| Cape Sable campaign | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofFrench and Indian War | |||||||
 Roger Morris ByBenjamin West | |||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
TheCape Sable campaign occurred in the fall of 1758 during theFrench and Indian War. The British sought to neutralizeAcadian support for the French by deporting them. ColonelRoger Morris led a force of 325 British soldiers, aided by CaptainJoseph Gorham with 60 rangers andRogers' Rangers,[1] to destroy the Acadian settlements in present-dayShelburne County andYarmouth County,Nova Scotia, Canada.
According to one historian,[who?] the level of Acadian suffering greatly increased in the late summer of 1758. Along with campaigns onIle Saint-Jean, in theGulf of St. Lawrence, atSt. John River campaign and thePetitcodiac River campaign, the British targeted the Cape Sable region, known asPobomcoup.[not verified in body]
The BritishConquest of Acadia happened in 1710. Over the next forty-five years the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. During this time period Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress ofLouisbourg andFort Beausejour.[2] During theFrench and Indian War (1754–1758), the British sought to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines the Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting them.[3]
The first wave ofdeportations began in 1755 with theBay of Fundy campaign, which targeted Beaubassin/Chignecto, Grand-Pré, Rivière-aux-Canards, Pisiguit, Cobequid, and Annapolis Royal. In April 1756, MajorJedidiah Preble and his New England troops, on their return to Boston, raidedPubnico, which lies within the Cape Sable region, and captured 72 men, women and children.[4][5]
En route to the St. John River campaign in September 1758, Col.Robert Monckton sent Maj.Roger Morris of the 35th Regiment, in command of two men-of-war and transport ships with 325 soldiers, to deport more Acadians.[6] On September 16, Morris and Capt.Joseph Gorham went ashore near the mouth of the Bay of Saltponds River, believed to be the present dayArgyle.[7] and began to search,[8] but unable to locate anyone, on October 4 they began to burn farms.[6] On October 9 they found father Jean-Baptiste de Gay Desenclaves[9] (whose principle residence wasTusket) and 36 families (6 of which were Mi'kmaq) who were imprisoned in the local church.[10] On October 28, Monckton's troops sent the women and children toGeorges Island, while the men were kept behind and forced to destroy their village. On October 31, they were also sent to Halifax.[11] About 130 Acadians and seven Mi'kmaq escaped.[12]
In the spring of 1759, Maj.Erasmus James Philipps arranged for Gorham and his rangers to take prisoner 151 Acadians. They reached Georges Island with them on June 29 and were deported to Britain in November 1759.[13] The remaining 100 Acadians and Mi'kmaq at Cape Sable fired upon Capt.Silvanus Cobb in July 1759.[14]
The Cape Sable region remains one of only two places in Acadia, the other beingMemramcook, where people of Acadian descent lived before and after the Expulsion. Acadian families began to return to the area after 1767, many of whom are descended from the founder of Pobomcoup,Philippe Mius d'Entremont.[15]
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