The Missaguash River (French: Rivière Missaguash) is a small

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

river that forms the southern portion of the inter-provincial boundary between

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

and

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

on the

Isthmus of Chignecto The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that connects the Nova Scotia peninsula with North America. The isthmus separates the waters of Chignecto Bay, a sub-basin of the Bay of ...

. It had historic significance in the 18th century as the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' border between French (to the west) and English-controlled territories.

History

The river's name is from the ''

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...

'' language, likely meaning "marsh river", in reference to the

Tantramar Marshes The Tantramar Marshes, also known as the Tintamarre National Wildlife Area, is a tidal saltmarsh around the Bay of Fundy on the Isthmus of Chignecto. The area borders between Route 940, Route 16 and Route 2 near Sackville, New Brunswick. The go ...

through which it flows. The name can be translated as "muskrat". Musaguash (Morris, 1750); Mesiguash (DesBarres, 1781); Missaguash from 1901 onward. The river flows south into Cumberland Basin. Its source is in the Missaguash Bog, several kilometres to the north. About 1672 a small group of

Acadians The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...

from

Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and co ...

, led by Jacques Bourgeois, formed a settlement on the south bank of the Missaguash near its mouth named

Beaubassin Beaubassin was an important Acadian village and trading centre on the Isthmus of Chignecto in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. The area was a significant place in the geopolitical struggle between the British and French empires. It was establ ...

. The settlers reclaimed the

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

bordering the Missaquash for cultivation by constructing dykes to keep out the sea. This village grew until 1750. The French priest

Jean-Louis Le Loutre Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre (; 26 September 1709 – 30 September 1772) was a Catholic priest and missionary for the Paris Foreign Missions Society. Le Loutre became the leader of the French forces and the Acadian and Mi'kmaq militias during King Ge ...

led

warriors to burn down the village to force the

to relocate to French-held territory north of the Missaquash. He wanted to bring French settlers together in a time of increasing national tensions with Great Britain.The practice of burning one's own residences for military ends was not uncommon. For example, at this same time Le Loutre burned Beaubassin for military reasons, French officer Boishebert burned the French Fort Menagoueche on the Saint John River to prevent it from falling in the hands of the British and to allow Acadians to escape to the forest (see John Grenier. The Edge of Empire. Oklahoma Press. 2008. p. 179). As well, the British burned their military officers own residences at

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the n ...

to help defeat the French, MI'kmaq and Acadian attacks during King George's War. (See ). In the fall of 1750 the

English army The ...

under Major Charles Lawrence established

Fort Lawrence Fort Lawrence was a British fort built during Father Le Loutre's War and located on the Isthmus of Chignecto (in the modern-day community of Fort Lawrence). Father Le Loutre's War Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia rema ...

on the site of the burned village.

Endnotes

{{authority control Rivers of Nova Scotia Rivers of New Brunswick Acadia Landforms of Westmorland County, New Brunswick

History

See also

Endnotes