaining control of Nova Scotia. Indeed, the French government funded him to buy scalps. In consequence, in 1749, the English determined that they had to build a fortress of their own, from which they could take control of the Nova Scotia that they felt was theirs. And to make this happen, they sent out a tough experienced military leader of their own, Col. Edward Cornwallis, with a mandate to take control and to settle Nova Scotia. He soon realized that to do so meant taking on the clandestine guerilla leader, Le Loutre. not of the Acadians, so much as the Mi'kmaq warriors, the man whom he called 'a good for nothing scoundrel as ever lived. Cornwallis, in turn, issued two scalping proclamations of his own, both rescinded when he left in 1752. In modern times, this conflict has resurfaced, with the statue of Cornwallis being removed from the south-end park, at least temporarily, by the City of Halifax. 1. GENIUS OR SCOUNDREL: READ THIS BOOK AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF!"--

Collected and new poems by award-winning poet and novelist Albert Belisle Davis. By way of traditional and free forms, the poems use the fictitious parish of Mondebon in South Louisiana as a backdrop for the thoughts and expressions—both humorous and serious—of modern day Acadian (Cajun) and non-Acadian residents of Mondebon. As Louisiana Poet Laureate Jack Bedell says, Davis "gives voice to trappers, wives, cooks, old aunts down the bayou, ancient philosophers and warriors, fallen priests, saints, sinners, and folks stunned to disbelief and faith by real life. These lines come from wisdom, from pain, from time, from heart, and from the echoes of belly laughs."

For more than a century and a half, from 1607 to 1763, Britain and France struggled to master the eastern half of North America. They fought five blood-soaked wars and continuously provoked various Indian tribes to raise arms against each other's subjects for the mastery of the land. The last French and Indian War, from 1754 to 1760, would dwarf all previous conflicts in the number of troops, expense, geographical expanse, and total casualties. Placing the French and Indian War in a broad historical context, this study examines the struggle for North America during the two preceding centuries and includes not only the conflict between France and Britain, but also the parts played by various Indian tribes and the other European powers. The last French and Indian War makes for colorful reading with its array of inept and daring commanders, epic heroism among the troops, far-flung battles and sieges, and creaking fleets of warships. Ironically, America's most famous founder, George Washington, helped to spark the war, first by trudging through the wilderness in the dead of winter with a message from Virginia Governor Dinwiddie to the French to abandon their forts in the upper Ohio River valley, then a half year later by ordering the war's first shots when his troops ambushed Captain Jumonville, and finally when he ignominiously surrendered his force at Fort Necessity and unwittingly signed a surrender document in French naming himself Jumonville's assassin. Topical chapters discuss the economic, political, social, and military attributes of the participants, and narrative chapters examine the campaigns of the war's first two years.

“THUNDERCLAP: The Coming Struggle for Acadia” is a fictional tale set during King George’s War in America (an offshoot of the War of the Austrian Succession in Europe, 1740 – 1748) and its aftermath. It tells the story of how two military officers – one who is French and one British- are caught up in events leading to the so-called French and Indian War in the theatre of Acadia, 1755-1763. The French officer, a Lieutenant André, finds himself serving in the increasingly desperate effort to oust the British once and for all from their decades-old conquest of Nova Scotia (1710). The British officer, a Captain Bradford, fresh from serving in the suppression of the Scottish Rising (1745-1746), arrives in the midst of the war waged by France and its First Nation or ‘Indian’ allies against the British in Nova Scotia. He finds himself assisting the new British governor, Edward Cornwallis, with establishing an English `beachhead` settlement called “Halifax” and expanding British control over the restless French Acadian population through the construction of a series of forts in and around existing Acadian communities. While the careers of the two officers follow parallel yet separate courses during King George’s War, they inevitably cross paths and both participate in the cataclysmic clash known as the French and Indian War (1755-1763)-a final conflict which saw the Expulsion of much of the Acadian population from Nova Scotia and a determination of which European power- France or Great Britain- would ultimately emerge supreme on the battlefields of North America. A prequel to my novel “Fire Over Acadia”, this new tale introduces readers to the “backstory” for several of my primary characters, and completes a trilogy of tales about the colonial wars impacting Nova Scotia.

This book investigates and assesses how and to what extent the French Catholic missionaries carried out their evangelical activity amid the natives of Acadia/Nova Scotia from the mid-seventeenth century until 1755, the year of the Great Deportation of the Acadians. It provides a new understanding of the role played by the French missionaries in the most peripheral and less populated area of Canada during the colonial period. The decision to focus on this period is dictated by the need to investigate how and to which extent the French missionaries sought to carry out their activity within a contested territory which was exposed to the pressures coming out of both French and British imperial interests.

Essays written by the controversial but significant historian Mason Wade provide his last important work on the Maritimes. Also included is a biography of Wade, an analysis of his enduring importance as an historian and a select bibliography.