Paul Laurent was a Chief of the La Have Mi’kmaq tribe. He was aligned with Father Le Loutre throughout
Father Le Loutre’s War. The British killed his father when he was younger, which he tried to avenge by killing one of
Jean-Baptiste Cope’s prisoners.
Peace Proposal (1754)
He also sought to support Le Loutre,
John Hamilton, and Mi’kmaq attempts to have the British acknowledge their land claims early in 1755. When this initiative was rejected and Fort Beausejour fell, Laurent joined Father Manach and
Charles Deschamps de Boishébert
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...
’s armed resistance against the British.
Battle at St. Aspinquid's Chapel
Tradition indicates that during the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
, Lahave Chief Paul Laurent and a party of eleven invited Shubenacadie Chief
Jean-Baptiste Cope and five others to
St. Aspinquid’s Chapel in present-day
Point Pleasant Park
Point Pleasant Park is a large, mainly forested municipal park at the southern tip of the Halifax peninsula. It once hosted several artillery batteries, and still contains the Prince of Wales Tower - the oldest Martello tower in North America ( ...
to negotiate peace with the British. Chief Paul Laurent had just arrived in Halifax after surrendering to the British at Fort Cumberland on 29 February 1760. In early March 1760, the two parties met and engaged in armed conflict. Chief Paul Larent's party killed Cope and two others. Chief Cope’s party killed five of the British supporters. Shortly after Cope's death, Mi'kmaq chiefs signed a peace treaty in Halifax on 10 March 1760. Chief Paul Laurent signed on behalf of the Lahave tribe and a new chief, Claude Rene, signed on behalf of the Shubenacadie tribe.
[Paul Laurent's biographer Michael Johnston notes that another chief from La Heve signed another treaty with the English on 9 Nov. 1761.] (During this time of surrender and treaty making, tensions among the various factions who fought the British were evident. For example, a few months after the death of Cope, the
Mi'kmaq militia
The military history of the Mi'kmaq consisted primarily of Mi'kmaq warriors (''smáknisk'') who participated in wars against the English (the British after 1707) independently as well as in coordination with the Acadian militia and French royal ...
and
Acadian militias made the rare decisions to continue to fight despite losing the support of the French priests who were encouraging surrender.)
See also
*
Military history of the Mi’kmaq people
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
References
Endnotes
Texts
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurent, Paul
18th-century indigenous people of the Americas
Mi'kmaq people
Military history of Nova Scotia
People of Father Le Loutre's War