# Battle at Chignecto

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{{Short description|1750 battle}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| image             = GovernorOfNovaScotiaCharlesLawrence.jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = [Charles Lawrence](/source/Charles_Lawrence_(British_Army_officer))
| conflict          = Battle at Chignecto
| partof            = [Father Le Loutre's War](/source/Father_Le_Loutre's_War)
| date              = September 3, 1750
| place             = [Chignecto](/source/Isthmus_of_Chignecto), [Nova Scotia](/source/Nova_Scotia)
| coordinates       = {{coord|45.916639|-64.165806|type:event|display=inline,title}}
| result            = British victory
| combatant2        = {{flagicon|Kingdom of Great Britain}} [Great Britain](/source/Great_Britain)<br />{{flagicon image|Red Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg}} [British America](/source/British_America)
| combatant1        = [Mi'kmaq militia](/source/Mi'kmaq_militia) <br />[Acadian militia](/source/Acadian_militia)
| commander2        = [Charles Lawrence](/source/Charles_Lawrence_(British_Army_officer))<br />[John Gorham](/source/John_Gorham_(military_officer))<br />Captain [John Rous](/source/John_Rous)<br />[Silvanus Cobb](/source/Silvanus_Cobb)<br /> [Horatio Gates](/source/Horatio_Gates) <br />Captain [William Clapham](/source/William_Clapham)<br />Colonel [Peregrine Lascelles](/source/Peregrine_Lascelles)<br />[John Salusbury](/source/John_Salusbury_(diarist))<br />[Hugh Warburton](/source/Hugh_Warburton)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofnovasco02murd_0/page/186/mode/1up?q=%22lascelles+regiment%22|title = A history of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie|year = 1865}}</ref><br />[Joseph Gorham](/source/Joseph_Gorham)<br />[Joshua Winslow](/source/Joshua_Winslow)<br />[John Brewse](/source/John_Brewse) (wounded)<ref>{{cite DCB |first=Maxwell |last=Sutherland |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/brewse_john_4E.html |title=Brewse, John |volume=4}}</ref> <br /> Captain William Rickson<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/wolfeinscotlandi00find/page/206/mode/1up?q=cornwallis|title=Wolfe in Scotland in the '45 and from 1749 to 1753|year=1928}}</ref><br />[Francis Bartelo](/source/Francis_Bartelo){{KIA}}<br />Henry Grace {{POW}}<ref>[https://archive.org/details/historyoflifesuf00grac/page/10/mode/1up?q=cornwallis The history of the life and sufferings of Henry Grace, of Basingstoke in the county of Southampton. Being a narrative of the hardships he underwent during several years captivity among the savages in North America, ... Written by himself]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=DiAngelis |first=Heather Nicole |date=2011 |title=Determining Reliability in Indian Captivity Narratives |url=https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5928&context=etd |website=[William & Mary](/source/College_of_William_%26_Mary)}}</ref>
| commander1        = [Jean-Louis Le Loutre](/source/Jean-Louis_Le_Loutre)<br />[Louis de La Corne](/source/Louis_de_la_Corne%2C_Chevalier_de_la_Corne)<br />[Louis Le Neuf de la Valiere](/source/Louis_Le_Neuf_de_la_Valiere)<br />[Joseph Broussard](/source/Joseph_Broussard) (Beausoliel)<br />Chief [Étienne Bâtard](/source/%C3%89tienne_B%C3%A2tard)<br />Father [Charles Germain](/source/Charles_Germain)<ref>{{cite DCB |title=Germain, Charles |first=Micheline D. |last=Johnson |volume=4 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/germain_charles_4E.html}}</ref>
| strength2         = 700 British regulars and New England Rangers
| strength1         = 300 Mi'kmaq and [Acadian militia](/source/Military_history_of_the_Acadians)
| casualties2       = 20 killed;<ref>[https://archive.org/details/historyoflifesuf00grac/page/10/mode/1up?q=halifax p. 10]</ref> 3 killed, 12 missing <ref>[https://web.lib.unb.ca/winslow/fullimagerecord.cgi?level=3&id=1075&DOCURL=%2F%77%69%6E%73%6C%6F%77%2F%66%75%6C%6C%72%65%63%6F%72%64%2E%63%67%69%3F%69%64%3D%31%31%39%26%6C%65%76%65%6C%3D%32%26%42%41%43%4B%53%54%52%3D%6C%65%76%65%6C%3D%32%26%66%69%65%6C%64%73%3D%54%69%74%6C%65%2C%43%72%65%61%74%6F%72%5F%6E%61%6D%65%2C%53%75%62%6A%65%63%74%2C%53%6F%75%72%63%65%2C%45%54%43%5F%53%65%71%75%65%6E%63%65%26%43%72%65%61%74%6F%72%5F%6E%61%6D%65%3D%26%54%69%74%6C%65%3D%26%53%75%62%6A%65%63%74%3D%26%53%6F%75%72%63%65%3D%31%2D%26%4B%65%79%77%6F%72%64%3D%26%4C%41%4E%47%3D%26%62%6F%6F%6C%65%61%6E%3D%41%4E%44%26%6F%72%64%65%72%5F%62%79%3D%49%64%65%6E%74%69%66%69%65%72%26%61%6C%6C%3D%26%6C%69%6D%69%74%3D%35%26%62%61%63%6B%75%72%6C%3D Winslow's journal]</ref>
| casualties1       = 7-8 Mi'kmaq<ref>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/jrnl-trade-plantations/vol9/pp109-126 Minutes of Board of Trade. 9 Nov. 1750]</ref>
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Father Le Loutre's War}}
}}

The '''Battle at Chignecto''' happened during [Father Le Loutre's War](/source/Father_Le_Loutre's_War) when [Charles Lawrence](/source/Charles_Lawrence_(British_Army_officer)), in command of the  [45th Regiment of Foot](/source/45th_Regiment_of_Foot) ([Hugh Warburton](/source/Hugh_Warburton)'s regiment) and the [47th Regiment](/source/47th_Regiment_of_Foot) ([Peregrine Lascelles](/source/Peregrine_Lascelles)' regiment), [John Gorham](/source/John_Gorham_(military_officer)) in command of the Rangers and Captain [John Rous](/source/John_Rous) in command of the navy, fought against the French monarchists at Chignecto.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NIJ8XEhb5SwC&pg=PA164 Salsbury's journal re: Gates]</ref> This battle was the first attempt by the British to occupy the head of the Bay of Fundy since the disastrous [Battle of Grand Pré](/source/Battle_of_Grand_Pr%C3%A9) three years earlier. They fought against a militia made up of Mi'kmaq and Acadians led by [Jean-Louis Le Loutre](/source/Jean-Louis_Le_Loutre) and [Joseph Broussard](/source/Joseph_Broussard) (Beausoliel). The battle happened at [Isthmus of Chignecto](/source/Isthmus_of_Chignecto), [Nova Scotia](/source/Nova_Scotia) on 3 September 1750.

==Background==

Despite the [British conquest of Acadia](/source/Siege_of_Port_Royal_(1710)) in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. By the time Cornwallis had arrived in Halifax, there was a long history of the [Wabanaki Confederacy](/source/Wabanaki_Confederacy) (which included the Mi'kmaq) launching raids on British colonial settlements along the New England/ Acadia border in Maine (See the Northeast Coast Campaigns [1688](/source/King_William's_War), [1703](/source/Northeast_Coast_Campaign_(1703)), [1723](/source/Northeast_Coast_Campaign_(1723)), [1724](/source/Father_Rale's_War), [1745](/source/Northeast_Coast_Campaign_(1745)), [1746](/source/Northeast_Coast_Campaign_(1746)), [1747](/source/Northeast_Coast_Campaign_(1747))).<ref>{{cite journal |first=Tod |last=Scott |title=Mi'kmaw Armed Resistance to British Expansion in Northern New England (1676–1761) |journal=[Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society](/source/Royal_Nova_Scotia_Historical_Society) |volume=19 |date=2016 |pages=1–18}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Reid|first1=John G.|authorlink1=John G. Reid|last2=Baker|first2=Emerson W.|authorlink2=Emerson Baker|title=Essays on Northeastern North America, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TM3AlH-lTscC&pg=PA129|year=2008|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-9137-6|pages=129–152|chapter=Amerindian Power in the Early Modern Northeast: A Reappraisal|doi=10.3138/9781442688032|jstor=10.3138/9781442688032.12}}</ref>{{sfnp|Grenier|2008|pp=154-155}}

To prevent the establishment of British colonial settlements in the region, Mi'kmaq launched raids on present-day [Shelburne](/source/Shelburne%2C_Nova_Scotia) (1715) and [Canso](/source/Canso%2C_Nova_Scotia) (1720). A generation later, [Father Le Loutre's War](/source/Father_Le_Loutre's_War) began when [Edward Cornwallis](/source/Edward_Cornwallis) arrived to establish [Halifax](/source/Halifax_Regional_Municipality) with 13 transports on June 21, 1749.<ref>{{harvp|Grenier|2008}}; Thomas Beamish Akins. History of Halifax, Brookhouse Press. 1895. (2002 edition). p 7</ref>

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](/source/Fort_Edward_(Nova_Scotia))); Grand Pre ([Fort Vieux Logis](/source/Fort_Vieux_Logis)) and Chignecto ([Fort Lawrence](/source/Fort_Lawrence)). (A British fort already existed at the other major Acadian centre of [Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia](/source/Annapolis_Royal%2C_Nova_Scotia). Cobequid remained without a fort.) After the raid in [Dartmouth in 1749](/source/History_of_Dartmouth), on October 2, 1749, Cornwallis created an [extirpation](/source/extirpation) proclamation to stop the raids. The [Siege of Grand Pre](/source/Siege_of_Grand_Pre) was the first recorded conflict in the region after the raid on Dartmouth.

==Battle==

On 23 April, Lawrence was unsuccessful in getting a base at Chignecto because Le Loutre led 70 Mi'kmaq and 30 Acadians in burning the village of Beaubassin, preventing Lawrence from using its supplies to establish a fort.<ref>M de la Valiere Journal 15 September 1751</ref><ref>Gentleman's Magazine Vol 20 July 1750 p. 295</ref> (According to the historian Frank Patterson, the Acadians at Cobequid also burned their homes as they retreated from the British to [Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia](/source/Tatamagouche%2C_Nova_Scotia) in 1754.<ref>Frank Harris Patterson. ''History of Tatamagouche'', Halifax: Royal Print & Litho., 1917 (also Mika, Belleville: 1973), p. 19</ref>) Lawrence retreated, but he returned in September 1750.

On September 3, 1750 Captain [John Rous](/source/John_Rous), Lawrence and [Gorham](/source/John_Gorham_(military_officer)) led over 700 men (including the [40th](/source/40th_Regiment_of_Foot), [45th](/source/45th_Regiment_of_Foot) and [47th](/source/47th_(Lancashire)_Regiment_of_Foot) Regiments) to Chignecto, where Mi'kmaq and Acadians opposed their landing.<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011441295;view=1up;seq=315 London Magazine, 1750, p. 291]</ref>  They had thrown up a breastwork from behind which they opposed the landing. They killed twenty British, who in turn killed several Mi'kmaq. The Mi'kmaq and Acadians killed Captain [Francis Bartelo](/source/Francis_Bartelo) in the Battle at Chignecto.<ref>Thomas Beamish Akins. History of Halifax, Brookhouse Press. 1895. (2002 edition). p 19; {{harvp|Griffiths|2005|p=391}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NIJ8XEhb5SwC&dq=Horatio+Gates+halifax+nova+scotia&pg=PA164 p. 160]</ref>  Le Loutre's militia eventually withdrew to Beausejour, burning the rest of the Acadians' crops and houses as they went.{{sfnp|Grenier|2008|p=159}}

== Aftermath ==
On 15 October (N.S.) a group of Micmacs disguised as French officers called a member of the [Nova Scotia Council](/source/Nova_Scotia_Council) [Edward How](/source/Edward_How_(military_officer)) to a conference. This trap, organized by [Étienne Bâtard](/source/%C3%89tienne_B%C3%A2tard), gave him the opportunity to wound How seriously, and How died five or six days later, according to Captain La Vallière (probably Louis Leneuf de La Vallière), the only eye-witness.<ref>{{cite DCB |first=Micheline D. |last=Johnson |title=Bâtard, Étienne |volume=3 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/batard_etienne_3E.html}}</ref> After the battle, the British built [Fort Lawrence](/source/Fort_Lawrence) at Chignecto and the Mi'kmaq people and Acadians continued with numerous raids on [Dartmouth](/source/Raid_on_Dartmouth) and Halifax.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Battle of Chignecto by Charles Morris (inset of A chart of the sea coasts of the peninsula of Nova Scotia, 1755).png|Battle of Chignecto by [Charles Morris](/source/Charles_Morris_(surveyor_general)) (inset of A chart of the sea coasts of the peninsula of Nova Scotia, 1755)
File:BeaubassinFortBeausejourBell.jpg|A bell retrieved by Le Loutre Beaubassin church during the battle
File:40thRegimentOfFootByDavid Morier.png|[Grenadier](/source/Grenadier), [40th Regiment of Foot](/source/40th_Regiment_of_Foot) by [David Morier](/source/David_Morier), 1751
File:MonumentatBattleatChignecto.jpg|Monument to a village that was burned during the Battle at Chignecto
File:LOUIS-FRANCOIS La CORNE.jpg|[Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne](/source/Louis_de_la_Corne%2C_Chevalier_de_la_Corne), Commander at Beausejour
File:HoratioGatesByStuart crop.jpg|[Horatio Gates](/source/Horatio_Gates) (45th Regiment)
File:Lieutenant Joshua Winslow.jpg|[Joshua Winslow](/source/Joshua_Winslow) - portrait while serving at Fort Lawrence (1755)
File:45thRegimentOfFootByDavid Morier.png|[45th Regiment of Foot](/source/45th_Regiment_of_Foot) By [David Morier](/source/David_Morier), 1751
General Peregrine Lascelles (1685–1772).jpg|[Peregrine Lascelles](/source/Peregrine_Lascelles) (47th Regiment)
File:Winckworth Tonge, Old Burying Ground, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg|[Winckworth Tonge](/source/Winckworth_Tonge) (45th Regiment)
</gallery>

==References==
===Endnotes===
{{Reflist}}

===Primary sources===
* [https://archive.org/details/historyoflifesuf00grac/page/10/mode/1up?q=cornwallis The history of the life and sufferings of Henry Grace, of Basingstoke in the county of Southampton. Being a narrative of the hardships he underwent during several years captivity among the savages in North America, ... Written by himself]
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=aeu.ark:/13960/t4th9j13f&view=1up&seq=92 Letters concerning the Battle of Chignecto. 1750.]
* [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011441295;view=1up;seq=315 London Magazine, July 1750, p. 291]
*[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011441295&view=image&seq=411&q1=nova%20scotia London Magazine, August 1750, p. 371]
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011441295&view=image&seq=571&q1=halifax London Magazine. Nov. 1750, Vol. 19. p. 521]
* [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011436469;view=1up;seq=397 The London magazine, or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer ... v.21 1752, p. 359]
* [https://web.lib.unb.ca/winslow/fullimagerecord.cgi?level=3&id=1065&DOCURL=%2F%77%69%6E%73%6C%6F%77%2F%66%75%6C%6C%72%65%63%6F%72%64%2E%63%67%69%3F%69%64%3D%31%31%39%26%6C%65%76%65%6C%3D%32%26%42%41%43%4B%53%54%52%3D%6C%65%76%65%6C%3D%32%26%66%69%65%6C%64%73%3D%54%69%74%6C%65%2C%43%72%65%61%74%6F%72%5F%6E%61%6D%65%2C%53%75%62%6A%65%63%74%2C%53%6F%75%72%63%65%2C%45%54%43%5F%53%65%71%75%65%6E%63%65%26%43%72%65%61%74%6F%72%5F%6E%61%6D%65%3D%26%54%69%74%6C%65%3D%26%53%75%62%6A%65%63%74%3D%26%53%6F%75%72%63%65%3D%31%2D%26%4B%65%79%77%6F%72%64%3D%26%4C%41%4E%47%3D%26%62%6F%6F%6C%65%61%6E%3D%41%4E%44%26%6F%72%64%65%72%5F%62%79%3D%49%64%65%6E%74%69%66%69%65%72%26%61%6C%6C%3D%26%6C%69%6D%69%74%3D%35%26%62%61%63%6B%75%72%6C%3D The journal of Joshua Winslow, recording his participation in the events of the year 1750 memorable in the history of Nova Scotia]

==Literature cited==
* {{cite book|last=Faragher|first=John Mack|author-link=John Mack Faragher|title=A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland|url=https://archive.org/details/greatnoblescheme00fara|url-access=registration|year=2005|publisher=W.W Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-05135-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Grenier|first=John|title=The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVG5h6G5fWMC&pg=PP1|year=2008|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-3876-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Griffiths|first=N.E.S.|author-link=Naomi E. S. Griffiths|title=From Migrant to Acadian: A North American Border People, 1604-1755|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cG4wSmIlziYC&pg=PP1|year=2005|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=978-0-7735-2699-0}}
* Landry, Peter. ''The Lion & The Lily''. Vol. 1. Victoria: Trafford, 2007.
* {{cite book |last=Murdoch |first=Beamish |author-link=Beamish Murdoch |title=A History of Nova-Scotia, Or Acadie |volume=II |date=1866 |publisher=J. Barnes |location=Halifax |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorynovasco01murdgoog|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ahistorynovasco01murdgoog/page/n186 166]–167}}
* Rompkey, Ronald, ed. ''Expeditions of Honour: The Journal of John Salusbury in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1749-53''. Newark: U of Delaware P, Newark, 1982.

Category:1750 in Nova Scotia
Category:Military history of Acadia
Category:Military history of Nova Scotia
Category:Military history of New England
Category:Military history of the Thirteen Colonies
Category:Acadian history
Chignecto
Chignecto
Category:Mi'kmaq in Canada
Chignecto
Category:Father Le Loutre's War
Category:First Nations history in Nova Scotia

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Battle at Chignecto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_at_Chignecto) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_at_Chignecto?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.