Father Le Loutre's War

Background

Acadian resistance to British rule in Acadia began after Queen Anne's War, following the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1713, which ceded peninsular Acadia to the British. Acadians had previously supported the French in the French and Indian Wars, joining French privateer Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste during King William's War. During Queen Anne's War, Mi'kmaq and Acadians resisted British advances in raids on Grand Pré, Pisiquit, and Chignecto in 1704.

Despite the formal peace, the British faced continued opposition from French colonists. During Father Rale's War, the Wolastoqiyik raided British vessels on the Bay of Fundy, and the Mi'kmaq, supported by Acadians, raided Canso in 1723. The Mi'kmaq, part of the Wabanaki Confederacy, had a long history of conflict with British settlers along the New England/Acadia frontier, fighting in campaigns in 1688, 1703, 1723, 1724, 1745, 1746, and 1747.

Course of war

The war began when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports on June 21, 1749. The British quickly built other settlements and erected fortifications in Halifax, Bedford, Dartmouth, Lunenburg, and Lawrencetown. Within 18 months, they attempted to control the Nova Scotia peninsula by building forts in major Acadian communities: Windsor, Grand Pré, and Chignecto.

Le Loutre reportedly said the British might build forts but he would torment them with his Indians. Mi'kmaq resistance kept the British largely confined to their forts until the fall of Louisbourg in 1758. By June 1751, Cornwallis wrote that his adversaries had done as much harm as they could in open war.

Richard Bulkeley noted that Nova Scotia was kept in an uninterrupted state of war by the Acadians. The only land route between Louisbourg and Quebec went through Chignecto and along the Saint John River. To protect this route, the French constructed three forts within 18 months: Fort Gaspareaux at Baie Verte, Fort Beausejour at Chignecto, and Fort Menagoueche at the mouth of the Saint John River.